I feel like that's an oversimplification. Like, https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:shop%3Dsports :

> sport=* if shop focuses on specific sport or sports

It's a qualifier tag that specifies what sport is associated with a feature. If it's a feature like leisure=pitch where sports are played, then that sport is played there. You usually don't play sports at a shop=sports but you can use sport=* on a shop=sports to say which sports equipment you can buy there. Similar to cuisine=*, which is usually used on amenity=restaurant/fast_food, but can also be used on shop=supermarket, even though you don't always eat food at a supermarket.