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The parallel between similarities of modern day stadiums and arenas in many major cities, and structures bearing similar size and shape to one another shared among major population centers in this part of the ancient world, is striking.

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Indeed, on seeing the pictures in the article I got the feeling that these might as well be structures used for playing a kind of sport, requiring a standardized shape and size like today's football pitch etc. People today like to play or watch sports, why wouldn't the ancient people like that too?

The distinction between sport and ritual human sacrifice isn't quite clear when it comes to this part of the world.

But who are we kidding, the Romans also built massive structures where they could watch people kill one another and/or get eaten by lions. The shape of those structures can definitely still be seen in the design of modern football stadiums.

They do! I visited "El Mirador" in the forest of Guatemala. And at one of the smaller cities on our way there, our guide pointed out that one of the small squares in, what was our entrance to, the town was probably used for playing a game similar to basketball but with a hard rock. There were also elevated places around it where people (albeit smaller in size) could have comfortably sit down and watched.

Edit: autocorrect is messing me up

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