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Modified Sports - Shorter, Faster and More Exciting

There is a trend for some traditional sports to create a modified version of their game in order to attract new participants and audiences. It is a challenge to attract people who generally have less leisure time in the modern world, and have other things competing for this limited attention.

The changes that are made to the sports include reducing the game time, player numbers and field size, and modifying the rules to make the game faster with fewer breaks in play. All these changes are designed to make the games more entertaining, the spectators more engaged, and to reach a result in a shorter time. At the same time, the sports are looking to involve more people participating in the sports too.



Examples of Some Modified Sports

Rugby 7s fast break Rugby 7s is a fast-paced shorter version of rugby union

Success Stories

Some modified sports have been very successful, and even becoming more popular than the traditional sport they derived from. T20 cricket is now the most popular form of cricket, and is being played at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Cricket would be looking to return to the Olympic program one day in this format. The five-day Test cricket format would never have a chance of that. The shorter faster and more exciting format of rugby union, Rugby 7s, earned a place on the Olympic program in 2016, and basketball 3x3 has also recently been added to the Olympic program.



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