MANAGING SPORTS: EXPLORING INNOVATIVE STRATEGIES AND FUTURE ADVANCEMENTS

The current study is focused on understanding the mass media impact of the promotion of sport management in Pakistan, especially in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and uncovering innovative promotional approaches. For data collection, a quantitative research method with a cross-sectional survey design was used. For survey instrumentation, a close-ended questionnaire was adopted and disseminated to the target population. A total of 600 participants’ pool was contacted which comprised of sportsmen, media representatives and other officials in KP-Pakistan with an age range of 14 years and above. A convenient sampling approach was employed to examine the role of mass media in the promotion of sports management. The findings revealed that the influence of mass media in the promotion of sports regarding public attitudes have a strong positive role, and media is significantly disseminating information about the value of sports participation and its role in promoting sports culture. It is observed and validated that the mass media plays a significant role in the promotion of sports in KP. Thus, in this study, the potential of mass media to influence and raise public awareness in sports promotion has been highlighted. Sports massively attracts the attention of both print and electronic media; therefore, it is suggested to gain the public interest and generate revenue at large from the sports industry.


INTRODUCTION
Media and sport are two distinct societal institutions which are inextricably linked (Cooper et al., 2019;Rowe, 2003). Sport is a sphere of live action and entertainment, whereas media is a through Whatsapp, Twitter, Tiktok, Likee, Snack Video, YouTube, Facebook, WeChat, Instagram and other similar channels.

Sports
Sport is any competitive physical activity or game that seeks to utilize, maintain, or enhance physical ability and skills, giving enjoyment, entertainment to participants and spectators (Woods, & Butler, 2020;Sterchele, 2015). Sports, whether recreational or structured, have the potential to enhance one's physical health and improve the standard of fitness (Møller et al., 2014;Lower et al., 2013;Downward, & Rasciute, 2010). Many competitors participate continuously or sequentially in certain sports, such as racing, with one winner; in others, the contest (a match) is between two sides, each striving to exceed the other. Some sports allow for a "tie" or "draw," in which no single winner is established; others include tie-breaking mechanisms to ensure that one winner and one loser are selected (Connolly, & White, 2017;Fu et al., 2015). A tournament can be made up of several competitions that end in the crowning of a champion (Moosavian, & Roodsari, 2014;Borowy, 2013). Many sports leagues choose an annual champion by scheduling games throughout the regular sports season, followed by playoffs in certain circumstances (Durán, 2021;Lenten, 2016). Media activities in sport are carried out to convey and send messages to the audience from sport organizations, associations, federations, departments or directorate (Pedersen et al., 2020;Boyle, & Haynes, 2014). Moreover, the messages consist upon sharing knowledge, skills, attitudes, and information, which leads to develop some sort of specific aptitude and behavior of the concern masses. Presently, online media considered in sport as a powerful tool which has been established among the mass media (Geurin, 2017;Creeber, & Martin, 2008).

Impact of Media on Sports
Populations are aware about the media impact on sports whether they participate or watch (Thomas et al., 2018). Sports from the local, national, and international levels are all represented. From school sport newsletters to worldwide TV coverage, the media has a significant impact on sport (Owens, 2021;Shilbury et al., 2020). Aside from paying for the rights to show a sports event, the media may impact sport's appeal, give free advertising for local teams, feature player personalities, and create fan devotion to teams and individual players (Mullin et al., 2014;Rowe, & Gilmour, 2010). Mass media positively impacts on sports in order to develop and highlight many of the potential aspects such as Increase sport's visibility, encourage people to live healthy, active lifestyles, showcase positive and motivating role model, encourage folks to participate, set high performance goals and provide examples of skills and techniques, make a variety of sports and activities, increase the popularity of specific sports and to introduce new fans to the sport (Pangrazi, & Beighle, 2019;Andrew et al., 2019;Jones, 2017;Nabi, & Oliver, 2009).

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To assess the role of mass media in sports management at KP.
2. To highlight the relationship of mass media and public attitudes in the promotion of sports management.

HA1:
There is significant role of mass media in sports management at KP.

Research Design
Keeping in view the nature of the study, a quantitative research method with cross-sectional survey design was used for collecting needed information.

Population
The population for this study comprised of sportsmen, media representatives and officials in KP-Pakistan. Ages of eighteen (18) years and above, both the genders (Male & Female) were selected for the collection of data.

Sampling and Sample Size
The consistency was applied to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire. The basic objective of the study is to pre-test the research tool in terms of practicability and feasibility. During the pilot study procedure, the first draft is administered to 19 samples to examine the difficulty level, content, and an ambiguity aspect of the research instrument. Valuable feedback was received from the pilot sample which provided too much help in refining the instrument.
Cronbach's alpha was used for the purpose to measure the internal consistency of the items.
The Cronbach's alpha value was .779.

