Commercialization and Lifestyle Sport: Lessons from Twenty Years of Freestyle BMX in ProTown, USA

Recent research on lifestyle sport and commercialization reveals a problematic and complex relationship. The analysis presented here examines the development and impact of commercialization on a unique and influential local BMX scene over a 20-year period. Three forms of commercialization - parapher...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSport in society Vol. 13; no. 7-8; p. 1135
Main Authors Edwards, Bob, Corte, Ugo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 2010
Subjects
commercialization
Lifestyle sports
resource mobilization theory
SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Socialvetenskap
Sociologi
Sociology
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Summary:Recent research on lifestyle sport and commercialization reveals a problematic and complex relationship. The analysis presented here examines the development and impact of commercialization on a unique and influential local BMX scene over a 20-year period. Three forms of commercialization - paraphernalia , movement and mass market - are identified and their varying influences on the mobilization and development of this lifestyle sport are analysed. Findings reveal that lifestyle-sport insiders actively collaborate in each form of commercialization, especially movement commercialization which has the potential to build alternative lifestyle-sport institutions and resist adverse commercial influences. This research conceptualizes freestyle BMX as a social movement within the resource-mobilization perspective and relies upon a combination of direct and participant observation recorded through field notes and augmented by 25 in-depth interviews. The combination of analytical tools and methodological approach can help shed further light on the complex dynamics of commercialization in lifestyle sports.
ISSN:1743-0437
1743-0445
DOI:10.1080/17430431003780070