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id="toc-Major_League_Baseball-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-National_Basketball_Association" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#National_Basketball_Association"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 1.2 National Basketball Association </div> </a> <ul id="toc-National_Basketball_Association-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-National_Football_League" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#National_Football_League"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 1.3 National Football League </div> </a> <ul id="toc-National_Football_League-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-National_Hockey_League" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#National_Hockey_League"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 1.4 National Hockey League </div> </a> <ul id="toc-National_Hockey_League-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other_notable_professional_leagues" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other_notable_professional_leagues"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2 Other notable professional leagues </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Other_notable_professional_leagues-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> Toggle Other notable professional leagues subsection </button> <ul id="toc-Other_notable_professional_leagues-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Major_League_Soccer" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Major_League_Soccer"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.1 Major League Soccer </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Major_League_Soccer-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Canadian_Football_League" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Canadian_Football_League"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.2 Canadian Football League </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Canadian_Football_League-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Traits_of_these_major_leagues" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Traits_of_these_major_leagues"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3 Traits of these major leagues </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Traits_of_these_major_leagues-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> Toggle Traits of these major leagues subsection </button> <ul id="toc-Traits_of_these_major_leagues-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Overview" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Overview"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.1 Overview </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Overview-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Revenues" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Revenues"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.2 Revenues </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Revenues-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Television_exposure" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Television_exposure"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.3 Television exposure </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Television_exposure-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Attendance" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Attendance"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.4 Attendance </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Attendance-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Franchise_valuations" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Franchise_valuations"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.5 Franchise valuations </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Franchise_valuations-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Franchise_stability" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Franchise_stability"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.6 Franchise stability </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Franchise_stability-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Number_and_locations_of_franchises" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Number_and_locations_of_franchises"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.7 Number and locations of franchises </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Number_and_locations_of_franchises-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-United_States" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#United_States"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.7.1 United States </div> </a> <ul id="toc-United_States-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Canada" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Canada"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.7.2 Canada </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Canada-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Ownership_restrictions" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Ownership_restrictions"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.8 Ownership restrictions </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Ownership_restrictions-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Challenges_from_rival_leagues" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Challenges_from_rival_leagues"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.9 Challenges from rival leagues </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Challenges_from_rival_leagues-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Fixed_league_membership" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Fixed_league_membership"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.10 Fixed league membership </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Fixed_league_membership-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Player_development" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Player_development"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.11 Player development </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Player_development-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-High_player_salaries" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#High_player_salaries"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.12 High player salaries </div> </a> <ul id="toc-High_player_salaries-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Dominance_of_the_sport" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Dominance_of_the_sport"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.13 Dominance of the sport </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Dominance_of_the_sport-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Use_of_the_phrase_"world_champions"" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Use_of_the_phrase_"world_champions""> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.13.1 Use of the phrase "world champions" </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Use_of_the_phrase_"world_champions"-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-History_and_expansion_of_major_leagues" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#History_and_expansion_of_major_leagues"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 4 History and expansion of major leagues </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-History_and_expansion_of_major_leagues-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> Toggle History and expansion of major leagues subsection </button> <ul id="toc-History_and_expansion_of_major_leagues-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-United_States_2" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#United_States_2"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 4.1 United States </div> </a> <ul id="toc-United_States_2-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-International_expansion" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#International_expansion"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 4.2 International expansion </div> </a> <ul id="toc-International_expansion-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Relations_between_leagues" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Relations_between_leagues"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 5 Relations between leagues </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Relations_between_leagues-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> Toggle Relations between leagues subsection </button> <ul id="toc-Relations_between_leagues-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Sports_equinox" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Sports_equinox"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 