Archaeologists have discovered thirteen ballgame courts in Chichen Itza, but the Great Ballcourt, located about 150 meters northwest of El Castillo, is the most impressive. It is the largest and best-preserved ballgame court in ancient Mesoamerica, measuring 168 by 70 meters.

Parallel platforms located on the sides of the main playing field are each 95 meters long. The walls of these platforms are 8 meters high, with rings carved in the center of each wall, featuring intertwined feathered serpents. At the base of the tall inner walls are sloping benches with sculptural panels depicting teams of ballplayers. On one panel, one of the players is beheaded; from the wound flow streams of blood shaped like writhing snakes. There is currently debate over whether this particular court was ever actually used for ballgames or if it was a giant monument to the game and sacrifices.

The Jaguar Temples are built into the eastern wall. The Upper Jaguar Temple faces the ballcourt with its windows, and its entrance is guarded by two large columns carved with the familiar feathered serpent motif. Inside is a large, heavily damaged fresco depicting a battle scene. At the entrance to the Lower Jaguar Temple, located behind the ballcourt, there is another Jaguar throne similar to the one inside the inner temple of El Castillo, except it is heavily worn and lacks paint or other decorations. The outer columns and walls inside the temple are covered with intricate bas-relief carvings. The Great Ballcourt at Chichen Itza shows the arrival and development of the Itza people, the evolution of religious ideas and a style called “Maya-Yucatec” because it incorporates elements of Puuc archaeology. This style combines architecture, sculpture, and painting in the spirit of militarism and the cult of Kukulkan, which began spreading in the Maya region during the Classic period, sparking a revival of culture and society in the lands of the Yucatan.

This particular court has very interesting acoustics; for example, a conversation at one end can be heard 135 meters away at the other, and, as in many other buildings not only in Chichen Itza, a clap produces multiple loud echoes. The central panels of the sidewalks depict a procession of ballplayers, seven on each side of the round central motif shaped like a skull, a symbol of death. The first figure on the right is beheaded, kneeling on one knee on the ground, with blood flowing from his neck in the form of snakes. The first figure on the left is the one performing the sacrifice, holding a knife in one hand and the head of the beheaded player in the other.

All characters are richly dressed; with large and precious feathers on their helmets and backs, ear caps and nose rings, arm shields, wide belts shaped like palms in front of them, knee pads, precious disks behind the belt, heeled sandals, kilts, chest muscles shaped like a carved neck, zoomorphic insignias worn in the hand, zoomorphic helmets. The entire composition is full of floral motifs, vegetable branches filling the gaps between the characters.

Of course, this scene of beheading one of the players is connected with human sacrifice, possibly related to the fertility of the land, water, and sun, as well as to Kukulkan or Quetzalcoatl, who was the god of agriculture, time, the year, and the creator of people, the new humanity, and the Fifth Sun. This concept was introduced by the Itza people, who had customs and cultural elements borrowed from other peoples, such as the Huastec-type nose tip, a wind chest emblem shaped like a cut shell, belt harnesses, zoomorphic bags, beheading with blood flowing in the form of snakes.

The games were serious affairs and were used to resolve political and social disputes. Disagreements between two parties or cities could be settled by assembling teams to play on behalf of the sides. Losing—or, as is now more popularly believed, winning—the game often meant beheading. On many archaeological monuments, skull racks were used to display the heads of victims.

Sources:

https://www.ontheroadin.com/Mexico%20Archeology/Chichen%20Itza%20The%20Grand%20Ball%20Court.htm

https://mayanpeninsula.com/en/great-ball-court-chichen-itza/