Leonor Balbuena presents a systematic review on sports audiovisual media at the X AE-IC Congress

The study analyzes scientific research on sports cinema, series, and documentaries published between 2020 and 2025

The X International Congress of the Asociación Española de Investigación de la Comunicación (AE-IC), held in Pontevedra under the theme "Comunicar en la incertidumbre," hosted a presentation by researcher Leonor Balbuena on behalf of the Sports-Politics project team. The presentation, resulting from joint work with researchers Anna Tous, Laura Pousa, and Rogmary García-Sánchez, became a space for academic discussion and highlighted the research lines of the project ‘’Lo deportivo es político. Estudio de la representación del género, la etnia y la salud en el audiovisual de temática deportiva (PID2024-161316OB-I00)’’.

The presentation mapped and characterized the global scientific production published on sports cinema, series, and documentaries. Within the context of streaming platform analysis, the research notes that certain fiction productions, such as the series Ted Lasso, have emerged as the single phenomena generating the greatest interest and volume of published articles in recent years.

Participation in the Congress included a direct debate where perspectives were shared on how current research has moved past classic roots of heroism and nationalism to focus on gender and ethnic studies. During this discussion throughout the sessions, the importance of promoting new working methodologies was analyzed, and emphasis was placed on shared gaps in scientific literature, where studies on audiences and the impact of content on physical or mental health remain virtually nonexistent, thus representing areas for future research.