5.1 Sports equinox </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Sports_equinox-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 6 See also </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Footnotes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Footnotes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 7 Footnotes </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Footnotes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 8 References </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 9 External links </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet 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hreflang="hy" data-title="Գլխավոր սպորտային առաջնությունները Միացյալ Նահանգներում և Կանադայում" data-language-autonym="Հայերեն" data-language-local-name="Armenian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Հայերեն</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggiori_leghe_sportive_professionistiche_negli_Stati_Uniti_d%27America_e_in_Canada" title="Maggiori leghe sportive professionistiche negli Stati Uniti d'America e in Canada – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Maggiori leghe sportive professionistiche negli Stati Uniti d'America e in Canada" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target">Italiano</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%A2_%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%92%D7%95%D7%AA_%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA_%D7%91%D7%A6%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%9F_%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%94" title="ארבע הליגות המקצועניות בצפון אמריקה – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="ארבע הליגות המקצועניות בצפון אמריקה" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target">עברית</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ka mw-list-item"><a href="https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%9B%E1%83%97%E1%83%90%E1%83%95%E1%83%90%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98_%E1%83%9E%E1%83%A0%E1%83%9D%E1%83%A4%E1%83%94%E1%83%A1%E1%83%98%E1%83%9D%E1%83%9C%E1%83%90%E1%83%9A%E1%83%A3%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98_%E1%83%A1%E1%83%9E%E1%83%9D%E1%83%A0%E1%83%A2%E1%83%A3%E1%83%9A%E1%83%98_%E1%83%9A%E1%83%98%E1%83%92%E1%83%94%E1%83%91%E1%83%98" title="მთავარი პროფესიონალური სპორტული ლიგები – Georgian" lang="ka" hreflang="ka" data-title="მთავარი პროფესიონალური სპორტული ლიგები" data-language-autonym="ქართული" data-language-local-name="Georgian" class="interlanguage-link-target">ქართული</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E7%B1%B34%E5%A4%A7%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B9%E3%83%9D%E3%83%BC%E3%83%84%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B0" title="北米4大プロスポーツリーグ – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="北米4大プロスポーツリーグ" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target">日本語</a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple mw-list-item"><a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_professional_sports_leagues_of_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="Major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" 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class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Derek_Jeter_defense.jpg/252px-Derek_Jeter_defense.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Derek_Jeter_defense.jpg/336px-Derek_Jeter_defense.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2110" data-file-height="1771" /></a></div><div class="thumbcaption text-align-left"><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball" title="Major League Baseball">Major League Baseball</a> (MLB)</div></div></div><div class="trow"><div class="tsingle" style="width:170px;max-width:170px"><div class="thumbimage" style="height:124px;overflow:hidden"><a href="/wiki/File:LeBron_James_Layup_(Cleveland_vs_Brooklyn_2018).jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/LeBron_James_Layup_%28Cleveland_vs_Brooklyn_2018%29.jpg/168px-LeBron_James_Layup_%28Cleveland_vs_Brooklyn_2018%29.jpg" decoding="async" width="168" height="125" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/LeBron_James_Layup_%28Cleveland_vs_Brooklyn_2018%29.jpg/252px-LeBron_James_Layup_%28Cleveland_vs_Brooklyn_2018%29.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/LeBron_James_Layup_%28Cleveland_vs_Brooklyn_2018%29.jpg/336px-LeBron_James_Layup_%28Cleveland_vs_Brooklyn_2018%29.jpg 2x" data-file-width="5356" data-file-height="3983" /></a></div><div class="thumbcaption text-align-left"><a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_Association" title="National Basketball Association">National Basketball Association</a> (NBA)</div></div></div><div class="trow"><div class="tsingle" style="width:170px;max-width:170px"><div class="thumbimage" style="height:120px;overflow:hidden"><a href="/wiki/File:1986_Jeno%27s_Pizza_-_16_-_Eddie_Lee_Ivery.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/1986_Jeno%27s_Pizza_-_16_-_Eddie_Lee_Ivery.jpg/168px-1986_Jeno%27s_Pizza_-_16_-_Eddie_Lee_Ivery.jpg" decoding="async" width="168" height="120" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/1986_Jeno%27s_Pizza_-_16_-_Eddie_Lee_Ivery.jpg/252px-1986_Jeno%27s_Pizza_-_16_-_Eddie_Lee_Ivery.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/1986_Jeno%27s_Pizza_-_16_-_Eddie_Lee_Ivery.jpg/336px-1986_Jeno%27s_Pizza_-_16_-_Eddie_Lee_Ivery.jpg 2x" data-file-width="350" data-file-height="250" /></a></div><div class="thumbcaption text-align-left"><a href="/wiki/National_Football_League" title="National Football League">National Football League</a> (NFL)</div></div></div><div class="trow"><div class="tsingle" style="width:170px;max-width:170px"><div class="thumbimage" style="height:178px;overflow:hidden"><a href="/wiki/File:Mario_Lemieux_1992.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Mario_Lemieux_1992.jpg/168px-Mario_Lemieux_1992.jpg" decoding="async" width="168" height="178" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Mario_Lemieux_1992.jpg/252px-Mario_Lemieux_1992.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Mario_Lemieux_1992.jpg/336px-Mario_Lemieux_1992.jpg 2x" data-file-width="566" data-file-height="600" /></a></div><div class="thumbcaption text-align-left"><a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">National Hockey League</a> (NHL)</div></div></div><div class="trow"><div class="tsingle" style="width:170px;max-width:170px"><div class="thumbimage" style="height:126px;overflow:hidden"><a href="/wiki/File:Revs_vs_galaxy.JPG" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Revs_vs_galaxy.JPG/168px-Revs_vs_galaxy.JPG" decoding="async" width="168" height="126" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Revs_vs_galaxy.JPG/252px-Revs_vs_galaxy.JPG 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Revs_vs_galaxy.JPG/336px-Revs_vs_galaxy.JPG 2x" data-file-width="3264" data-file-height="2448" /></a></div><div class="thumbcaption text-align-left"><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">Major League Soccer</a> (MLS)</div></div></div><div class="trow"><div class="tsingle" style="width:170px;max-width:170px"><div class="thumbimage" style="height:107px;overflow:hidden"><a href="/wiki/File:JoffreyReynolds.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/JoffreyReynolds.jpg/168px-JoffreyReynolds.jpg" decoding="async" width="168" height="108" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/JoffreyReynolds.jpg/252px-JoffreyReynolds.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/JoffreyReynolds.jpg/336px-JoffreyReynolds.jpg 2x" data-file-width="900" data-file-height="576" /></a></div><div class="thumbcaption text-align-left"><a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">Canadian Football League</a> (CFL)</div></div></div></div></div> Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada traditionally include four leagues: <a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball" title="Major League Baseball">Major League Baseball</a> (MLB), the <a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_Association" title="National Basketball Association">National Basketball Association</a> (NBA), the <a href="/wiki/National_Football_League" title="National Football League">National Football League</a> (NFL), and the <a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">National Hockey League</a> (NHL). Other prominent leagues include <a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">Major League Soccer</a> (MLS) and the <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">Canadian Football League</a> (CFL). MLB, the NBA, the NFL, and the NHL are commonly referred to as the "Big Four".<a href="#cite_note-:0-1">[1]</a> Each of these is the wealthiest professional club competition in its sport worldwide, and along with the English <a href="/wiki/Premier_League" title="Premier League">Premier League</a> they make up the top five <a href="/wiki/List_of_professional_sports_leagues_by_revenue" title="List of professional sports leagues by revenue">sports leagues by revenue</a> in the world.