The evidence provided by coins has not been systematically incorporated in studies of ancient sport and spectacle. Coins are a source material as important as other documentary and visual sources; arguably, they are potentially of even greater importance, since coins constitute a more complete visual record than any other surviving form of ancient art. Students of sport and spectacle that will benefit most from numismatics are those who grapple with questions about identity, perception, and political expediency in the ancient games. This contribution explores the different ways in which sport and spectacle were referred to on Greek and Roman coins. In the Greek world, city-states referred to festivals and athletics on their coins to announce their identities, whether through the depiction of Panhellenic festivals, local competitions, or the renowned athletes to which they were home. Even under Roman rule, coins of the Greek cities made reference to games in this way. In the Roman republic and empire, coin designs dealt more with the ideological agenda of the authority behind the production of coins (e.g., republican moneyer, late republican triumvir, or the emperor). As a result, depictions of games tended to reflect political expediency. For instance, some republican moneyers promised to hold games if elected to the aedileship and some emperors commemorated their sponsorship of and provisioning for games. Many coins that celebrated certain festivals or construction work on entertainment buildings may have been produced for special distributions, perhaps at the festivals or dedicatory games in question.