Why does the World Watch Sports?

The popularity of sports is not a recent development in world history. Homer’s Odyssey, written around the seventh or eighth century B.C., mentions women “playing at ball,” and even Saint Augustine of the fourth century A.D. couldn’t resist the “vain desire to excel” in a game (Panegyres). Sport is a regular part of human life and has been for centuries. That statement brings up the question: why? Answering the question of why people play sports is simple. Clearly, engaging in sports fulfils competitive tendencies, brings opportunities to build friendships, and has health benefits. However, why do people watch sports? It is a common question, and one I asked myself years ago, before I became an avid sports fan myself. While reasons for the popularity of sports can vary, the world’s obsession with spectating athletic events is rooted in two related ideas: storytelling and culture.

Stories are a natural part of human existence. Whether you are engrossed in a novel, witnessing drama unfold on the television screen or in the cinema, or sitting down to listen to a grandparent’s tale of the past, everyone loves a good story. Sports create unique stories. Unlike a book or movie, whose outcomes are set in stone, spoilable, or predictable, sports happen live. This means that the outcomes can be completely unexpected. Take the 2025-2026 American college football season, for example. Entering the season, the favorites were clear: the top four were Texas, Pennsylvania State, Ohio State, and Clemson. By the seventh week of the season, only one of those teams was considered a top 25 team (“College Football Rankings”). Who was the champion at the end of the season? None other than Indiana University, a team that entered the season only ranked 20th and the losingest team in the history of college football.

Modern storytelling has lost much of the luster it once had. Because of streaming services and constant internet engagement, people are experiencing different stories at different times. You may be on episode 3 of your fascinating mystery show, but your friend may have binged it all in one night. The ability to “binge” television shows via streaming services, while convenient, has broken some of the public’s collective engagement in a singular story. Simply put, people are rarely watching the same thing at the same time. Within sports communities, however, this problem is absent. Sports fans watch the real-life story play out live. People getting together on a Tuesday don’t have to worry about spoiling the result of the game from Monday night, because it is a real event that occurs in real time, often with the drama of a binge-worthy series. Stories are enhanced when they are shared, and sports stories provide true, human stories that can be experienced in a singular, shared moment.

Stories and the sports that create them are inherently rooted in another ancient concept: culture. Sports’ creation of and connection with culture boost their popularity. Sometimes, sports become more important than who wins or loses. When Jackie Robinson stepped on the plate in 1947, the impact of his swings was felt not only in the ballpark of the Brooklyn Dodgers, but across America and the world, as he became the first African-American to play Major League Baseball and opened the door for generations of ethnic players to come (“About Jackie Robinson”). He had opened up “America’s Game” to not only all Americans, but also other cultures. Stories like his are why so many people love sports. Even when so many people tried to block him and those like him out, he shone as the brightest player on the diamond, winning MVP in 1949 and joining the Baseball Hall of Fame after his retirement. His story continues today through the 38.7% of the MLB that come from Black, Hispanic, or Asian backgrounds (Nuzzo).

Sometimes, a story is needed to bring a culture together. Leading up to 1980, the United States was facing plenty of struggles. The controversial war in Vietnam had only recently ended, American hostages had been captured in Iran, the economy was wounded by rising inflation, and the Soviet Union stood as a unique threat as the Cold War hung over the U.S. as a dark cloud. In short, nothing was going right for the U.S. The situation was so dire that President Jimmy Carter called out the population’s lack of confidence and selfishness (Smale). It would take a miracle to unite the fragmented nation. That miracle would be provided at the 1980 Olympic Games in New York, when a group of college-age ice hockey players would defeat the dominant, state-sponsored, and heavily favored Soviet team in the semifinal round on the way to winning the gold medal. Amid national turmoil, that win was a much-needed bright spot that could restore a level of American pride, confidence, and unity.

Therefore, when you consider the celebration last February surrounding the U.S.’s first Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey since that Miracle on Ice, or the sheer number of people who gather to watch the World Cup, and question why so many people get so engaged in watching sports, know that sports simply bring people together in a way that few other things do. Two individuals can be completely opposite in political or religious views, age or gender, race or ethnicity, class background, or so on, and yet stand side by side in cheering on their shared sports team. Some of my own favorite memories are rooted in watching my team fight for the championship alongside my dad. Even while my dad and I do completely different things throughout our day, as he works at his job and I continue with my education, we can share the experience of sports, the joy of victory, or the disappointment of defeat, together. Sports mean something different to everyone. So, to all those readers who question the significance of hitting an object into a net, think about the stories that these events create, and their impact on national and personal culture. Fan or not, we can all respect the significance of athletics in our world, from the Odyssey to the Super Bowl.

Works Cited

“About Jackie Robinson.” Jackie Robinson Foundation, https://jackierobinson.org/jackie-robinson/. Accessed 11 March 2026.

“College Football Rankings.” ESPN, https://www.espn.com/college-football/rankings/_/week/7/year/2025/seasontype/2. Accessed 11 March 2026.

“Milano Cortina most viewed Winter Olympics since 2014.” USA Today, 23 February 2026, https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2026/02/23/milano-cortina-winter-olympics-ratings/88834686007/.

Nuzzo, James L. “Racial Demographics of the NBA and MLB.” The Nuzzo Letter, 3 December 2025, https://jameslnuzzo.substack.com/p/racial-demographics-of-the-nba-and.

“One Month On: 5 billion engaged with the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.” Inside FIFA, 18 January 2023, https://inside.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/qatar2022/news/one-month-on-5-billion-engaged-with-the-fifa-world-cup-qatar-2022-tm.

Panegyres, Konstantine. “How did sport become so popular? The ancient history of a modern obsession.” The Conversation, 5 May 2025, https://theconversation.com/how-did-sport-become-so-popular-the-ancient-history-of-a-modern-obsession-254057.

Reedy, Joe. “Super Bowl averages 124.9M viewers in US, Bad Bunny's halftime 128.2 million, both short of records.” AP News, 10 February 2026, https://apnews.com/article/super-bowl-ratings-nbc-nielsen-seahawks-patriots-bad-bunny-1fff75414ea28b300133372984994ca0.

Smale, Simon. “The Miracle on Ice, when an unheralded USA team knocked off the mighty USSR.” ABC News, 21 February 2026, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-22/miracle-on-ice-usa-vs-ussr-ice-hockey-lake-placid-winter-olympic/106287402. 

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Luke Jordan is a senior from Ohio. He is taking AP English Literature this year but also enjoys history, music, and going to an occasional hockey game.