I wouldn't get too carried away. During the height of the Texas Hold 'Em boom a decade ago, "Poker" was one of the top-level nav items on ESPN's website ("WWE"

I wouldn't get too carried away. During the height of the Texas Hold 'Em boom a decade ago, "Poker" was one of the top-level nav items on ESPN's website ("WWE" is one today). As another comment reply has already alluded to, chess was frequently labeled a sport during its heyday in the years between Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov. What is a "sport"? Any form of competition that makes money from spectators, and from which writers can make money writing about. Period. It fluctuates over time, often quite rapidly.