Spectator sport
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A spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its matches. For instance, baseball, basketball, cricket, football (association, gridiron, and rugby), and ice hockey are spectator sports, while hunting or underwater hockey typically are not. Spectator sports may be professional sports or amateur sports. They often are distinguished from participant sports, which are more recreational; golf and tennis can be either.
Spectator sports require venues or sometimes stadia in which the fans may observe a game or event.
The increasing Broadcasting of sports events, along with media reporting can effect the number of people attending sports due to the ability to experience the sport without the need to physically attend and sometimes an increasingly enhanced experience including highlights, replays, commentary, statistics and analysis. Some sports are particularly known as "armchair sports" or "loungeroom sports" due to the quality of the broadcasting experience in comparison to the live experience.
Spectator sports have built their own set of culture and traditions including, in the United States, cheerleading and pre-game and half time entertainment such as fireworks, particularly for big games such as competition decider events and international tests. The passion of some sports fans also means that there are occasionally spectator incidents.
Notable spectator sports events where events regularly sell out well in advance and are broadcast to large audiences include the Cricket World Cup, FIFA World Cup, Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Indian Premier League, FA Cup Final, Super Bowl, Grand Slam tennis, World Series Baseball, Rugby World Cup, The Ashes, Kentucky Derby, Melbourne Cup, PGA Tour, AFL Grand Final, All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and Rugby League State of Origin.
The North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) devotes much of their annual conference to research addressing the psychology behind a desire to view spectator sports, and how it might be leveraged to increase demand. Much of the research focuses on exploiting a need for vicarious achievement, and a desire within the spectator to project a public image through a declaration of team allegiance.
