This book examines how the emergence of new media brings brought challenges to the North American sport industry, discussing challenges in terms of a shift from an information economy to an attention economy perspective. Historically, the arrival of new forms of media, including radio and television, were not universally supported by sports leagues, wary of existing industry relationships with stakeholders, and new media have made the multi-sided market model of professional sports leagues which has focused on protection and exploitation of league content inefficient, and calls for a new model to integrate new media into the market. By integrating platform theory with the Service Dominant Logic (SDL) of marketing we describe how the multi-sided market of professional sports is evolving into a platform ecosystem, and the role of its most important customers the fans will also evolve from end users, to value co-creators, complementors and innovators. 

This book will create a new way of understanding the evolution of professional sports leagues and future growth of the industry, and lay the foundation for new research within the academic realm of sport management and sports marketing.

Jingxuan Zheng is a PhD student in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation at the University of Alberta. His research interests focus on the interrelationships between and among professional sports entities, the media, and other stakeholders.
Daniel S. Mason is a professor in the Faculty of  Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation at the University of Alberta. His research examines sports leagues and their stakeholders, including franchises, cities, and the media. 

1. Sport, Information, and the Attention Economy.- 2. The Evolution of Professional Sports as a Multi-sided Market.- 3. Building a Brand Platform Ecosystem for the Future Development of the Professional Sports Industry.- 4. Creating a Combined Multi-sided Market and Brand Platform Ecosystem.