Is it illegal to record major sporting events and sell them to individuals? (i.e the US open final )?

Answer 1

you can record major sporting events legally, its the selling part thats illegal.

Answer 2

Technically speaking, you can't record ANY copyrighted broadcast or other media for ANY reason.

The advent of video recording forced exceptions to be made for personal, home-only, viewing (i.e., not re-broadcasting it to the neighborhood, your church, etc, regardless of whether you charge for it), but the selling of any copyrighted materials - - whether via your home recorder or live at the stadium - - is totally illegal, unless you receive a license to do so from the franchise (in this case, the USTA, assuming you were referring to tennis) and the broadcasters (again, if this is referring to tennis, the USA Network and CBS), which, I guarantee you won't get! (i.e., if you had to ask the question, then you have no idea what's involved, and, by the time you even start the red tape, you'll have missed the next five US Opens!). ;)