Sporting Events Every Fan Should See Live Before They Retire

Every serious sports fan has a version of this list in their head, even if they've never written it down. Here's ours — four events, four sports, each one chosen for a specific reason it's worth building a trip around rather than just watching on television.

Wimbledon, for the ceremony

No other tennis tournament, and arguably no other event in sport, treats tradition as seriously as Wimbledon does. The all-white dress code, strict enough that officials have pulled players aside over the color of an undergarment, has been formally enforced since 1963 and tightened more than once since. Centre Court holds under 15,000 people — small by modern stadium standards — which is part of why it still feels like an occasion rather than a show.

The Open Championship, for the golf itself

Golf's oldest championship, first played in 1860, still hands its winner a trophy — the Claret Jug — that most champions never actually get to keep; the original stays permanently on display at St Andrews, and winners take home a replica instead. It's the one major that insists on links golf specifically, at courses shaped by coastline and weather rather than architect's design alone.

A Boxing Day Test at the MCG, for the scale

94,199 people showed up to watch Day 1 of the 2025 Boxing Day Ashes Test — a new all-time attendance record for cricket at the ground, beating even a men's World Cup final. No other format of the sport, anywhere, draws a single-day crowd close to that number. It's the one fixture that proves Test cricket, the slowest format in the sport, can still fill a stadium the size of a football final.

A Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, for the driving

When F1 drivers are polled on their favorite circuit, Spa-Francorchamps comes up more than any other track on the calendar — ahead of Monaco, ahead of Suzuka. At 7.004 kilometers it's the longest circuit F1 currently races, and its Eau Rouge-Raidillon sequence remains one of the sport's genuine tests of nerve, taken flat-out by the bravest drivers in the field.

This isn't a ranked list — there's no real way to rank a Wimbledon final against a Boxing Day Test, they're not competing for the same thing. It's a starting point: four events, four different reasons to travel, each one worth building an actual trip around rather than saving for "someday."