Oklahoma State University’s John McGuire has published an in-depth look at media giant ESPN. The ESPN Effect: Exploring the Worldwide Leader in Sports goes beyond backstage drama to expertly examine ESPN’s impact on sports journalism, audience, culture, and the business of sport media.  

 “The main interest I had in producing this text was that ESPN has always been examined as merely pop culture in books, with insider stories about whether Erin Andrews got along with Michelle Beadle and so on,” McGuire said. “But EPSN has had so much more impact, from influencing how the sports media business works to influencing how we think about sports in our society.” 

McGuire, with the New Mexico State University’s Greg Armfield and Youngstown State University’s Adam Earnheardt, explore the rise of the ESPN brand and the broad influence of its 24-hour sports coverage across multiple platforms. The ESPN Effect is the first academic text dedicated to the self-proclaimed “worldwide leader in sports.” 

OSU’s Chair of Sports Media Edward Kian also contributed to the book, authoring a chapter on the annual “body issue” published by ESPN The Magazine.  

McGuire has been a member of the OSU faculty since 2002. In addition to teaching, he works with the university’s Sports Media Club, the annual Sports Media Camp for high school students, and helps OSU students apply for scholarship and broadcast competitions. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri after an award-winning career in radio news and sports play-by-play.  

The text is published by Peter Lang International and is available from peterlang.com, amazon.com, and other outlets.