<a href="#cite_note-urlMajor_sports_leagues_all_make_a_lot_of_money,_heres_how_they_do_it:,_Major_sports_leagues_all_make_a_lot_of_money,_heres_how_they_do_it:-2">[2]</a> Each of the Big Four leagues, as well as MLS and the CFL, averages at least 15,000 fans in attendance per game as of 2023<a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit">[update]</a>. The NFL has the largest stadiums on average in the world, ranging in capacity from just under 60,000 to almost 100,000 spectators, while MLB ballparks generally hold between 30,000 and 50,000 fans. Venues used primarily by MLS and CFL vary more widely in capacity, from about 20,000 to about 60,000.<a href="#cite_note-3">[a]</a> The two indoor leagues, the NHL and NBA, play mostly in arenas that hold 18,000 to 20,000 seats. There is a significant number of multi-purpose venues that host events in both NFL and MLS (5),<a href="#cite_note-:1-4">[3]</a> CFL and MLS (2),<a href="#cite_note-:2-5">[4]</a> MLB and MLS (1),<a href="#cite_note-6">[5]</a> and NBA and NHL (10).<a href="#cite_note-7">[6]</a> Teams in MLB and the NFL no longer share stadiums, although there are frequent examples of MLB and NFL teams sharing stadiums in the past. The NFL and MLB also play a limited number of annual games in English Premier League stadiums,<a href="#cite_note-8">[7]</a> and the NFL plays a limited number of annual games in stadiums of Germany's <a href="/wiki/Bundesliga" title="Bundesliga">Bundesliga</a>,<a href="#cite_note-9">[8]</a> and less often plays games in stadiums of Mexico's <a href="/wiki/Liga_MX" title="Liga MX">Liga MX</a>,<a href="#cite_note-10">[9]</a> Brazil's <a href="/wiki/Campeonato_Brasileiro_S%C3%A9rie_A" title="Campeonato Brasileiro Série A">Brasileirão</a>,<a href="#cite_note-11">[10]</a> and Spain's <a href="/wiki/La_Liga" title="La Liga">La Liga</a>.<a href="#cite_note-12">[11]</a> The Big Four leagues currently have 30 to 32 teams each, most of which are concentrated in the most populous metropolitan areas of the United States and Canada. Unlike the <a href="/wiki/Promotion_and_relegation" title="Promotion and relegation">promotion and relegation</a> systems used in sports leagues in various other regions around the world, North American sports leagues are <a href="/wiki/Closed_league" title="Closed league">closed leagues</a> that maintain the same teams from season-to-season. Expansion of the league usually occurs by adding newly formed teams, though mergers with competing leagues have also occurred. <a href="/wiki/Baseball" title="Baseball">Baseball</a>, <a href="/wiki/American_football" title="American football">American football</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Ice_hockey" title="Ice hockey">ice hockey</a> have had professional leagues continuously for over 100 years; early leagues such as the <a href="/wiki/National_Association_of_Professional_Base_Ball_Players" title="National Association of Professional Base Ball Players">National Association of Professional Base Ball Players</a>, the <a href="/wiki/Ohio_League" title="Ohio League">Ohio League</a>, and the <a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_Association" title="National Hockey Association">National Hockey Association</a> formed the basis of the modern MLB, NFL, and NHL, respectively. <a href="/wiki/Basketball" title="Basketball">Basketball</a> was invented in 1891, and its first professional league formed in the 1920s. The <a href="/wiki/Basketball_Association_of_America" title="Basketball Association of America">Basketball Association of America</a>, founded in 1946, formed the basis of the NBA in 1949 and has lasted for over 75 years. <a href="/wiki/Soccer" class="mw-redirect" title="Soccer">Soccer</a> was first professionalized in 1894, with past U.S.-based leagues including the <a href="/wiki/American_Soccer_League_(1921%E2%80%931933)" title="American Soccer League (1921–1933)">American Soccer League (1921–1933)</a> (ASL) and original <a href="/wiki/North_American_Soccer_League_(1968%E2%80%9384)" class="mw-redirect" title="North American Soccer League (1968–84)">North American Soccer League (1968–1984)</a> (NASL). Major League Soccer (MLS) was established in 1996.<a href="#cite_note-mlssoccer.com-13">[12]</a> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id=""Big_Four"_leagues">"Big Four" leagues</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: "Big Four" leagues">edit</a>]</div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Major_League_Baseball">Major League Baseball</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Major League Baseball">edit</a>]</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball" title="Major League Baseball">Major League Baseball</a></div> Major League Baseball is the highest level of play of <a href="/wiki/Baseball" title="Baseball">baseball</a> in the United States and Canada.<a href="#cite_note-aboutmlb-14">[13]</a> and the oldest of the major American leagues. It consists of the <a href="/wiki/National_League_(baseball)" title="National League (baseball)">National League</a> (founded in 1876) and the <a href="/wiki/American_League" title="American League">American League</a> (founded in 1901). With the establishment of the American League in 1901 also came the trademarking of "Major League Baseball". Cooperation between the two leagues began in 1903 inasmuch as the two league champions began playing a "<a href="/wiki/World_Series" title="World Series">World Series</a>". In 1904, however, there was no World Series played because one of the league champions refused to play. During the offseason, the owners of each league voted to have the league champions automatically play one another in the World Series and it was 90 years until another World Series was not played, in 1994, due to a work stoppage. The two leagues merged on an organizational level in 2000 with the elimination of separate league offices; they have shared a single <a href="/wiki/Commissioner_of_Baseball" class="mw-redirect" title="Commissioner of Baseball">Commissioner</a> since 1920. There are currently 30 member teams, with 29 located in the U.S. and 1 in Canada. Traditionally called the "<a href="/wiki/National_sport" title="National sport">National Pastime</a>", baseball was the first professional team sport in the U.S.<a href="#cite_note-urlGovernment,_Community,_and_Sports_Teams:_Tax_Credits_-_The_Policy_Circle-15">[14]</a><a href="#cite_note-urlMajor_Professional_Sports_Leagues:_The_US_&_Canada_|_The_Daily_Gazette,_Major_Professional_Sports_Leagues:_The_US_&_Canada_|_The_Daily_Gazette-16">[15]</a><a href="#cite_note-urlWhat_Is_the_Oldest_Major_Sports_League_in_the_U.S.?-17">[16]</a> MLB consistently draws the largest total attendance of any sports league in the world.<a href="#cite_note-18">[17]</a><a href="#cite_note-19">[18]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="National_Basketball_Association">National Basketball Association</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: National Basketball Association">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_Association" title="National Basketball Association">National Basketball Association</a></div> Josh Martin of <a href="/wiki/Bleacher_Report" title="Bleacher Report">Bleacher Report</a> described the National Basketball Association as "the best <a href="/wiki/Basketball" title="Basketball">basketball</a> league in the world" in a 2012 power ranking of international leagues,<a href="#cite_note-urlPower_Ranking_the_Best_Basketball_Leagues_in_the_World,_Outside_of_the_NBA_|_Bleacher_Report_|_Latest_News,_Videos_and_Highlights-20">[19]</a> and it is the youngest of the major American leagues. It was founded in 1949 with the merger of the <a href="/wiki/Basketball_Association_of_America" title="Basketball Association of America">Basketball Association of America</a> (BAA) and the <a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_League_(United_States)" title="National Basketball League (United States)">National Basketball League</a> (NBL)<a href="#cite_note-21">[20]</a> though it later adopted the BAA's founding date in 1946 as its own.<a href="#cite_note-22">[21]</a> Four teams from the rival <a href="/wiki/American_Basketball_Association" title="American Basketball Association">American Basketball Association</a> joined the NBA with the <a href="/wiki/ABA%E2%80%93NBA_merger" title="ABA–NBA merger">ABA–NBA merger</a> in 1976. It currently has 30 teams, 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. The NBA is watched by audiences both domestically and internationally, and as of 2022<a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit">[update]</a> it was the most popular league out of the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB worldwide in desktop web traffic.