EN
The goal of this paper is to show the relationship between the mass media and professionalsport, with special focus on both the positive and negative impact the massmedia might have on the development of sport, complete with changes which themass media trigger in sport as such. In order to do so, the paper employs a range oftheories, including the structural-functional theory, symbolic interactionism and, to acertain extent, the theory of social conflict. Several research methods have been usedas well, including the inductive and deductive methods, the idiographic and nomotheticmethods and an analysis of publications dealing with the subject.The links and interrelations between sport and the mass media are many and multilayeredand opinions on them differ greatly. It is not possible to unequivocally decidewhether they are good or bad as far as contemporary people and the modern civilisationare concerned. Like most social and cultural phenomena, they certainly can beboth. The mass media and sport are two domains which influence each other andeach of them has changed because of the other. One could say that nowadays, themass media and sport form an almost perfect union.