Graduation Semester and Year

2005

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Communications

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Andrew Clark

Abstract

Fantasy sports, a game that allows players to run their own virtual sports franchise, has been considered a hobby enjoyed outside the cultural mainstream. But recent adoption of fantasy sports-related content in the mass media has increasingly made fantasy sports widely accepted. This exploratory study, uses an inductive, qualitative approach, to examine how fantasy sports has evolved in the mass media in seven categories: awareness, interest, testing, adoption, use, benefits, and future projections. Fantasy sports is shown to be more prevalent in the mass media now than ever before, and different media use fantasy sports in different ways but always in accordance with their existing strategies. Though fantasy sports is seen in all forms of mass media, it is best suited for the Web; therefore, the Web is seen as the most advantageous medium for fantasy-related content. Finally, these results are discussed in light of Rogers' diffusion of innovations theory.

Disciplines

Communication | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

Download

Included in

Communication Commons

Share

COinS