<a href="#cite_note-23">[22]</a> While the NBA is the most viewed basketball league in Canada, <a href="/wiki/Canada_Basketball" title="Canada Basketball">Canada Basketball</a> recognizes the <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Elite_Basketball_League" title="Canadian Elite Basketball League">Canadian Elite Basketball League</a> as the country's first-division professional league.<a href="#cite_note-24">[23]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="National_Football_League">National Football League</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: National Football League">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/National_Football_League" title="National Football League">National Football League</a></div> The National Football League is a professional <a href="/wiki/American_football" title="American football">American football</a> league and was founded in 1920 as a combination of various teams from regional leagues such as the <a href="/wiki/Ohio_League" title="Ohio League">Ohio League</a>, the <a href="/wiki/New_York_Pro_Football_League" title="New York Pro Football League">New York Pro Football League</a>, and the Chicago circuit as a successor to <a href="/wiki/Western_Pennsylvania_Professional_Football_Circuit" title="Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit">Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit</a>. For its first two seasons, 1920 and 1921, it was known as the "American Professional Football Association" (APFA) before changing its name to the current name in 1922. The NFL partially absorbed the <a href="/wiki/All-America_Football_Conference" title="All-America Football Conference">All-America Football Conference</a> in 1949 and <a href="/wiki/AFL%E2%80%93NFL_merger" title="AFL–NFL merger">merged</a> with the <a href="/wiki/American_Football_League" title="American Football League">American Football League</a> in 1970. It has 32 teams, all located in the United States. As of 2015<a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit">[update]</a>, NFL games have the largest per-game attendance among domestic professional leagues in the world,<a href="#cite_note-25">[24]</a> and is the most popular league in the U.S. in terms of television ratings and merchandising.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] Its championship game, the <a href="/wiki/Super_Bowl" title="Super Bowl">Super Bowl</a>, is the most watched annual event on U.S. television, with <a href="/wiki/Super_Bowl_XLIX" title="Super Bowl XLIX">Super Bowl XLIX</a> being the single most-watched program in U.S. television history.<a href="#cite_note-SuperBowlXLIXMostWatched-26">[25]</a> The NFL is the only one of the "Big Four" leagues not to have a team in Canada, where the <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">Canadian Football League</a> (<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1033199720">.mw-parser-output div.crossreference{padding-left:0}</style><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951">see <a href="#Canadian_Football_League">§ Canadian Football League</a>) is the premier professional league in a similar <a href="/wiki/Gridiron_football" title="Gridiron football">gridiron football</a> sport of <a href="/wiki/Canadian_football" title="Canadian football">Canadian football</a>. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="National_Hockey_League">National Hockey League</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: National Hockey League">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">National Hockey League</a></div> The National Hockey League is widely recognized as the world's premier professional <a href="/wiki/Ice_hockey" title="Ice hockey">ice hockey</a> league,<a href="#cite_note-27">[26]</a> and is the only "Big Four" league to have been founded in Canada. It was formed in 1917 as a successor to the Canadian <a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_Association" title="National Hockey Association">National Hockey Association</a> (founded in 1909), taking all but one of the NHA's teams. The NHL <a href="/wiki/NHL%E2%80%93WHA_merger" class="mw-redirect" title="NHL–WHA merger">partially absorbed</a> the rival <a href="/wiki/World_Hockey_Association" title="World Hockey Association">World Hockey Association</a> in 1979. There are 32 teams, with 25 in the U.S. and 7 in Canada. The most popular sports league in Canada, and widely followed across the northern and northeastern U.S., the NHL has expanded westward and southward in recent decades to attempt to gain a more national following in the United States, in cities such as <a href="/wiki/Colorado_Avalanche" title="Colorado Avalanche">Denver</a>, <a href="/wiki/San_Jose_Sharks" title="San Jose Sharks">San Jose</a>, <a href="/wiki/Dallas_Stars" title="Dallas Stars">Dallas</a>, <a href="/wiki/Florida_Panthers" title="Florida Panthers">Miami</a>, <a href="/wiki/Nashville_Predators" title="Nashville Predators">Nashville</a>, <a href="/wiki/Utah_Hockey_Club" title="Utah Hockey Club">Salt Lake City</a>, <a href="/wiki/Carolina_Hurricanes" title="Carolina Hurricanes">Raleigh</a>, <a href="/wiki/Tampa_Bay_Lightning" title="Tampa Bay Lightning">Tampa</a>, <a href="/wiki/Vegas_Golden_Knights" title="Vegas Golden Knights">Las Vegas</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Seattle_Kraken" title="Seattle Kraken">Seattle</a> with varying success. The NHL has more Canadian teams (seven) than MLB, the NBA, and MLS combined (five). <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Other_notable_professional_leagues">Other notable professional leagues</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Other notable professional leagues">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States" title="Professional sports leagues in the United States">Professional sports leagues in the United States</a>, <a href="/wiki/Professional_sports_in_Canada" title="Professional sports in Canada">Professional sports in Canada</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Prominent_women%27s_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Prominent women's sports leagues in the United States and Canada">Prominent women's sports leagues in the United States and Canada</a></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Major_League_Soccer">Major League Soccer</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Major League Soccer">edit</a>]</div> <a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">Major League Soccer</a> (MLS) is the top-level men's professional <a href="/wiki/Soccer" class="mw-redirect" title="Soccer">soccer</a> league in the United States. As of the league's 2024 season, MLS has 29 teams, with 26 in the United States and 3 in Canada, with one more U.S. team, <a href="/wiki/San_Diego_FC" title="San Diego FC">San Diego FC</a>, scheduled to start play in 2025. The league began play in 1996, its creation a requirement by <a href="/wiki/FIFA" title="FIFA">FIFA</a> for awarding the United States the right to host the <a href="/wiki/1994_FIFA_World_Cup" title="1994 FIFA World Cup">1994 World Cup</a>. MLS was the first major Division I outdoor soccer league in the U.S. since the <a href="/wiki/North_American_Soccer_League_(1968%E2%80%9384)" class="mw-redirect" title="North American Soccer League (1968–84)">North American Soccer League</a> (NASL) operated from 1968 to 1984. MLS has increased in popularity following the adoption of the <a href="/wiki/Designated_Player_Rule" title="Designated Player Rule">Designated Player Rule</a> in 2007, which allowed MLS to sign stars such as <a href="/wiki/David_Beckham" title="David Beckham">David Beckham</a> (from whom the rule took its colloquial name 'the Beckham rule'), <a href="/wiki/Thierry_Henry" title="Thierry Henry">Thierry Henry</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Lionel_Messi" title="Lionel Messi">Lionel Messi</a>.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] In 2017, MLS reported an average attendance of 22,112 per game, with total attendance exceeding 8.2 million overall, both breaking previous MLS attendance records,<a href="#cite_note-28">[27]</a>[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">irrelevant citation</a>] while 2018 saw <a href="/wiki/Atlanta_United_FC" title="Atlanta United FC">Atlanta United FC</a> break multiple single-game attendance records, with crowd figures of over 70,000 among the highest team attendances worldwide.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] With a total attendance of nearly 11 million and an average of over 22,000, MLS has the fifth-largest and third-largest, total and average attendances respectively, among the sports league in U.S. and Canada (<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1033199720"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951">see <a href="#Attendance">§ Attendance</a>), had the seventh-highest attendance among global professional soccer leagues.