High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In North American sports, "running up the score" occurs when a team continues to play in such a way as to score additional points after the outcome of the game is no longer in question and the team is assured of winning. In the United States and Canada, it is sometimes considered poor sportsmanship to "run up the score" in most circumstances (exceptions are listed below); sporting alternatives include pulling out most of the team`s first string players, or calling plays designed to run out the clock (e.g., in American football, kneeling, running the ball up the middle, punting on first down). The term and concept are not common elsewhere in the world, where low-scoring sports, such as soccer, predominate.