Spring and Fall Games

February 10, 2014 7:53 PM

There are summer and winter versions of big sports events such as the Olympics and the X Games. Are there spring and fall-based sporting events too? If not, why not? Are there any sports that are specially seasonal outside summer/winter?
posted by divabat to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

Spring training in baseball, and the season ends with "The Fall Classic".
posted by colin_l at 7:58 PM on February 10, 2014

Hiking is something that really is best in spring and fall in many climates. I don't know if that qualifies as a "sport."

Canoeing and kayaking is better in springtime across much of the US, as the rivers are full of snowmelt.

Football's really a fall sport (fall season) with just the pro playoffs pushing into winter.

In the academic calendar, sports often follow the spring and fall semester - some being offered only during one of the two semesters.
posted by Miko at 8:01 PM on February 10, 2014

The distinction isn't really "summer" and "winter" so much as it's "sports that require snow and/or ice" and "sports that don't."

But American football is definitely a "fall" sport, to the point that the idea of a Super Bowl played in wintry conditions made many people pretty upset this year.
posted by Etrigan at 8:03 PM on February 10, 2014 [2 favorites]

Lacrosse is a spring sport.
Cross Country a fall sport.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:03 PM on February 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

I came in to say that cross country running is absolutely a fall sport.

it is also the best sport
posted by elmer benson at 8:15 PM on February 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

football=fall
posted by HuronBob at 8:19 PM on February 10, 2014

The Russian football/soccer league runs mid July-December and then March-mid May to avoid the worst of winter. I feel like this is perceived as much more of a shift from the rest of Europe than it really is (everyone else plays roughly late August to mid May; a lot of leagues stop for two-ish weeks from Christmas to Epiphany, Germany stops for six). Mexico's season is set up as two 'tournaments'* with a break from November to January, which is sort of a fall-spring schedule. (This happens elsewhere in Latin America, too. The MLS runs in the summer, unlike most leagues in the world, to avoid colliding with popular North American sports that aren't baseball.)

Actually, it seems like a lot of team sports run fall-winter, winter-spring or fall-spring. (And then there's cricket, which avoids cold by scheduling things when/where it's going to be warm.)

*I have no idea how to explain this succinctly. This is the Wikipedia article.
posted by hoyland at 5:55 AM on February 11, 2014

March Madness?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 6:25 AM on February 11, 2014

Are there spring and fall-based sporting events too? If not, why not? Are there any sports that are specially seasonal outside summer/winter?

Are you asking if there are sports that are traditionally played during spring or fall? Sure, there's plenty, many cited above, and many more to come in the thread, I'm sure.

Or are you asking if there are any sports that could be played only during spring and/or fall, but not summer? I don't think so—certainly none come to mind. I think any outdoor, non-snow/ice sports are potentially at least three-season sports. And of course, with modern HVAC systems, any indoor sport (including those on ice) can potentially be done year-round.

(Global warming could change that; witness the temporary suspension of the recent Australian Open tennis tournament due to extreme heat. If warming continues, it could become infeasible to play outdoor sports in the summer in some parts of the world.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:11 AM on February 11, 2014

Cyclocross is a fall sport.
posted by Arts and Letters at 4:01 PM on February 11, 2014