<a href="#cite_note-gannett-mls-attendance-29">[28]</a> The <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Soccer_Association" title="Canadian Soccer Association">Canadian Soccer Association</a> does not sanction MLS as a first-division league, with that title going instead to the <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Premier_League" title="Canadian Premier League">Canadian Premier League</a> (CPL). However, Canadian teams in the MLS are regarded as Division I teams, and MLS is generally acknowledged as having a higher quality of play than the CPL, significantly more media coverage and economic success, and has teams based in Canada's three largest metropolitan areas, who together have dominated the <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Championship" title="Canadian Championship">Canadian Championship</a>, a multi-league knockout competition which technically decides the national champions of Canada. This makes Canada unusual in awarding its national soccer championship to the winner of its premier knockout tournament, rather than the winners of its highest-level league competition.<a href="#cite_note-30">[29]</a> MLS is unique among U.S. and Canada's major sports leagues in that the teams take part in multiple separate tournament outside the MLS regular and playoff season; the knockout <a href="/wiki/U.S._Open_Cup" title="U.S. Open Cup">U.S. Open Cup</a> for United States teams and Canadian Championship for Canadian teams, cross-border/regional<a href="#cite_note-31">[30]</a> <a href="/wiki/Leagues_Cup" title="Leagues Cup">Leagues Cup</a> and <a href="/wiki/Campeones_Cup" title="Campeones Cup">Campeones Cup</a> and the continental <a href="/wiki/CONCACAF_Champions_Cup" title="CONCACAF Champions Cup">CONCACAF Champions Cup</a> and <a href="/wiki/FIFA_Club_World_Cup" title="FIFA Club World Cup">FIFA Club World Cup</a>. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Canadian_Football_League">Canadian Football League</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Canadian Football League">edit</a>]</div> The <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">Canadian Football League</a> is the highest level of play in <a href="/wiki/Canadian_football" title="Canadian football">Canadian football</a>. The league was organized in 1956 as a cooperative agreement between two regional leagues, the <a href="/wiki/Interprovincial_Rugby_Football_Union" class="mw-redirect" title="Interprovincial Rugby Football Union">Interprovincial Rugby Football Union</a> (which dated to 1907) and the <a href="/wiki/Western_Interprovincial_Football_Union" class="mw-redirect" title="Western Interprovincial Football Union">Western Interprovincial Football Union</a> (which was founded in 1936), and became independent from the <a href="/wiki/Football_Canada" title="Football Canada">Canadian Rugby Union</a><a href="#cite_note-32">[b]</a> in 1958. The league now consists of nine teams, all based in Canada. The <a href="/wiki/Grey_Cup" title="Grey Cup">Grey Cup</a> is awarded annually to the champion every November and is the highest-attended sporting event in the nation. The oldest extant teams, the <a href="/wiki/Hamilton_Tiger-Cats" title="Hamilton Tiger-Cats">Hamilton Tiger-Cats</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Toronto_Argonauts" title="Toronto Argonauts">Toronto Argonauts</a>, trace their origins to the late 1860s and early 1870s, which ranks them amongst the oldest professional sports teams of any kind still in existence on the continent.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] From 1993 to 1995, the CFL attempted <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League_in_the_United_States" title="Canadian Football League in the United States">expansion into the United States</a> to cities without NFL teams, but all the clubs folded, while the management structure of the <a href="/wiki/Baltimore_Stallions" title="Baltimore Stallions">Baltimore Stallions</a> was moved to a relaunched <a href="/wiki/Montreal_Alouettes" title="Montreal Alouettes">Montreal Alouettes</a> franchise. By 2009 the CFL was the second-most-popular league in Canada, after the NHL.<a href="#cite_note-Canadian_Press-33">[31]</a> A 2023 study shows that interest in the CFL had dropped over the previous 10 years.<a href="#cite_note-34">[32]</a> The CFL has the fourth-highest average attendance of leagues in the United States and Canada, behind the NFL, MLB and MLS. As of 2024<a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit">[update]</a>, the CFL's average attendance number was 22,795, continuing a slow upward trend for the league.<a href="#cite_note-35">[33]</a> Its level of play is generally recognized as on the second tier of professional football, with the CFL having a slight advantage in player recruitment compared to second-tier American leagues such as the <a href="/wiki/United_Football_League_(2024)" title="United Football League (2024)">UFL</a> due to the CFL's longer established history.<a href="#cite_note-36">[34]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Traits_of_these_major_leagues">Traits of these major leagues</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Traits of these major leagues">edit</a>]</div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Overview">Overview</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Overview">edit</a>]</div> Major professional sports leagues are distinguished from other sports leagues in terms of business and economic factors, popularity of the league, and quality of play.<a href="#cite_note-37">[35]</a>[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research#Synthesis_of_published_material" title="Wikipedia:No original research"><span title="Citation source does not support its statement, instead comparing MLS business metrics to NFL/NHL/NBA/MLB. It makes no statements on quality of play. Source does not define the term _major league_ or the stated criteria, nor does it use the term at all beyond the headline. Source also is not WP:IS; the blog post backs many statements solely with links to primary sources, with MLS attendance supported by a link to Wikipedia article titled Average attendances of professional sports teams in the United States and Canada, which had already been deleted on quality concerns in Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Average attendances of professional sports teams in the United States and Canada by the archive date. (June 2023)">improper synthesis?</a>] The following table compares the Big Four leagues, plus the CFL and MLS, on certain attributes that collectively attempt to indicate whether the league has "major league" status.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify">further explanation needed</a>] The table includes the longevity and stability of the league, as measured by the number of teams in the league, the year founded, the last time the league underwent contraction, expansion, and relocation, and the popularity of the league, as measured by annual revenue and average attendance.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] <table class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"> <tbody><tr> <th>League</th> <th>Sport</th> <th>Teams</th> <th>Year founded</th> <th>Last contraction</th> <th>Last expansion </th> <th>Last relocation</th> <th>Revenue US$ (bn)</th> <th>Average attendance per game </th></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Football_League" title="National Football League">National Football League</a></td> <td><a href="/wiki/American_football" title="American football">American football</a></td> <td>32</td> <td>1920<a href="#cite_note-38">[o 1]</a></td> <td>1952<a href="#cite_note-39">[o 2]</a></td> <td>2002 </td> <td>2020</td> <td>$16.9</td> <td>69,526 (2023) </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball" title="Major League Baseball">Major League Baseball</a></td> <td><a href="/wiki/Baseball" title="Baseball">Baseball</a></td> <td>30</td> <td>1903<a href="#cite_note-40">[o 3]</a></td> <td>1902<a href="#cite_note-41">[o 4]</a></td> <td>1998 </td> <td>2025</td> <td>$10.7</td> <td>29,361 (2024) </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_Association" title="National Basketball Association">National Basketball Association</a></td> <td><a href="/wiki/Basketball" title="Basketball">Basketball</a></td> <td>30</td> <td>1946<a href="#cite_note-42">[o 5]</a></td> <td>1954</td> <td>2004 </td> <td>2008</td> <td>$8.8</td> <td>18,324 (2024) </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">National Hockey League</a></td> <td><a href="/wiki/Ice_hockey" title="Ice hockey">Ice hockey</a></td> <td>32</td> <td>1917<a href="#cite_note-43">[o 6]</a></td> <td>1978<a href="#cite_note-UHC-44">[o 7]</a></td> <td>2024<a href="#cite_note-UHC-44">[o 7]</a> </td> <td>2011</td> <td>$5.1</td> <td>17,101 (2023) </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">Major League Soccer</a></td> <td><a href="/wiki/Association_football" title="Association football">Soccer</a></td> <td>29<a href="#cite_note-SDFC-45">[o 