American-British Sporting Rivalries and the Making of the Global Sports Industry

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3852151
AutoresSteven W Pope (0009-0009-0114-8713, University of North Texas, autor correspondente), John Nauright (0009-0002-3353-8416, University of North Texas)
Ano2016
Volume14
Fascículo3-4
Páginas302-319
Data de publicação2016-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoComparative American Studies An International Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1477-5700 • E-ISSN: 1741-2676
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14775700.2016.1242694
OpenAlexW2583882699
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas22

This article examines a key aspect of American sports history within a transnational context. Whilst the internal histories of American sport are exceedingly rich and voluminous, our general understanding of the nation's contribution to the international, global scene is less well-known. The postcolonial rivalries between American and British sports communities fuelled the development of what became open, international cup competitions in such sports as tennis and golf which bolstered an emerging global industry in the first half of the twentieth century. The transnational process of initial American imitation and absorption of British models have been well documented within the scholarly literature and debates in American Studies for decades; however, the gradual reversal of this imitative process to a more reciprocal relationship has received far less attention (especially within sports history). The authors show how the Davis Cup competition is an example of the way in which Americans indigenised a cultural sporting import, namely tennis; created a nationalistic, international sporting competition; and effectively exported it back to Britain within the wider context of a burgeoning, imperial rivalry on the world stage between these two, rival sporting nations. This process not only expanded the worldwide consumption of sport but spreads a spirit of cultural emulation within twentieth-century global consumer culture. This transnational perspective also illuminates the thorough de-provincialising of the notion of "American Exceptionalism" within the field. When, for example, the respective imperial histories of the two nations are considered comparatively, the "American" story does not look so "exceptional" after all. Though American exceptionalism adapted some British sports to suit American sensibilities, the sporting cultures of the two nations and within their zones of influence remained similar in many respects. This was particularly true in amateur sports such as tennis, rowing and track and field (athletics to the Brits) as well as in the sport of golf. In the twentieth century, many sports adapted as focus shifted from nationalism and national worth towards professionalism and international spectacle

American exceptionalism · Competition (biology · Consumption (sociology · Context (archaeology · Economics · Economy · Exceptionalism · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Rivalry · Social science · Sociology · American History and Culture · History · Law · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society