spectator sport

spectator sport

1. A sport that is watched by an audience, such as football or baseball. My favorite spectator sport is ice hockey, what's yours?
2. By extension, something other than sports that people watch without participating in. The Democratic and Republican National Conventions turn the presidential election into a spectator sport. Gym class is not a spectator sport! Stand up and start participating.
See also: sport
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • get (one's) eye in
  • get your eye in
  • independent
  • independent as a hog on ice
  • play (one's) heart out
  • hurler on the ditch
  • take the body
  • make sport of (someone or something)
  • train for
  • train for (something)
References in periodicals archive
You would be forgiven for thinking chess didn't exist outside the realms of Peep Show's Mark Corrigan or Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series, but there remains little doubt the game has grand designs on entering the stratosphere of spectator sport.
In this study, we conjectured on the basis of a review of literature, that the inconsistency could be ascribed to researchers' failure to consider whether or not spectators fulfill their motives through spectator sport. Moreover, as suggested by Ryan and Deci (2001), fulfillment of human needs can lead to improved well-being.
"Did you know spectator sports were invented by the Romans?" I asked my son later, as my wife watched suspiciously, knowing from experience that such father-son bonding usually leads to outlandish revelations.
Including spectator sports means that auto racing, figure skating, and other such activities fall into this definition of the sports industry.
More than a decade after its Japanese invention, the celebrity chef cook-off is a spectator sport that's here to stay.
How do I make sure my religious practice does not become a spectator sport, sitting on the sidelines instead of being an active team player?
Golf is a peculiar spectator sport. Unlike most other spectator sports, only those who have tried to play the game can really appreciate the athleticism and mental tenacity required to succeed.
-- Brooks Pharmacy is making basketball a more affordable spectator sport for Boston Celtics fans.
With spelling turning into a spectator sport in America, spelling bee winners like Sai Gunturi (above), this year's Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee champion, are becoming instant celebrities.
Democracy is not a spectator sport. It demands that each of us become as informed as possible.
As a formal and dramatic concern on the other hand, independence can be the stuff of stirring spectator sport.
A track meet can be the best spectator sport there is.
Democracy is not a spectator sport. Advocacy is essential in order to get favorable legislation passed and to get dollars allocated to MS-related research.
Its principal spectator sport, raquette, resembled Choctaw lacrosse, with a short stick in each hand.
"Ninety percent of the electorate doesn't pay attention to the election until the conventions." He characterizes the attitudes of the general public toward the run for the presidency as "a spectator sport" up until the conventions.