8]</a></td> <td>1993</td> <td>2014<a href="#cite_note-46">[o 9]</a></td> <td>2023<a href="#cite_note-SDFC-45">[o 8]</a> </td> <td>2006</td> <td>$2.0</td> <td>23,234 (2024) </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">Canadian Football League</a></td> <td><a href="/wiki/Canadian_football" title="Canadian football">Canadian football</a></td> <td>9</td> <td>1958<a href="#cite_note-47">[o 10]</a></td> <td>2006</td> <td>2014 </td> <td>1995</td> <td>$0.2</td> <td>22,393 (2023) </td></tr></tbody></table> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-38"><a href="#cite_ref-38">^</a> The NFL was originally called the American Professional Football Association and adopted its present name in 1922. Other "founding" dates recognized to be of significance by the NFL include the founding of the <a href="/wiki/American_Football_League" title="American Football League">American Football League</a> (originally a rival league) in 1960; the 1966 <a href="/wiki/AFL%E2%80%93NFL_merger" title="AFL–NFL merger">merger agreement</a> between the AFL and NFL, which established what eventually became the <a href="/wiki/Super_Bowl" title="Super Bowl">Super Bowl</a>; and the completion of the AFL–NFL merger in 1970. In particular, 1966 is considered a significant <a href="/wiki/Epoch" title="Epoch">epoch</a> by football historians as the start of the "Super Bowl era", while the 1970 merger remains the only time a rival North American sports league has fully merged into an established league with all of its teams intact and its playing records fully recognized as part of the history of the older league. The NFL had earlier partially absorbed the <a href="/wiki/All-America_Football_Conference" title="All-America Football Conference">All-America Football Conference</a> (founded in 1947) in 1950, but unlike the latter case with the AFL the NFL did not recognize AAFC records. </li> <li id="cite_note-39"><a href="#cite_ref-39">^</a> This date reflects the demise of the <a href="/wiki/Dallas_Texans_(NFL)" title="Dallas Texans (NFL)">original Dallas Texans</a>, who folded after only one season. However, the Texans were immediately replaced by the <a href="/wiki/Baltimore_Colts" title="Baltimore Colts">Baltimore Colts</a>, meaning the league was not reduced in size for the 1953 season. Although the Colts were awarded the assets (including player contracts) of the Texans, they are considered a separate franchise. The last time the league fielded fewer teams for a subsequent season was after the 1950 season, when the <a href="/wiki/Baltimore_Colts_(1947%E2%80%931950)" title="Baltimore Colts (1947–1950)">original Baltimore Colts</a> (also considered to be unrelated to the modern Colts franchise) folded. Also, the date in the table does not recognize the temporary <a href="/wiki/Cleveland_Browns_relocation_controversy" title="Cleveland Browns relocation controversy">1995 suspension of the Cleveland Browns</a> in which the then-extant Cleveland football organization was transferred to what was considered <a href="/wiki/Baltimore_Ravens" title="Baltimore Ravens">an expansion franchise in Baltimore</a> – because the Browns were later restocked via an <a href="/wiki/Expansion_draft" title="Expansion draft">expansion draft</a> after a three-year absence, the NFL does not consider this event to be a contraction. </li> <li id="cite_note-40"><a href="#cite_ref-40">^</a> This date reflects the year the modern <a href="/wiki/World_Series" title="World Series">World Series</a> was first contested, although an earlier version of the Series was contested in the 1880s between the National League and the defunct <a href="/wiki/American_Association_(19th_century)" class="mw-redirect" title="American Association (19th century)">American Association</a>. The two component leagues of Major League Baseball, the National and American Leagues, were founded in 1876 and 1901 respectively. MLB also celebrates the anniversary of the start of professional baseball in 1869. MLB underwent a major organizational change following the 1920 season when the office of <a href="/wiki/Commissioner_of_Baseball" class="mw-redirect" title="Commissioner of Baseball">Commissioner of Baseball</a>, with far more significant powers over both leagues than the earlier National Commission that had preceded this office, was established. The AL and NL commenced regular season <a href="/wiki/Interleague_play" title="Interleague play">interleague play</a> in 1997 and fully merged on an organizational level, i.e. they abolished their separate league offices and vested all authority in the office of the Commissioner, after the 1999 season. Since its constituent leagues began co-operation in 1903, MLB has never recognized a third major league or absorbed a rival league although the proposed <a href="/wiki/Continental_League" title="Continental League">Continental League</a> of the early 1960s was only forestalled when the AL and NL added two teams each. </li> <li id="cite_note-41"><a href="#cite_ref-41">^</a> The elimination of four NL teams following the 1899 season is undoubtedly the most recent occasion where MLB has fielded fewer teams for the following season; however, some baseball historians regard the <a href="/wiki/Baltimore_Orioles_(1901%E2%80%931902)" title="Baltimore Orioles (1901–1902)">original Baltimore Orioles</a> to have folded outright following the 1902 MLB season, and replaced by an expansion team that eventually became the <a href="/wiki/New_York_Yankees" title="New York Yankees">New York Yankees</a> for the following season, in a manner similar to the NFL's last "contraction" as listed in this table. </li> <li id="cite_note-42"><a href="#cite_ref-42">^</a> This date reflects the establishment of the <a href="/wiki/Basketball_Association_of_America" title="Basketball Association of America">Basketball Association of America</a>, which adopted its current name after absorbing the rival <a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_League_(United_States)" title="National Basketball League (United States)">National Basketball League</a> in 1950. Although the NBL predated the BAA by nine seasons, the NBA continues to regard the 1946–47 BAA season (as opposed to the 1937–38 NBL season) to be its inaugural one. The NBA has always awarded an internally-created trophy to its champions – the league adopted the trophy's present design in 1977 and its current name (the <a href="/wiki/Larry_O%27Brien_Championship_Trophy" title="Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy">Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy</a>) in 1984. The NBA later partially absorbed the rival <a href="/wiki/American_Basketball_Association" title="American Basketball Association">American Basketball Association</a> (founded in 1967) in 1976. </li> <li id="cite_note-43"><a href="#cite_ref-43">^</a> The <a href="/wiki/Stanley_Cup" title="Stanley Cup">Stanley Cup</a> was first awarded in 1893, but did not become the NHL's <a href="/wiki/De_facto" title="De facto">de facto</a> championship trophy until 1926. Although the NHL recognizes its founding date as 1917, three of its four charter members had previously been members of the <a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_Association" title="National Hockey Association">National Hockey Association</a> founded in 1910. Upon its founding, the NHL assumed the NHA's then-extant position as the eastern challenger for the Stanley Cup, which at the time was a trophy contested between the champions of the NHA/NHL and various leagues based in Western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest. This arrangement continued until 1926 when <a href="/wiki/Western_Canada_Hockey_League" title="Western Canada Hockey League">the last major western-based league</a> folded, after which the NHL took sole possession of the Stanley Cup to be awarded to its playoff champion ever since. The NHL later partially absorbed the rival <a href="/wiki/World_Hockey_Association" title="World Hockey Association">World Hockey Association</a> (founded in 1972) in 1979. </li> <li id="cite_note-UHC-44">^ <a href="#cite_ref-UHC_44-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-UHC_44-1">b</a> The <a href="/wiki/Arizona_Coyotes" title="Arizona Coyotes">Arizona Coyotes</a> were deactivated, and later folded outright, after the <a href="/wiki/2023%E2%80%9324_NHL_season" title="2023–24 NHL season">2023–24 season</a>, with its organization relocating to <a href="/wiki/Salt_Lake_City" title="Salt Lake City">Salt Lake City, Utah</a>, to officially begin operations as <a href="/wiki/Utah_Hockey_Club" title="Utah Hockey Club">an expansion team</a>. However, the last time the NHL downsized was in 1978 with the merger of the <a href="/wiki/Cleveland_Barons_(NHL)" title="Cleveland Barons (NHL)">Cleveland Barons</a> into the <a href="/wiki/Minnesota_North_Stars" title="Minnesota North Stars">Minnesota North Stars</a>. </li> <li id="cite_note-SDFC-45">^ <a href="#cite_ref-SDFC_45-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-SDFC_45-1">b</a> <a