Drawing on agenda-setting theory, this study examines how ownership of sport media rights influences editorial coverage of sport properties. We exploit a quasi-natural experimental setting created by recent transitions in netball and rugby union media rights to conduct a quantitative analysis of 21,129 newspaper articles from Australia’s two largest media conglomerates (2019–2023). Difference-in-differences logistic regression confirms that media organizations systematically amplify coverage of rights-held sports, evidencing a co-promotion effect. Following rights acquisition, the acquiring outlet’s predicted probability of netball coverage rose from 0.9% to 1.3%, while the non-acquiring outlet’s fell from 1.3% to 0.7% (DiD OR = 2.90). For rugby union, although both outlets reduced coverage post-transition, the divesting outlet’s probability fell far more steeply (7.2% to 2.8%) than the acquiring outlet’s (13.4% to 11.6%; DiD OR = 2.27). We also examine combat sports, largely telecast via pay-per-view, finding the rights-aligned newspaper to be markedly more likely to publish combat coverage (2.3% vs. 0.7%; OR = 3.57). These findings reposition agenda setting from a passive reflection of cultural salience to an active, commercially motivated process to be strategically managed by sport organizations. More broadly, the study reveals sport to be an opportune context to explore cross-platform ownership and portfolio media incentives, and an underexamined setting in which sport-specific agenda-setting and co-promotion dynamics can be theorized. For practice, the results highlight that media partnerships deliver not only broadcast revenue but also editorial amplification, making co-promotion capacity a material consideration in rights negotiations and sport media strategy.
Fujak et al. (Wed,) studied this question.