spectator sport

plural spectator sports

1. A sporting activity which has a relatively high ratio of watchers to direct participants.

   Today harness racing is a $430 million-a-year business, the fastest-growing spectator sport in the U.S.

   1953 October 5, “Yonkers Doodle”, in Time

2. idiomaticSomething, especially a process or activity, which is a popular object of observation; an activity which a person prefers to watch rather than to participate in.

   Politics for me was strictly a spectator sport.

   1977, Muriel Clara Bradbrook, My Cambridge, →ISBN, page 120

   1 more example

   The singer Britney Spears, whose descent into a personal abyss has become a ghoulish worldwide spectator sport, yesterday left a Los Angeles hospital.

   2008 January 6, David Randall, “Britney Spears, one-woman disaster zone, leaves hospital after two days”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 31 Aug 2009

3. idiomaticAn activity which consists of watching or observing.

   Rubbernecking is only a spectator sport.

   2008, Andrew Savva, Trisomy 13, →ISBN, page 112

   1 more example

   Thompson, who's the digest's publisher, says bird watching is a hobby, a pastime and a spectator sport that can be enjoyed anywhere.

   2007 June 1, Brian Dakss, “Expert Offers Basics On What Some Call Nation's No. 1 Spectator Sport”, in CBS News, retrieved 31 Aug 2009