The East-West balance in 21st century media sport

![CDATA[From the vantage point of the 21st century, with its 24-hour television sport channels and mass media sporting events (such as the Olympics and the World Cup of Association Football) staged in vast sports arenas before global audiences, it is difficult to imagine that professional sport is in historical terms a comparatively new phenomenon, and one whose origins are predominantly Western (Elias and Dunning, 1986 ; Hill, 1992 ; Guttmann, 1994). It is also almost impossible to envision sport without the media, because no single institution has been more critical to the development of professional sport than the engines of mass communication, especially broadcasting (Rowe, 2004a).]]