With spring training underway for Major League Baseball – 150 years after the start of the National League – it’s fun to look at some fringe sports that hope someday to become mainstream and have staying power. Good luck with that.
International Dance League
The International Dance League on March 4 announced the launch of its first official competitive season, marking a major milestone in the league’s mission to establish dance as a professional, global sport.
“IDL’s first season will feature six of the most influential and accomplished professional dance teams in the world, competing across six scheduled regular-season events in New York (USA), Vancouver (Canada), Sydney (Australia), Seoul (South Korea), and two in Los Angeles (USA),” IDL said in a news release. “Each event will have standardized judging and a championship title modeled after traditional professional sports leagues, with a season champion crowned at the end.”
The first event is set for May 2 in New York City. The championship will be held in Los Angeles on Sept. 20.
“Fans can expect high-level athletic performances, cultural expression, and live entertainment, catering to both in-person audiences and global digital viewership,” IDL said.
Saber Legion World Championships
The competitive world of LED lightsaber combat is the subject of a new documentary called “Saber.” It focuses on a group of dedicated saber combat athletes – and likely “Star Wars” fanatics – as they prepare for the Saber Legion World Championships in Las Vegas, according to GeekTyrant.
Ultimate Fighting Bots
Ultimate Fighting Bots is the world’s first humanoid robot combat league where humans pilot robots in real-time battles. The most recent event was held Jan. 6 in Las Vegas at the Battlebots Arena. I’ll be more interested when the robots are autonomous.
World Chase Tag
World Chase Tag is the first and only global league for competitive tag. Born from a backyard game in 2011, WCT now attracts athletes from 18 nations across two divisions: an open division and a dedicated women’s division.
Two teams of up to 6 athletes face off inside The Quad, a 12-meter by 12-meter arena filled with obstacles, adding a parkour element to the game. Each match is best of 16 chases. If the evader survives 20 seconds without being tagged, their team scores. If a match is tied, it goes to Sudden Death Chase-Off. Each team picks their best chaser and best evader for one final chase each.
World Axe Throwing League
The World Axe Throwing League has taken the recreational activity of axe throwing and turned it into a competitive sport.
The World Axe Throwing League has brought together axe-throwing clubs and standardized the sport with official league rules and safety protocols.
American Cornhole League
The American Cornhole League is attempting to turn the casual backyard bag-tossing game into a pro sport. These tossers take this game seriously.
Major League Wiffle Ball
Major League Wiffle Ball, aka MLW, is a professional wiffleball league, established in 2009. MLW currently features an eight-team league based out of Brighton, Michigan. It also sponsors a tournament circuit. It has hosted tournaments in Michigan, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Texas, and Arizona.
USA Pickleball National Championships
The leisure activity of pickleball has gone big time with the USA Pickleball National Championships. The next championships will be held at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, Calif., from Oct. 31 through Nov. 8.
Pillow Fight Championship
The Pillow Fight Championship is a professional sports organization that arranges competitive pillow fighting matches. It was founded in 2021 and offers a unique style of combat sport using specialized pillows, according to Wikipedia.
Enhanced Games
The upcoming Enhanced Games will feature athletes who are allowed to take performance-enhancing drugs banned in other sports. The May 24 event in Las Vegas will feature 50 athletes competing in swimming, weightlifting and track and field.
(See articles by ESPN and the Guardian.)
Related articles:
Blood sports satisfy primal male urges for violence (Tech-media-tainment; March 7, 2026)
ESPN’s ‘The Ocho’ Is Back, but Is Axe Throwing a Sport? We Asked. (Morning Consult; Aug. 6, 2019)
Strange sports: Lingerie MMA, pizza acrobatics, lumberjack contests (Tech-media-tainment; Sept. 23, 2017)
Photos from their respective sports organizations.
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