Title: Theatrical Ali: The Greatest, The Super Fight, and the Cultural Politics of Closed Circuit Sports Television
Location: Porter College, Room D-245
Date and Time: Monday, November 6, 2017 @ 4pm
Abstract: Focusing on Muhammad Ali and The Super Fight (1970), a film based on a computerized simulation of a match between Ali and retired former heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano, this talk will consider the cultural politics of closed circuit prize fighting broadcasts—a topic that has never received scholarly treatment. It will demonstrate how closed circuit telecasts informed Ali’s divisive public identity, and, in turn, how Ali impacted the culture, industry, and metamorphosis of closed circuit sports TV.
Bio: Travis Vogan is Associate Professor in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication and the Department of American Studies at the University of Iowa. He is the author of Keepers of the Flame: NFL Films and the Rise of Sports Media and ESPN: The Making of a Sports Media Empire. He is currently working on a cultural and institutional history of ABC Sports. With Victoria E. Johnson, Vogan is co-editor of the University of Illinois Press book series Studies in Sports Media and he serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Sport History.