Home or Away?

            Across our nation one can find massive establishments that bring together thousands of people on a regular basis. The structures that I speak of are without a doubt professional sport stadiums. Many do not view these stadiums as mediums because as children they were raised calling the stadium by a nickname, and not realizing the corporate connotation behind the actual name. Take for instance the TD Garden in Boston. Most of the people that I know from the Boston area simply call it the “Garden”, leaving out TD Bank which is the arena’s formal name. This concept can be seen with numerous stadiums like Tropicana Field being called “The Trop”, HP Pavilion being called “The Shark Tank”, and many more.

            Additionally, within each stadium one can find an absolute jungle of advertisements. Take for instance during hockey games where the boards along the ice are seamlessly lined with advertisements. Furthermore, seating sections are even named after corporations such as the Dunkin’ Donuts section at Fenway Park. Croteau and Hoynes summarize these examples when they write “the concept of ‘mass media’ has been based on a communication structure in which a small number of ‘senders’ direct messages to a large number of ‘receivers’” (74). Professional sport stadiums are great examples of mass media as they communicate to a vast number of unknown receivers. Yet, as this may be true, many do not realize that these stadiums act in this manner because they have been conditioned to view the corporate names and advertisements as commonplace.

Here's a video of all the NFL Stadiums. Take note of how many have corporations in their name:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BpWqKzG8pE