The deprivation of live sports broadcasts during Covid-19: Israeli sports fans during the global pandemic

Deprivation studies offer new insights on the concepts of dependency and affinity that warrant increased attention within the study of mass communication process (Windahl, Höjerback, & Hedinsson, 1986). This chapter is based upon a study that used the exceptional conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic to assess the significance of deprivation for sports fans for whom sports broadcasts constitute an integral phenomenon of everyday life, and one that is typically taken for granted. Using interviews with sports fans, the findings of the study illuminate the ritualistic (organization of schedules and order of daily activities), social (topics of conversations and social encounters), and emotional significance (meaning of life) of sports broadcasts. Based on the study’s results, this chapter supports a discussion of the current conditions through the lens of sports media dependency.