href="/wiki/San_Diego_FC" title="San Diego FC">San Diego FC</a> will join the league as the 30th team in 2025. </li> <li id="cite_note-46"><a href="#cite_ref-46">^</a> This date reflects the demise of <a href="/wiki/Chivas_USA" title="Chivas USA">Chivas USA</a>, which was folded by the league after the 2014 season. However, the only occasion when MLS fielded fewer teams for a subsequent season was after the 2001 season, when the league went from 12 teams to 10 with the folding of both of its Florida teams. The 2015 season, the first after Chivas' demise, saw two new teams enter the league. </li> <li id="cite_note-47"><a href="#cite_ref-47">^</a> The <a href="/wiki/Grey_Cup" title="Grey Cup">Grey Cup</a> was first awarded in 1909. The CFL was formed under its present name by the merger of the <a href="/wiki/Interprovincial_Rugby_Football_Union" class="mw-redirect" title="Interprovincial Rugby Football Union">Interprovincial Rugby Football Union</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Western_Interprovincial_Football_Union" class="mw-redirect" title="Western Interprovincial Football Union">Western Interprovincial Football Union</a>, founded in 1907 and 1936, respectively, however these leagues had already been the only two competing for the Grey Cup since the 1955 season. For this reason, either this season or the immediately preceding one (when the <a href="/wiki/BC_Lions" title="BC Lions">BC Lions</a> joined the WIFU) is often reckoned to be the start of the "modern era" of Canadian football. Moreover, although the IRFU and WIFU changed their names to the Eastern and Western Football Conferences (now "Divisions") respectively, they did not begin inter-sectional regular season play until 1961, did not fully harmonize their regular season calendars and lengths until 1974 and did not fully merge on an organizational level until 1981. </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Revenues">Revenues</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Revenues">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/List_of_professional_sports_leagues_by_revenue" title="List of professional sports leagues by revenue">List of professional sports leagues by revenue</a></div> <table class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center;float:right;"> <caption>Annual revenue by league (U.S. dollars) </caption> <tbody><tr> <th>League</th> <th>Revenues (bn)</th> <th>TV revenue</th> <th>Ref. </th></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Football_League" title="National Football League">NFL</a></td> <td>$16.9</td> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Football_League_on_television#Current_broadcasting_contracts" class="mw-redirect" title="National Football League on television">$9.1bn</a></td> <td><a href="#cite_note-48">[36]</a><a href="#cite_note-49">[37]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball" title="Major League Baseball">MLB</a></td> <td>$10.7</td> <td>$2.1bn</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-50">[38]</a><a href="#cite_note-51">[39]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_Association" title="National Basketball Association">NBA</a></td> <td>$8.8</td> <td>$2.6bn</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-52">[40]</a><a href="#cite_note-53">[41]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">NHL</a></td> <td>$5.1</td> <td>$625m</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-NHL21-54">[42]</a><a href="#cite_note-55">[43]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">MLS</a></td> <td>$2.0</td> <td>$250m</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-forbes1-56">[44]</a><a href="#cite_note-57">[45]</a><a href="#cite_note-Sporting_Intelligence-58">[46]</a><a href="#cite_note-The_Athletic-59">[47]</a><a href="#cite_note-60">[48]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">CFL</a></td> <td>$0.2</td> <td>$50m</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-61">[49]</a><a href="#cite_note-torontosuncfltv-62">[50]</a> </td></tr></tbody></table> The "Big Four" leagues each have revenues that can be many times greater than the payrolls of less popular sports leagues in the two nations. In terms of overall league revenue, the NFL, MLB, and NBA rank as the top three most lucrative sports leagues in the world, with the English <a href="/wiki/Premier_League" title="Premier League">Premier League</a> and the NHL ranked at fourth and fifth place.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Accuracy_dispute#Disputed_statement" title="Wikipedia:Accuracy dispute"><span title="If this refers to the List of professional sports leagues by revenue, then this statement is at best redundant, and at worst the use of _lucrative_ suggests a conflation of revenue with profit. Without additional sourcing, this statement is dubious per the content of the Guardian article cited in the Overview section, which notes the EPL is a less lucrative business than American leagues. (June 2023)">dubious</a> – <a href="/wiki/Talk:Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada#Dubious" title="Talk:Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">discuss</a>] <div style="clear:both;" class=""></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Television_exposure">Television exposure</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Television exposure">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/List_of_TV_markets_and_major_sports_teams" class="mw-redirect" title="List of TV markets and major sports teams">List of TV markets and major sports teams</a></div> Games of the "Big Four" leagues are televised on the four largest U.S. broadcast TV networks—<a href="/wiki/American_Broadcasting_Company" title="American Broadcasting Company">ABC</a>, <a href="/wiki/CBS" title="CBS">CBS</a>, <a href="/wiki/NBC" title="NBC">NBC</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Fox_Broadcasting_Company" title="Fox Broadcasting Company">Fox</a>. They enjoy strong TV viewer ratings, and their leagues earn significant revenues from these TV contracts.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] All of the top four major sports leagues have had television contracts with at least one of the original "big three" U.S. broadcast television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) since those networks' early years, indicative of the sports' widespread appeal since their inception, continuing today additionally with Fox. In Canada, the NHL has been broadcast on the <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Broadcasting_Corporation" title="Canadian Broadcasting Corporation">Canadian Broadcasting Corporation</a> since 1952. In Canada, there is only one MLB team and one NBA team, and no Canadian NFL team exists; therefore, the U.S. national telecasts for those three leagues are usually simulcast by a Canadian broadcaster.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] <table class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center;float:right;"> <caption>TV exposure and revenues in the U.S. (Leagues ranked in order of TV ratings) </caption> <tbody><tr> <th>League</th> <th>Ratings / viewers</th> <th>US TV rev. </th></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Football_League_on_television" class="mw-redirect" title="National Football League on television">NFL</a></td> <td style="text-align:left;">10 / 16.6m (aggregate)</td> <td>$9.0 bn </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_Association_Nielsen_ratings" class="mw-redirect" title="National Basketball Association Nielsen ratings">NBA</a></td> <td style="text-align:left;">2.3 / 3.9m (ABC, 16 games)<a href="#cite_note-NBARating15-63">[51]</a> 1.1 / 1.7m (TNT, 52 games)<a href="#cite_note-NBARating15-63">[51]</a> 1.1 / 1.7m (ESPN, 76 games)<a href="#cite_note-NBARating15-63">[51]</a></td> <td>$2.7 bn </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_television_contracts" class="mw-redirect" title="Major League Baseball television contracts">MLB</a></td> <td style="text-align:left;">1.4 / 2.1m (Fox, 12 games)<a href="#cite_note-64">[52]</a> 0.8 / 1.1m (ESPN, 16 games)<a href="#cite_note-sportsbusinessdaily.com-65">[53]</a> 0.3 / 0.4m (FS1, 40 games)<a href="#cite_note-66">[54]</a> 0.2 / 0.3m (<a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_on_TBS" class="mw-redirect" title="Major League Baseball on TBS">TBS</a>, 13 games)<a href="#cite_note-sportsbusinessdaily.com-65">[53]</a></td> <td>$1.5 bn </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/History_of_the_National_Hockey_League_on_United_States_television" title="History of the National Hockey League on United States television">NHL</a></td> <td style="text-align:left;">1.3m (ESPN, 75 games)<a href="#cite_note-67">[55]</a> 0.3m (TNT, 72 games)</td> <td>$625 m<a href="#cite_note-NHL21-54">[42]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer_on_television" title="Major League Soccer on television">MLS</a></td> <td style="text-align:left;">undisclosed (Apple)</td> <td>$250 m<a href="#cite_note-The_Athletic-59">[47]</a> </td></tr></tbody></table> The NFL has the largest TV contracts, and earns roughly $9 billion annually from its contracts with <a href="/wiki/Amazon_Prime_Video" title="Amazon Prime Video">Amazon</a>, CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC, and DirecTV for the 2023 through 2033 seasons.