Spectator Sporting Event

A Spectator Sporting Event is a sporting event that is designed primarily for the enjoyment of spectators, who watch either in-person at the venue or via broadcast.

• Context:
  • It can typically be organized with a focus on providing entertainment to a non-participating audience and often feature professional or amateur athletes competing in various sports.
  • It can typically attract large audiences both at the event location and through media such as television, online streaming, or radio broadcasts.
  • It can often be associated with significant commercial activities, including advertising, sponsorships, and merchandise sales.
  • It can range from global events like the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup to local community sports.
  • It can have a significant cultural and social impact, often fostering a sense of community and local pride.
  • It can occasionally lead to Violent Spectator Sports Incidents due to high emotions and intense rivalries among fans.
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• Example(s):
  • A Team Sport Spector Event (for team sport matches).
  • An e-Sports Event that attracts viewers both online and in-person, showcasing the growing popularity and recognition of electronic gaming as a spectator sport.
  • The Super Bowl, known for its vast live audience and extremely high television viewership, exemplifies a major spectator sporting event with elaborate half-time shows and commercial activities.
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• Counter-Example(s):
  • Individual fitness activities like jogging and personal gym workouts, which are typically participant-centric with little to no spectator involvement.
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• See: Violent Spectator Sports Incident, Sport, Professional Sports, Amateur Sports, Recreation.

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References

2019

• (Wikipedia, 2019) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/spectator_sport Retrieved:2019-8-22.
  • A spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its competitions. Spectator sports may be professional sports or amateur sports. They often are distinguished from participant sports, which are more recreational.

    Most popular sports are both spectator and participant, for example association football, basketball, cricket, volleyball, golf, rugby and tennis. Less popular sports are mainly participant sports, for example hunting.

    The increasing broadcasting of sports events, along with media reporting can affect 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 "lounge room 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.

    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.

    Separation of the active and the passive, the line between sport and spectator, gives rise to the paradox of the spectator—described by French philosopher Jacques Rancière; which is to seek an opportunity to passively contemplate engaging in an activity, and in doing so, forfeit that life moment one might have used to actually engage in the activity.

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