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Andrew C. Billings is professor and the Ronald Regan Chair of Broadcasting in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media at The University of Alabama. He is the current director of the sports communication program. His research is focused on the study of Sport Communication. Billings received his PhD from Indiana University in 1999. He currently holds the position as the chair of the Communication and Sport Division of the National Communication Association. Former positions he has held include the chair of the Sport Communication Interest Group of the International Communication Association and the Research Symposium Chair for Broadcaster Education Association.

His research consists of the intersection of sport, mass media, identity content within sports, and consumption habits. Billings has won numerous national awards including the National Communication Award, as well as the Broadcast Education Association, and the Association in Mass Communication and Journalism.

Research Interests

Chief Osceola Renegade- current mascot at Florida State University

Team Mascot Controversies

Some of Billings research focuses on the controversy of current Native American mascots. His studies focuses on the aspects of the visual, textual, ritualistic, and performative aspects of sports mascots. His research collected surveys of over 1,000 sports fans on their opinions of controversial Native American mascots, the traditions, and nicknames that are still being used today.

Olympic Media Portrayals

Published on January 23, 2008, an inside look at the role Olympic Media plays.

Billings' research includes an in depth look at how the production, content, and the effects of NBC's broadcast of the Olympics Games. His main research covers the topics of ethnicity, gender, and nationality, and how that is communicated to the public via the telecast.

The book takes a look at how important sports communication is within media, in order to be successful to the public. The Olympics is the most watched sports event by women. The research Billings conducted portrays ways on how the media communicates more effectively to keep their audience engaged.

The research is compiled of interviews from key NBC Olympic producers and sportscasters, including: NBC Universal Sports, primetime anchor Bob Costas, and Olympics President Dick Ebersol, give an inside look at the NBC Olympic "machine" and analyses content from 1996-2006.

Identity in Sports Media

Research book published May 23, 2009. Written and edited by Billings and Heather L. Hundley. The book gives an in depth look at the role of identity in sports media. The book focuses on on concrete examples of mediasport to further explain the dispute that the representation of identity- involving either gender, nationality, sexuality, race, etc., is a part of the main negotiation from those who produce and consume sports and the systems that come from it. The research focuses on how fans take in information than just an hour long game itself.

TEDx Talks

We Need to Integrate Public Speaking into Education

Billings TEDX of September of 2016 details the importance on why public speaking she be integrated into the public school systems in high school. He believes oral communication is essential to the delivery of information, making it one of the most important skill sets that one can possess.

Sports can Start Meaningful Conversations

In 2015, Billings gave a TEDX talk, "Using Sports for Social Change." He explains how sports can be a very powerful common bond between people and how sports can be used to start the conversation of racial controversy and prejudice. To open his talk, Billings says that in America "roughly 25% of people own a passport, but nearly 96% consume some sort of sports media". He goes into to detail of how if people take one glance at a swimming competition they would get the impression that African Americans can't swim, but in reality it goes back to generations of African Americans being denied rights to go to swimming pools. He goes on to talk about issues of gender and how in 2014, ESPN contributed just 1% of their coverage towards covering women's sports in America, contrasted to CBS coverage of the olympics that year where 55% of the coverage was devoted towards women's sports. Past the debates of gender and race, Billings discusses how sports can be used to tell origin stories, such as explaining how the Redskins or the Braves received their names and why they are significant.

Using Sports for Social Change

Billings gave a four minute TEDX talk in 2014 to describe the power that sports can hold in a persons life. His thesis is that sports can be used to talk about larger issues such as gender, domestic violence, religion, and identity. Our understanding of the world gets larger when sports are in the conversation because people can relate with sports, and even be used to talk about tough and hard to approach topics. He uses a phrase in this speech, "teach the former, reject the latter" to essentially say that we need to go back and start correcting the issues that have been created in the past, and not worry about what may come in the future. He goes on to explain how there are perceived limitations in races that we have given to ourselves, and if we teach these limitations it can change the participation in careers, majors, and life expectations. Sports have power and can be used to talk about topics such as xenophobia, homophobia, segregation, and needs to be used as a medium to be able to comfortably talk about these topics.

List of Books & Research Journal Articles

Books

Billings has authored 18 books, recent texts include:

• Benoit, W.L., & Billings, A.C. (2020, in process). The rise and fall of mass communication. New York:Peter Lang.

• Billings, A.C., & Black, J.E. (2019). Mascot nation: The controversy over Native American representations in sports. Champagne, IL: University of Illinois Press.

• Billings, A.C., & Moscowitz, L.M. (2018). Media and the coming out of gay male athletes in American team sports. New York: Peter Lang.

• Billings, A.C., Coombs, W.T., & Brown, K.A. (Eds.) (2018). Reputational challenges in sport. New York: Routledge.

• Billings, A.C, Angelini, J.R., & MacArthur, P.J. (2018). Olympic television: Broadcasting the biggest show on Earth.  London: Routledge.

Journal Articles

Billings has approximately 160 published journal articles. Recent publications:

• Billings, A.C., Broussard, R.M., Xu, Q., & Xu, M. (2019, in press). Untangling international sport social media use: Contrasting U.S. and Chinese uses and gratifications across four platforms. Communication & Sport.

• Arth, Z.W., Griffin, D.J., & Billings, A.C. (2019, in press). (Inter)national pastime: Depicting nationality in local and national Major League Baseball telecasts. International Journal of Sport Communication.

• Ramon, X., Billings, A.C., & Rojas Torrijos, J.L. (2019, in press). Interviews with Former ESPN Ombudsmen / Public Editors Kelly McBride, Robert Lipsyte, and Jim Brady. International Journal of Sport Communication.

• Moscowitz, L.M., Billings, A.C., Ejaz, K., & Boyle, M.J. (2019, in press). Outside the sports closet: Mediating coming out stories of Jason Collins and Michael Sam. Journal of Communication Inquiry.

• Billings, A.C., Xu, Q., & Xu, M. (2019, in press). Two sides of the Chinese sports media story: Contrasting state-owned and commercially-sponsored Chinese websites by nation and sex of athlete. Communication & Sport.