Although no one can definitively say when sports began, they have always been a part of children’s play. Prehistoric art shows hunters chasing their prey with joy and abandon. Ancient civilizations took hunting seriously, and there is rich iconographic and literary evidence for this. In fact, mixed martial arts is based on the principle of assigning victory to the winner if no one loses. Whether the game began as a recreational activity or a competitive event is another matter entirely.
In organised sports, such as the Olympics, records of a person’s performance are kept. The results of sporting events are often widely reported in sport news. Spectator sports also serve as a major source of entertainment for spectators. They can attract large crowds to venues and reach a wider audience through broadcasting. Kearney, a consulting firm, estimates the global sporting industry to be worth $620 billion dollars in 2013. As a result, spectator sports have become one of the most popular forms of entertainment.
Despite the many types of spectator sports, there are some that can be viewed without participating. These spectators-only events typically draw large crowds to sports venues. Television broadcasts of spectator sport may reach far beyond the fans that attend games. The value of the sports industry worldwide has been estimated at around $620 billion USD according to the Kearney consultancy. However, it is difficult to determine exactly how much of this value can be attributed to spectator sports.