Political Sportification: Presidential Politics and America’s New Favorite Sport
by Jaime Sánchez
For political junkies, like yours truly, watching presidential debates is exhilarating. To think that in less than a year, one of these candidates will be our next president is both exciting and terrifying. Thankfully, I have many friends who are equally invested in political campaigns, so post-debate discussions are never in short supply. In fact, the political conversation in our country is broadening beyond the usual crowd, as more and more people engage with the election in some form or another. It’s clear that the issues concerning gun violence, racial justice, and immigration have motivated a renewed vigor in the political activism of today. But aside from interest in the issues at stake in this election, there is a whole other dimension increasing the appeal of engaging in political discourse: thesportification of the 2016 race for the presidency.
Granted, sportification is not a real word, yet in many ways it describes what is happening right now. Just take look at social media or cable news and you’ll notice this phenomenon developing in more dramatic ways every day. Though American politics has always been fraught with drama, the extraordinary spectacle that it has evolved into is certainly venturing on new ground. The kind of entertainment and shock value, that until recently was mainly seen in professional sports, is now manifest in how the public partakes in the election. The three areas where this is most clearly visible are the entertaining characters running for office, the marketing of debates, and the rising popularity of the political prediction market.
Characters
As a kid I often watched WWE’s Friday Night SmackDown with my younger brothers. For those of us well versed in the wonder that is televised professional wrestling, we know that WWE was one of the most successful sport franchises of the 1990s, and continues to be to this day.[1] Its success was largely due to the scripted and overdramatized rivalries between characters, which ended in “wrestling” matches with little to no actual wrestling. A motley crew of characters including the likes of the Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, and John Cena has kept the franchise incredibly popular. Each with a unique personal history, infamous rival and idiosyncratic brand of smack talk. Enter the 2016 presidential candidates.
Much like WWE, the entertainment factor of this election has been thanks to unusual personalities gracing our television screens. One can easily imagine political wrestler names such as Donald “HUGE Bigot” Trump, Bernie “Democratic Socialist” Sanders, Ben “The Stabber” Carson, Hillary “Emailgate” Clinton…you get the idea. While policy and reform are the intended points of focus on the campaign trail, media attention focuses on the candidates who deliver the best performance. Certain candidates have found this trend to be off-putting, notably Jeb Bush, whose particular “performance” in the debates has yet to win him any championship belts, so to speak.[2] But the situation seems to be mutually beneficial for the candidates dominating the screens and the cable news networks reaping the financial benefits.
Marketing
It’s no surprise that this campaign season has been one of the most profitable. With the CNN and Fox News debates achieving some of the highest-ever viewership ratings for both presidential debates and cable TV in general, it is no surprise that advertising spots during these televised matches have become highly coveted. In September, Ad Age estimated that CNN was able to increase its advertising rates to 40 times its typical fees for a 30 second commercial.[3] Though not as expensive as the Super Bowl’s multimillion-dollar ad slots, CNN has been able to charge as much as $200,000 for a spot during the presidential debates. As the campaign progresses, we can surely expect this rate to increase.
But to say that these record levels of viewership and advertising profits are purely due to the dynamic personalities of the 2015 presidential candidates is an incomplete story. In fact, media outlets have played a substantial role in building up the hype of this election season, and have drawn heavily from marketing techniques pioneered and perfected by sports franchises. Over the past several weeks, I have seen suspenseful commercials for upcoming debates during my daily news intake. CNN’s latest add for the final Republican debate of 2015 (coming up on December 15th) doesn’t even feature any dialogue — it’s simply dramatic close-ups of the candidates seemingly ready for an epic battle. Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel accurately drew a visual comparison in a hilarious mashup of boxer Floyd Mayweather’s video introduction into the ring seamlessly incorporated into the video introduction of CNN’s first Democratic debate. And as Kimmel quipped, both were “very, very Las Vegas.”
Political Prediction Market
Speaking of Vegas, the most politically savvy spectators of the campaign trail are also profiting from the growing popularity of the political prediction market. Like diehard football or baseball fans comparing stats and making bets on potential winners, Democrats and Republicans have been putting their predictions up for a chance to make a quick buck. One of the most popular platforms for political wagering is PredictIt, which allows users to make campaign predictions and cash out in a stock-like pool.[4] CNN is also part of this sportification trend by incorporating statistics from its own version of the prediction market, which it runs through Pivit,[5] as part of its daily polling analyses.
Closing Thoughts
So what does this mean for the coming election year? Besides the fact that your creepy uncle might ask you who to bet on in the coming election, it’s hard to gauge the impacts of political sportification. As mentioned, more people are tuning in to the presidential debates than ever before. By the same token, politics has become more polarized and volatile than in the past. At a time when many are pessimistic about the future of civic engagement, there could be a silver lining to these trends. For millions of people across the county, this is the first time they have ever paid attention to politics. While it’s clear that over-the-top marketing and online political wagering won’t create an informed voting population, this could be a stepping-stone to engaging in more meaningful dialogue on what our country expects from its future leaders. Because at the end of the day, if it gets the conversation going, it’s better than no conversation at all.
