Sport and globalisation: local identities, consumption and global basketball

This thesis explores the manner in which globalisation processes are exerting transformative influences on local cultural contexts. Specifically, it utilises a case study of basketball to address the issues surrounding the juncture between local cultural identities, sport and global processes: the local-global sports nexus. Characteristic of globalisation processes are the activities of sports-related transnational corporations (TNCs) in global markets. The presence of such TNCs raises questions regarding the juncture with ostensibly indigenous cultures and identities associated with sport. The thesis constitutes several interlocking components which seek to address the multi-faceted nature of the local-global basketball interplay. First, a review of literature details both the political-economic context of the development of 'indigenous' English basketball, and the interdependencies surrounding National Basketball Association (NBA) expansion to Britain. Second, media representation within the local-global interplay is addressed in a comparative textual analysis of NBA and indigenous game coverage on British television. It is argued that local and global basketball are represented in a varying manner, which reinforces a local-global basketball hierarchy. Third, a two season multi-method ethnographic case study, incorporating: participant observations, interviews, a questionnaire and focus groups explored the consumption of 'local' basketball. The findings reveal complex responses and engagement with global processes, contextualised by the heterogenous nature of basketball fandom. Specifically, local identities and affiliations, while associated with consumption, also mediate broader global processes. The findings are discussed with reference to the relationship between local and global basketball in. Britain and within the wider theoretical debates surrounding the globalisation of sport.