Exhibition game

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An exhibition game (also known as a demonstration, a friendly, a warmup match, a scrimmage, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the team's rankings is either zero or otherwise greatly reduced. Matches of this type are often used to help managers select players for the competitive matches of a tournament and, if the players usually play in different teams in other leagues, it's an opportunity for the players to learn to work with each other. The games can be held between separate teams or between parts of the same team.

For example, two professional snooker or chess players, or two ice hockey teams, may play an exhibition to settle a challenge, to provide professional entertainment, or often to raise money for charities.

Association football[edit]

Exhibition game


Club football[edit]


International football[edit]



Fundraising game[edit]


Bounce game[edit]


Ice hockey[edit]









It also used to be commonplace to have a team play an exhibition against Minor League affiliates during the regular season, but worries of injuries to players, along with travel issues, have made this very rare. The annual MLB All-Star Game, played in July between players from AL teams and players from NL teams, was long considered an exhibition match, but as of 2003 this status was questioned because the league whose team wins the All-Star game has been awarded home field advantage for the upcoming World Series.



Professional basketball[edit]



College basketball[edit]


American football[edit]

Professional football[edit]



College and high school football[edit]



However, most of the major FBS teams annually schedule early season non-conference preseason home games against lesser opponents that are lower-tier FBS, Football Championship, or Division II schools, which often result in lopsided victories in favor of the FBS teams and act as exhibition games in all but name, though they additionally provide a large appearance fee and at least one guaranteed television appearance for the smaller school. These games also receive the same criticism as NFL exhibition games, but instead it is targeted to schools scheduling low-quality opponents and the simplicity for a team to run up the score against a weak opponent. However, these games are susceptible to backfiring, resulting in damage in poll position and public perception, especially if the higher ranked team lose, although the mere act of scheduling a weak opponent is harmful to a team's overall strength of schedule itself. Games an FBS team schedules against lower division opponents do not count toward the minimum seven wins required for bowl eligibility, and only one game against an FCS team can be counted. With the start of the College Football Playoff system for the 2014 season, major teams are now discouraged from scheduling weaker opponents for their non-conference schedule because of a much higher emphasis on strength of schedule than in the Bowl Championship Series era.

High school football teams frequently participate in controlled scrimmages with other teams during preseason practice, but exhibition games are rare because of league rules and concerns about finances, travel and player injuries, along with enrollments not being registered until the early part of August in most school districts under the traditional September–June academic term. A more common exhibition is the high school football all-star game, which brings together top players from a region. These games are typically played by graduating seniors during the summer or at the end of the season. Many of these games are used as showcases for players to be seen by colleges.

Canadian football[edit]


Australian rules football[edit]


Auto racing[edit]

Various auto racing organizations hold exhibition events; these events usually award no championship points to participants, but they do offer prize money to participants. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series holds two exhibition events annually - the Sprint Unlimited, held at Daytona International Speedway at the start of the season, and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, held at Charlotte Motor Speedway midway through the season. Both events carry a hefty purse of over USD $1,000,000. NASCAR has also held exhibition races at Suzuka Circuit and Twin Ring Motegi in Japan and Calder Park Thunderdome in Australia.



See also[edit]


  1. ^ Bounce game Free Online Dictionary
  11. ^ Baseball Reference

External links[edit]