The attractiveness of judo contests as a sports entertainment

Background & study aim: The rules in judo are changed in the last years many times. The main reason was make judo more attractive for spectators. The main purpose of the research was the factors determining the attractiveness of judo fights as sport spectacles. Material & methods: The research was carried out on a group of 159 people (51 women and 108 men). All research participants saw the recordings of 10 judo fights and were asked, using a 1-10 scale, to grade to what degree each of the fights was in teresting and attractive. Each fight was thoroughly analysed in order to separate the factors which have the great est impact on us in considering a fight spectacular entertainment. Kalina’s struggle dynamics measurement method was applied for this very purpose. Results: The average grading of the fights generally correlated (r=0.91, p<0.001) with their general dynamics expressed with the Struggle Dynamics Index (SDI). What was also recorded that strong positive correlation between the grades and offensive activeness (r=0.84, p<0.001), general activeness (r=0.7, p<0.001) and the total of points gathered (r=0.55, p<0.001). Conclusions: In order to make judo more spectacular and attractive as a spectacle and in order to accurately present its utilitarian character, the rules governing this sport should be changed to raise the level of activity, offensive activity and general dynamics. In the face of radical changes in the regulations and their interpretation, introduced for the purpose of making judo a more media-friendly discipline, it should be examined how these factors impact the attractiveness of combats as sports entertainment.