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Both amateur and professional sports attract viewers, both in person on sports grounds and through broadcast media, including radio, television and the Internet. Both in-person and remote viewing may sometimes incur substantial fees, such as an entrance ticket or a fee for watching a television broadcast. A sports league and a tournament are two common events that organize sports teams or individual athletes to compete with each other on a regular or periodic basis.

Popular sports usually attract a large broadcast audience, which leads to competing broadcasters offering large amounts of money for the rights to show certain events.

Sports can be practiced on an amateur, professional or semi-professional basis, depending on whether participants have an incentive to participate (usually by paying a salary or salary). Amateur sports at lower levels are often referred to as "mass sports".

The popularity of spectator sports as entertainment for non-participants has led to the fact that sport itself has become a big business, and this has stimulated the development of a highly paid culture of professional sports, where highly effective participants receive remuneration far exceeding the average salary, which can amount to millions of dollars.

In some sports or individual competitions, a policy remains in place within the sport, allowing only amateur sports. The Olympic Games began with the principle of amateur competition, when those who practiced any sport professionally were considered to have an unfair advantage over those who practiced it simply as a hobby. Since 1971, Olympic athletes have been allowed to receive compensation and sponsorship, and since 1986, the IOC has decided to grant all professional athletes the right to participate in the Olympic Games, with the exception of boxing and wrestling.

The emergence of sports dates back to ancient times. Sculptural monuments of Ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, India, and China give an idea of the physical exercises (javelin throwing, wrestling, fencing, etc.) cultivated in these countries. Artifacts and structures indicate that the sport appeared in China as early as 2000 BC. Gymnastics, apparently, was popular in the ancient past of China. Monuments to the pharaohs indicate that a number of sports, including swimming and fishing, were well developed and regulated several thousand years ago in Ancient Egypt. Other Egyptian sports included javelin throwing, high jumping and wrestling. Ancient Persian sports, such as the traditional Iranian martial art of Zoorhane, had a close connection with the skills of warfare. Other sports originated in ancient Persia include polo and jousting tournaments. Kabaddi, a traditional South Asian sport, has been played for thousands of years, perhaps as a preparation for hunting.

Physical culture reached a high level in ancient Greece and Rome, which left us numerous examples of physical exercises (disco and javelin throwing, running competitions, wrestling, various ball games and other types of sports competitions), physical education institutions (gymnasiums) and facilities (stadiums). The sport of the ancient Greek slave-owning society was accessible only to the slave-owning class and served its interests; slaves were not allowed to participate in competitions held in the form of Olympic, Isthmian, Nemian, Pythian and other games of the ancient world. Physical development was considered the most important area of education. The war became commonplace, and the main share of participation in it increasingly passed to the broad mass of ordinary citizens. Small states were constantly at war with each other, and victory in the war largely depended on the ability of the polis to field a sufficient number of hardy and strong warriors. Thanks to this, physical exercises have become an important social activity in Greece. The training began at an early age and was carried out in specially designated places – gymnasiums and palaestras – under the supervision of educators. All kinds of processions, round dances, and sometimes dances with weapons played an important role in public life. The holidays were usually accompanied by competitions: gymnastic, equestrian and musical. Very early (back in the 8th century BC), Greek competitions arose, the importance of which in the life of ancient Greece is visible from the fact that even the chronology was conducted according to the Olympic Games, which were held every four years during the Zeus festival in Olympia, and this four-year anniversary was named after the winner in the race. Military operations ceased during the Olympic Games. The chronology of the Olympic Games was established in the 3rd century BC.

In Central America, the Mesoamerican ball game was developed, including among the Olmec people – already in the XIV century BC There were various types of games in which it was allowed to hit the ball with different parts of the body or with a stick, playgrounds found with rings reinforced at different ends at high altitude indicate the possible existence of a similarity of modern basketball. The ball game was used by the peoples of America to resolve controversial issues (including disputes over territory) and was often of a ritual nature, especially during the heyday of the Maya culture; A defeat in the game could result in death for the losers who were sacrificed.