Abstract
On the basis of an empirical analysis of the emergence, spread and transformation of
No Holds Barred fighting contests during the 1990s, we argue that Norbert Elias’s model of sportization
represents a fruitful but not sufficiently differentiated framework for understanding the recent
development of combat sports and fighting contests. Although the martial arts in the 20th century provide
striking examples of processes of sportization and para-sportization, the rise of No Holds Barred
events in the 1990s represented an opposing trend, a process of de-sportization. The analysis of
No Holds Barred contests demonstrates that both sportization and de-sportization trends depend
primarily on the interests of the organizers, and in particular on the degree to which they rely on the
perspectives of practitioners, spectators, or viewers. The decisive factor for the predominance of the
latter perspective was the formation of a new and poorly regulated market for visual material, which
emerged with pay-per-view television. This allowed media entrepreneurs to commercialize nonsanctioned
events, which depend primarily on the demands and fantasies of viewers who are less
interested in the specifics of particular sports or games than in the antinomian excitement produced by
the transgression of the rules and conventions of ordinary life. The case of No Holds Barred fighting
thus suggests that new markets for visual material are likely to become an important factor in the
development of spectator sports and sport-like forms of entertainment. It also suggests that regulatory
regimes are an essential feature for the actual outcome of the changes that these new markets may
bring about. Public pressure eventually led to the disappearance of No Holds Barred events from the
major US cable television networks and from the full contact fighting scene in most Western European
countries. In response, various initiatives worked towards a re-sportization of the matches, a process
that has led to the transformation of No Holds Barred tournaments into Mixed Martial Arts matches.
No Holds Barred fighting contests during the 1990s, we argue that Norbert Elias’s model of sportization
represents a fruitful but not sufficiently differentiated framework for understanding the recent
development of combat sports and fighting contests. Although the martial arts in the 20th century provide
striking examples of processes of sportization and para-sportization, the rise of No Holds Barred
events in the 1990s represented an opposing trend, a process of de-sportization. The analysis of
No Holds Barred contests demonstrates that both sportization and de-sportization trends depend
primarily on the interests of the organizers, and in particular on the degree to which they rely on the
perspectives of practitioners, spectators, or viewers. The decisive factor for the predominance of the
latter perspective was the formation of a new and poorly regulated market for visual material, which
emerged with pay-per-view television. This allowed media entrepreneurs to commercialize nonsanctioned
events, which depend primarily on the demands and fantasies of viewers who are less
interested in the specifics of particular sports or games than in the antinomian excitement produced by
the transgression of the rules and conventions of ordinary life. The case of No Holds Barred fighting
thus suggests that new markets for visual material are likely to become an important factor in the
development of spectator sports and sport-like forms of entertainment. It also suggests that regulatory
regimes are an essential feature for the actual outcome of the changes that these new markets may
bring about. Public pressure eventually led to the disappearance of No Holds Barred events from the
major US cable television networks and from the full contact fighting scene in most Western European
countries. In response, various initiatives worked towards a re-sportization of the matches, a process
that has led to the transformation of No Holds Barred tournaments into Mixed Martial Arts matches.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 259-282 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | International Review for the Sociology of Sport |
Volume | 41 |
Issue number | 3/4 |
Publication status | Published - 2006 |
Keywords
- commercialization
- (de-)sportization
- fighting contests
- mediasport
- new media
- violence