The aim of this paper is to examine social transformation through the mediatization of sport from the perspective of Walter Benjamin's theory of technological reproducibility.
The merit of the media (reproduction technology) that Benjamin indicated was the possibility of appreciating an artistic production anywhere and anytime. This spatiotemporal subjugation has allowed everyone to participate in sport discussions, yet has caused the loss of the here and now of artistic production. Only the aura of the original work can endow an artistic production with its here and now. An aura is an atmosphere of sorts that envelops a person or object. For example, it can be understood visually, such as when a skilled baseball player experiences the moment when a ball about to be hit by him seemed to be suspended there. That aura can no longer be experienced once it has passed through a medium where the exchange between object and gaze is lost. In this way the mediatization of sport gives rise to the tendency for the aura to decay.
The most promising approach here is Simmel‘s and Benjamin‘s, of reading social transformations in changes of perception. Based on this, the mediatization of sport, in sensorily habituating the masses, can be considered a driver of the penetration of society by apparatus. The mediatization of sport has a decisive influence on the decay of the Aura and the penetration of society by apparatus through the mechanization of judgement as well as through expansion of the audience and of criticism.
