Global Sport Industries, Comparison, and Economies of Scales

Comparison figured centrally in the GLOBALSPORT project, which investigated the migration of athletes and aspiring athletes in various sports, along several geographical and aspirational trajectories. In its initial design, the project was framed by broad generalizations. Not surprisingly, field researchers encountered specificities during their fieldwork, which contradicted some of the original insights. The team had to grapple with the tension between comparisons across sites and the unique contexts found in each site. The common thread in all subprojects was the presence of global sport industries in people’s lived experiences. These industries have undergone major reconfigurations through corporatization, mediatization, and commercialization, which have engendered a dramatic increase in athletes’ transnational mobility. This mobility and the industries that create and sustain it have restructured individual lives and cultural expectations as preconditions for success. The comparisons reveal common themes in the transformation of key aspects of experience. But comparison also reveals how different scalar processes configure these themes in the contexts of specific field sites.