Globalization of social practice «professional sport» in modern conditions of development. Introduction

Abstract

Today, the globalization of various spheres of human functioning (economy, politics, etc.) is one of the society trends. Sport
as a social practice is also intensively globalized, and this is most clearly seen in the example of
professional sport. In this area, today the laws of development (commercial, sports, etc.) are
spreading to Olympic and non-Olympic sports, and more globally – the level of professional sportaffects the economic development of entire countries and, in many respects – the formation of
society. Purpose: to characterize the specifics of globalization of social practice «professional
sport» in modern conditions of development. Material and methods. The study was based on the
processing of modern scientific articles on the development of professional sport in its various
aspects, as well as popular science sources of information and materials on the official websites of
leading professional sport organizations. Research methods: analysis and synthesis, historical
method, system approach, comparison. Results. Today, the globalization of professional sport is
taking place in the following areas: expanding cooperation with media corporations and sponsors;
internationalization and commercialization (increase in the number of organizations that oversee
various sports and, accordingly, the number of profitable competitions); maximum use of Internet
technologies for the promotion of sport products and the development of e-sports within
professional sport leagues; increase match attendance by ensuring effective marketing policies;
expanding cooperation with the authorities at the state and local levels on mutually beneficial
terms; bringing championships beyond national borders (typical of the North American model of
professional sport, as for the European throughout the history of its development the emphasis has
been and remains on the leading importance of international competitions), etc. Conclusions.
Today, due to the processes of society globalization, which actively influence the field of
professional sport, this social practice undergoes internal globalization, which can be traced both
in purely sport (expanding the calendar of competitions, going beyond national championships,
etc.) and commercial areas (expanding cooperation with sponsors, media companies, etc.),
technological (introduction of modern technologies, launching a series of cyber competitions, etc.)
political (expanding cooperation with state and local authorities), and etc. directions.