This is both a question and a thread to gauge current interest in the topic.

But how many sports are there in Etheirys overall?

We know there are probably some form of marathons, archery competitions and such from in-lore mentions and just implicit observations (if there's an archery guild, odds are there are archery competitions). There are even more logical sports such as chess and Doman Mahjong.

But when it comes to sports like Soccer, Basketball or more fantastical sports such as Blitzball, would those exist? And if so, would athletes be considered important figures at all?

That said, what do people think of the inclusion of Blitzball as of now? I remember there were people who wanted it a while back, and Yoshida did mention considering adding something like it to the Gold Saucer, but I think he was just joking as it didn't go anywhere. Maybe there wasn't enough of a push for it?