I think so and from what I've seen, it's on it's way to becoming one.
I know at my high school, we have a chess "team" and it's treated like a sport and not a club. Even though it only has like 4 members and it's budget is piss poor, they still have a representative in our school's "sport's council" and they're included in our pep rallies. So, I think more and more people are starting to treat it as a sport.
But with that being said, I still think that timers would have to be implemented to keep the games exciting and there would have to be certain regulations.