The term “sports film” is generally used to describe any competitive, action-filled film that features professional sport as its main story line or focus. A sports movie is a film genre which makes use of sports as the major focus of the movie. It’s a popular production since most sports fans tend to enjoy watching a movie that centers around their favorite team, player, or league. It’s also considered to be a sub-genre of Documentary, but sports movies tend to tell a more personal and detailed story than documentaries would.
Basically, it’s all about using sports as a medium to tell a story. There are many different definitions for what constitutes a sports film, but all of them generally center on the element of competition when it comes to the story and the characters involved within it. It can also include actual physical contests or competitions between two competing teams/teams, as well as one of the players or coaches from either team participating in the contest. Often, it’s just about an institution, organization, or club, who gets together to have a particular activity or competition. These may include luge or ski races, baseball championships, boxing matches, or even swimming tournaments.
So if we are looking for a clear definition as to what sports movies are, then it would be easy to determine that it’s about as close as you can get to being an actual sports event without actually having one. It’s about as close as it’s possible to get to documenting actual competition and/or sport between actual competitors, which may not include humans. Some people view sports movies as if they’re trying to get a real point or a life experience out of watching sports, which may not be the case with the audience members, but it certainly can be considered a sports story. Whether or not you agree with the definition entirely, it’s still clear that most people from all walks of life enjoy sports and most will say that they can’t do without watching sports, unless they have been in a coma or on life support!