New media technologies are seen to be changing the production, delivery and consumption of professional sports and creating a new dynamic between sports fans, athletes, clubs, governing bodies and the mainstream media. However, as Bellamy and McChesney (2011) have pointed out, advances in digital technologies are taking place within social, political, and economic contexts that are strongly conditioning the course and shape of this communication revolution. This essay assesses the first wave of research on professional sport and new media technologies and concludes that early trends indicate the continuation of existing neoliberal capitalist tendencies within professional sport. Using the concept of political economy, the essay explores issues of ownership, structure, production and delivery of sport. Discussion focuses on the opportunities sports fans now have available to them and how sports organization and media corporations shifted from an initial position of uncertainty, that bordered on hostility, to one which has seen them embrace new media technologies as powerful marketing tools. The essay concludes by stating as fundamental the issues of ownership and control and advocating that greater cognizance be accorded to underlying economic structures and the enduring, all-pervasive power of neoliberal capitalism and its impact in professional sport. Developments in new media technologies are seen to be changing the production, delivery and consumption of professional sports. As Hutchins and Mikosza (2010) have noted, a greater amount of sport is now being delivered to larger audiences via mobile/cell phones, laptops and tablets, digital radio, subscription and interactive television. These developments, together with the emergence of social media platforms, are changing relationships between sports fans, athletes, clubs, governing bodies and the mainstream media, with each segment seeking to capitalize on the latest technological advance. These developments have amplified tensions over the control of, and access to, the sporting products (principally, but not exclusively, live sports events). Professional sports organization and media corporations have increasingly sought to integrate new media technologies and develop their presence on across various web based platforms; the intention being to attract sports fans to come to their site, view their content, engage in "conversation" and ultimately increase their profits. Sport fans themselves have sought to take advantage of new media technologies to engage with each other and, bypassing traditional media structures, participate in less mediated and hierarchical online debates about their favourite sports, teams and athletes. Some 30 years ago Toffler (1980) claimed we were atop the crest of a technological wave and, with access to an emerging body of sports-themed research, we are now in a position to press "pause" and reflect on how new media technologies are beginning to crystallize and assess their impact within professional sport. This essay starts...