Data Analysis
To meet the objectives of the current study and with intention of testing hypotheses, data collected were analyzed by using descriptive (frequencies and percentages) and inferential methods (Correlation, Linear Regression and ANOVA) using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (Version 25), and MS Excel. Endnote (x9 version) was used for the references.

Figure3. Profession wise Distribution of the Respondents
The figure 3 highlights profession wise responded, in which 387 (64.5%) responded from sports related participants while 36 (6%) from media representatives and rest of (177 participants & 29.5%) were from officials. Table 1. HA1: There is significant role of the mass media in the promotion of sports in KP.

Independent variable N r Sig
Mass Media 600 .769 ** .000 The table 1 shows the role of the mass media in the sports promotion. The relationship between the role of the mass media and sports promotion is positive (r = .769) and statistically significant (p = .000.05). As a result, the research hypothesis states that the mass media plays a significant role in the promotion of sports in KP. Watson test. The table shows that Durbin Watson's value i.e., 1.545 is within acceptable range.
As a result, there is no issue with autocorrelation in the data that meets the regression assumption. HA3: There is significant effect of different mass media in the interest of public's opinion towards sports program. Table 3 displays the results of the ANOVA analysis and whether or not there is a statistically significant difference between the means of the various groups. The significance value for various groups of different mass media are shown in this table 0.000 which are below 0.05. and, therefore, there is a statistically significant difference in the mean of respondents in different mass media in the interest of public's opinion towards sports program.

Discussion
The findings show that the media has a strong ability to influence and raise public awareness in the context of sports. The findings of the study show that sport participation is increasing every day. This study included 600 KP (Pakistan) participants from the sports, other, and media fields, with 62.2 percent males and 37.8% females. The majority of respondents were between the ages of 26-35 (33.83%) and working in a sports field (64.5 %), with 14.66% of those over 46 years old. According to the findings, the media has a strong ability to influence and raise public awareness in sports culture. The results show of this study that the mass media plays a significant role in the promotion of sports in KP. According to the findings, media has a strong ability to influence and raise public awareness about sports culture (Heikkilä, Lauronen, & Purhonen, 2018;Bail, 2016;Thorpe, 2008). The participants in this study demonstrate that the media should pay attention to all aspects of sports by raising awareness of the importance of physical activity for good health. Moreover, national projects to promote and encourage sport promotion are embraced by the media (Dai, & Menhas, 2020;Hays et al., 2013;Hambrick, & Svensson, 2015). This study found the significant influence of mass media in the promotion of sports regarding public attitudes and media has an impact on current sports culture (Deans et

Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management, and Innovation
Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2022 [253] al., 2017; Funk, & Filo, 2013;Moscoso et al., 2018;Kiania, & Rezvandib, 2021) . This study revealed that mass media in the interest of public's opinion towards sports program (Pilar et al., 2019;Belloni, 2014;Kolotouchkina et al., 2021). In addition, mass media (TV, newspapers, and social media) play an important role in the development of sports infrastructure and public interest in sports participation (Trivedi, Soni, & Kishore, 2020;Thorpe, 2017;Shilbury et al., 2020;Tamir et al., 2015). The current study suggested that media pays attention to various aspects of sport, such as equipment and facilities, scientific research, talent identification, athlete-related issues, instructor-related issues, sponsorship, public sports, and management and planning, all of which contribute to the sport's growth and promotion.

Conclusion
The current study examined the impact of mass media in the promotion of sport management.
The mass media plays a significant role in the promotion of sports in KP. The ability of mass media to influence and raise public awareness in sport promotion has been highlighted. In addition, the results show an increase in sport participation. Moreover, the media is disseminating information about the value of sports participation and its role in promoting sports culture. People are informed and entertained by media in all of its forms. The media share the interesting and relevant news stories, which could draw the viewer's attention. This study concluded that influence of mass media in the promotion of sports regarding public attitudes have strong positive role. The researcher also seen that there is significant difference in the mean of respondents in different mass media in the interest of public's opinion towards sports program. The researchers also looked at how the media affects sport promotion, from free publicity for teams and athletes to how they influence the popularity of specific sports or all sports. Sport has attracted the attention of both print and electronic media; therefore, it is suggested to gain the public interest and generate the revenue at large.

STUDY IMPLICATIONS
This study will be helpful and beneficial for policy makers and sports administrators in order to develop their policies and strategies for different stakeholders. These stakeholders such as athletes/players, officials, and media persons (sports journalists) are considering the key individuals to highlight the positive, constructive, and attractive aspects of each and every sports event. This study would be helpful in order to generate and collect the huge revenue through the healthy conduct and positive attitudes of public.