One big problem with your idea is that the sports you mentioned
all benefited from some kind of "meaningful" structure.
Eg: ping-pong championships, a contest
to determine the strongest man in the world,
or even the exotic-sounding match-ups of Geelong vs St Kilda playing
in their championships.
By way of contrast, if the Miami Dolphins wanted to reinvent themselves
today in the style of American jai-alai, they would withdraw from
the NFL, maintain a roster of about 40 players, and play among
themselves 7 or 8 times a week with in-house scrimages between
randomly selected teams. Year-round.
So jai-alai needed to solve the "big event" problem
first in order to capitalize on possible TV exposure.
