Defining Sport Communication

Andrew C. Billings is the Director of the Alabama Program in Sports Communication and Ronald Reagan Chair of Broadcasting in the Department of Journalism & Creative Media at the University of Alabama. His research interests lie in the intersection of sport, mass media, consumption habits, and identity-laden content. With twelve books and over 130 journal articles and book chapters, he is one of the most published sports media scholars in the world. His books include Olympic Media: Inside the Biggest Show on Television (Routledge, 2008) and The Fantasy Sport Industry: Games within Games (Routledge, 2014) and his journal outlets include the Journal of Communication, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Mass Communication & Society, and the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. His writings have been translated into five languages. He also serves on many editorial boards, including as an Associate Editor of the journals Communication & Sport and Journal of Global Sport Management. Billings’ work has won numerous awards from organizations such as the International Communication Association, National Communication Association, Broadcast Education Association, and the Association for Education in Mass Communication and Journalism. He is the current chair of the Communication & Sport Division of the National Communication Association, and a former chair of the Sport Communication Interest Group of the International Communication Association. He has lectured in nations around the world, from Spain to China to Austria. His work in the classroom has also earned him many teaching awards. He has been interviewed over 500 times by media outlets ranging from The New York Times to The Los Angeles Times to ESPN. Billings has also consulted with many sports media agencies and is a past holder of the Invited Chair of Olympism at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.