Yesterday I posted this query regarding some unnamed sport and challenged readers to "Name that Sport."
The answer: Roman Gladiators. Here's some more from the Sandy, Sloane, and Rosentraub text:
The games described above (i.e. in the previous post - PM) are the gladiatorial combats in the ancient Roman Republic and Empire. The schools were called ludi and a free person (as opposed to a slabe) could sign a contract with a school owner entitling himself to generous room and board and training in return for agreeing to fight in the arena over a fixed period. There was a season each year in which a series of games were held. Most combats were one-on-one affairs. Some of the contestants were free and others were slaves who had no choice about their occupation. Fairly late in the history of the Roman Empire a law was passed forbidding the sale of a slave to a gladiatorial school unless the slave had committed a serious crime and was convicted in a public trial. Gladitorial games were popular for about 900 years from the earliest times in the Roman repulbic to the end of the Empire.
The authors then go on to sargue that the economics of sports really hasn't changed since the days of the global empire, including the fact that fans want to see the highest level of competition and are willing to pay more for higher absolute quality. Uncertainty of outcome also mattered to Romans. They also talk about stadium issues, in particular one arena that was built specifically for one event. But because it was built so shoddily (to save costs), it collapsed and killed some spectators.
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