Sport in Alternate History. Part 1.

[Walpurgisnacht]

I feel like you could sidestep the issue about the fictional sport being a sideshow if you made the TL largely about the sport—either as a history book/TL of the development of the American Cricket League causing Humphrey to campaign in Wisconsin or w/e, or a narrative TL about some struggling Division 3 Football-But-With-Shin-Kicking team—but that then makes the issue of “this is a niche subject within the genre” much worse, since your readership numbers would crash.

 

[Geordie]

Glen, over on ah.com, had alternate sports arise in his Dominion of Southern America tl. From memory, he had two different games, both with elements of football and rugby, take the place of those sports. But that was a one-off colour segment in an old style all encompassing tl.

 

[Francisco Cojuanco]

It's all rules-dependent- if Quidditch is a promotion-and-relegation system where the season's total point spread matters, suddenly the snitch is not a completely silly game mechanic, but something which the captains and coaches and seekers can strategize on, and where there may be a reason for the rest of the game mechanics and players to go on.

Not to mention just normal strategizing - in the books it's implied that Harry is unusually good at seeking, otherwise it might be possible to make it so that a team would win regardless of who takes the Snitch,

 

[Lemon flavoured]

For my fictional verse (which I've posted bit and pieces of) I've "invented" two sports, versions of American Football (although it takes more from the CFL, really) and Hockey. Soccer and Baseball also exist in that universe. None of this is ever likely to be relevant to the plot of anything I write for it, but I like the flavour of it.

 

[Stateless]

@Jared has a fictional football-like game in Lands of Red and Gold, the finer points of which escape me offhand.