15 ’80s Sports Tournaments That Are No Longer Played
These vanished tournaments were once thrilling staples of their era, each with its own style and following.
- Alyana Aguja
- 5 min read
The sports world of the 1980s was packed with bold experiments, growing international ambitions, and media-driven spectacles. Many tournaments that thrived in that decade fell victim to changing regulations, commercialization, or simply outgrew their formats. While no longer active, they remain important markers in the evolving history of global sport.
1. Pepsi Grand Slam (Tennis)
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Held annually from 1976 to 1981 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the Pepsi Grand Slam was an elite invitational tennis event that gathered only top-ranked players. Its round-robin format was a rarity in tennis and gave fans a chance to watch consistent head-to-head battles. It lost steam as more official ATP tournaments gained prominence.
2. Camel GT Championship (IMSA Sports Car Racing)
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The Camel GT Championship was a big part of the American motorsports scene during the ’70s and ’80s. Featuring legendary drivers and iconic cars like the Porsche 962, the series was known for its gritty endurance races. The rise of new regulations and series rebranding eventually phased it out by the mid-1990s.
3. Trans America Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament (Original Format)
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Before it became the Atlantic Sun Conference, the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) had its own basketball tournament that ran from 1979 in a very regional and limited setup. Teams like Centenary and Oklahoma City took part before the major reshuffling happened. That original version is long gone due to NCAA realignments.
4. World Professional Figure Skating Championships
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This invite-only event, which ran from the mid-1980s to the 1990s, allowed professional figure skaters, who were often barred from amateur competitions, to shine on a global stage. Held in Landover, Maryland, it featured legends like Scott Hamilton and Katarina Witt. It disappeared after the rules for amateur reinstatement changed in the Olympics.
5. Coca-Cola Classic (College Football, Tokyo)
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In a bid to globalize college football, the Coca-Cola Classic was held in Tokyo from 1986 to 1993, featuring NCAA teams playing regular-season games overseas. The novelty of seeing teams like Nebraska or Wisconsin in Japan was short-lived. It was discontinued as logistics and interest waned.
6. The Tournament Players Championship (TPC) at Sawgrass—Match Play Edition
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Before it became the stroke play format we know today, TPC experimented with match play formats in the ’80s. The version featuring match play added drama but confused traditionalists and didn’t stick. The PGA opted for a more standardized format in 1982, phasing the experiment out.
7. World Team Cup (Tennis)
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Held in Düsseldorf from 1978 to 2012, the World Team Cup was an annual team event for men’s tennis players that often served as a pre-French Open warm-up. In the ’80s, it was a hot ticket with tennis superstars representing their countries. Sponsorship troubles and competition from new events eventually ended its run.
8. USFL (United States Football League) Championship Game
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The USFL launched in 1983 as a spring football league and quickly gained traction with major players like Herschel Walker and Steve Young. Its championship games were dramatic, with high stakes and national broadcasts. By 1986, legal missteps and poor management collapsed the league entirely.
9. Virginia Slims Championships (Women’s Tennis)
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This year-end women’s tournament began in the early ’70s and was a cornerstone of the ’80s WTA calendar. Sponsored controversially by a cigarette brand, it drew the best female players like Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. It was renamed and absorbed into the WTA Finals after the tobacco sponsorship ban.
10. Superstars Competition
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This made-for-TV athletic showdown aired throughout the ’70s and ’80s, where athletes from various sports competed in non-specialized events like swimming or bike racing. It was part competition, part spectacle, and all entertainment. By the end of the ’80s, it lost its novelty and faded from prime time.
11. The Pan Pacific Championship (Soccer)
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This short-lived soccer tournament ran from the late ’80s and featured club teams from across Asia and the Pacific Rim. Teams from the J-League, K-League, and A-League battled for regional bragging rights. Organizational challenges and the growing calendar congestion killed it off early.
12. Indoor Grand Prix (Track and Field)
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Before the Diamond League and World Indoor Tours became official circuits, there were isolated indoor Grand Prix events in places like Madison Square Garden. These meets were big deals in the ’80s, with stars like Carl Lewis electrifying fans. A lack of coordination between global federations ended the standalone model.[[nm
13. World Cup of Golf (Original Format)
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Initially called the Canada Cup, this event had its heyday in the ’70s and early ’80s, where teams of two golfers represented their nations. The competition was informal yet prestigious, with many PGA stars participating. The structure was completely overhauled in the ’90s to fit into modern tour schedules.
14. Battle of the Network Stars (Celebrity Sports)
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While not purely athletic, this sports-based TV event featured celebrities from major American networks competing in obstacle courses, relays, and tug-of-war. It was a cultural fixture during the ’70s and early ’80s. As television shifted, the novelty wore off and producers shelved it by the end of the decade.
15. NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs (Old Format)
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In the ’80s, the NCAA I-AA football playoffs (now FCS) had a much smaller bracket, with fewer schools competing and more regional biases. It was a rawer, more grassroots version of college playoff football. The expansion and restructuring in the 1990s changed it entirely.