<a href="#cite_note-68">[56]</a> MLB earns $1.5 billion annually from its contracts for the 2014 through 2021 seasons with ESPN, Fox, and Turner Sports (TBS).<a href="#cite_note-69">[57]</a> The NBA's nine-year television deal beginning with the 2016–17 season with ABC/ESPN and TNT generates annual league TV revenues of $2.7 billion.<a href="#cite_note-70">[58]</a> The NBA's next TV deal, set to take effect in 2025–26 and run through the 2035–36 season, will be with ABC/ESPN, NBC, <a href="/wiki/Peacock_(streaming_service)" title="Peacock (streaming service)">Peacock</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Amazon_Prime_Video" title="Amazon Prime Video">Amazon</a>, and also covers the <a href="/wiki/Women%27s_National_Basketball_Association" title="Women's National Basketball Association">WNBA</a> for its 2026–2036 seasons. It is expected to generate total annual revenues of $6.9 billion, with a reported split of roughly $6.7 billion for the NBA and $200 million for the WNBA.<a href="#cite_note-71">[59]</a><a href="#cite_note-72">[60]</a> The NHL's current U.S. television deal with ABC/ESPN and Turner Sports took effect with the 2021–22 season and runs through 2027–28. While the NHL did not announce the amount, outside reports indicated that ABC and ESPN parent company Disney was paying a total of about $400 million and Turner about $225 million annually.<a href="#cite_note-NHL21-54">[42]</a> This $625 million annual contract for American rights is in addition to the $433 million annual fee <a href="/wiki/Rogers_Sportsnet" class="mw-redirect" title="Rogers Sportsnet">Rogers Sportsnet</a> pays for Canadian rights.<a href="#cite_note-gandm-rogersnhl14-73">[61]</a><a href="#cite_note-74">[62]</a> All four major sports leagues have launched a network of their own—<a href="/wiki/NBA_TV" title="NBA TV">NBA TV</a> in the U.S. in 1999 and in <a href="/wiki/NBA_TV_Canada" title="NBA TV Canada">Canada</a> in 2001, the <a href="/wiki/NFL_Network" title="NFL Network">NFL Network</a> in 2003, the <a href="/wiki/NHL_Network_(Canadian_TV_channel)" title="NHL Network (Canadian TV channel)">NHL Network</a> in Canada in 2001 and in the <a href="/wiki/NHL_Network_(American_TV_channel)" title="NHL Network (American TV channel)">U.S.</a> in 2007, and the <a href="/wiki/MLB_Network" title="MLB Network">MLB Network</a> in 2009. All networks remain in operation today except for the Canadian NHL Network, which was shut down shortly before the league's 2015–16 season. Teams in MLB, the NBA, and the NHL—which play several days per week—negotiate contracts with local broadcasters to air most of their games, both terrestrial networks and <a href="/wiki/Regional_sports_networks" class="mw-redirect" title="Regional sports networks">regional sports networks</a>. Some teams (such as the <a href="/wiki/New_York_Yankees" title="New York Yankees">New York Yankees</a>) may even partially or fully own the cable network upon which their games are broadcast, and often receive more revenue from local broadcasts than any other source.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] NFL teams, which generally play once per week, do not negotiate local broadcast contracts, but are allowed to negotiate their own television deals for preseason games with syndication and broadcast stations. The current MLS broadcast deals took effect with the 2023 season. The league's primary media partner is <a href="/wiki/Apple_Inc." title="Apple Inc.">Apple</a>, which paid a reported $2.5 billion for exclusive worldwide streaming rights from 2023 to 2032. All league games are streamed on the <a href="/wiki/MLS_Season_Pass" title="MLS Season Pass">MLS Season Pass</a> service on <a href="/wiki/Apple_TV%2B" title="Apple TV+">Apple TV+</a>. English and Spanish commentary are available for all matches, and games involving Canadian teams are also available in French.<a href="#cite_note-75">[63]</a><a href="#cite_note-76">[64]</a> Linear television rights for 2023–2026 are held by Fox Sports in both English and Spanish in the US, and the English-language <a href="/wiki/The_Sports_Network" title="The Sports Network">TSN</a> and French-language <a href="/wiki/R%C3%A9seau_des_sports" title="Réseau des sports">RDS</a> in Canada.<a href="#cite_note-77">[65]</a> Before the Apple TV+ deal, MLS matches were shown in English on ESPN and Fox Sports, and in Spanish on Univision. MLS's eight-year contracts for U.S. rights for the 2015–2022 seasons earned a combined $105 million annually.<a href="#cite_note-nyt-newcontract-78">[66]</a><a href="#cite_note-mls-newdeal2015-79">[67]</a><a href="#cite_note-Sporting_Intelligence-58">[46]</a> The CFL's current television deal with TSN pays the league at least $50 million per year until 2026.<a href="#cite_note-torontosuncfltv-62">[50]</a> Its American broadcast contract with <a href="/wiki/CBS_Sports_Network" title="CBS Sports Network">CBS Sports Network</a> pays $1 million per year for 34 of the league's 81 games; prior to its deal with CBS Sports Network, the CFL had bundled its TSN rights with ESPN (a minority owner of TSN), who contributed a negligible $100,000 to the annual rights fees. The remainder of the CFL's games are carried online in the United States for free.<a href="#cite_note-80">[68]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Attendance">Attendance</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Attendance">edit</a>]</div> Major professional sports leagues generally have significantly larger attendance than other sports leagues. The following table shows the average attendance of all professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada that have an average attendance of 15,000 or higher. <table class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"> <tbody><tr> <th>League</th> <th>Teams </th> <th>Total attendance </th> <th>Total games</th> <th>Average attendance</th> <th>Games per team</th> <th>Ref. </th></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball" title="Major League Baseball">MLB</a></td> <td>30 </td> <td>71,348,366 </td> <td>2,430</td> <td>29,361 <a href="/wiki/2024_Major_League_Baseball_season" title="2024 Major League Baseball season">(2024)</a></td> <td>162</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-81">[69]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">NHL</a></td> <td>32 </td> <td>22,436,532 </td> <td>1,312</td> <td>17,101 <a href="/wiki/2022%E2%80%9323_NHL_season" title="2022–23 NHL season">(2023)</a></td> <td>82</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-82">[70]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_Association" title="National Basketball Association">NBA</a></td> <td>30 </td> <td>22,538,518 </td> <td>1,230</td> <td>18,324 <a href="/wiki/2023%E2%80%9324_NBA_season" title="2023–24 NBA season">(2024)</a></td> <td>82</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-83">[71]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Football_League" title="National Football League">NFL</a></td> <td>32 </td> <td>18,911,116 </td> <td>272</td> <td>69,526 <a href="/wiki/2023_NFL_season" title="2023 NFL season">(2023)</a></td> <td>17</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-84">[72]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">MLS</a></td> <td>29 </td> <td>11,454,205 </td> <td>493</td> <td>23,234 <a href="/wiki/2024_Major_League_Soccer_season" title="2024 Major League Soccer season">(2024)</a></td> <td>34</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-85">[73]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">CFL</a></td> <td>9 </td> <td>1,813,837 </td> <td>81</td> <td>22,393 <a href="/wiki/2023_CFL_season" title="2023 CFL season">(2023)</a></td> <td>18</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-86">[74]</a> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Franchise_valuations">Franchise valuations</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Franchise valuations">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Most_valuable_sports_teams" class="mw-redirect" title="Most valuable sports teams">Most valuable sports teams</a></div> Major-league franchises are generally worth very large amounts of money, due in large part to high revenues earned by the league's teams.<a href="#cite_note-87">[75]</a>[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">irrelevant citation</a>] These franchise valuations are reflected in periodic analyses of teams' values, as well as by the expansion fees commanded by the leagues. The highest value franchises in the respective leagues tend to be located in the largest markets (e.g., MLB's <a href="/wiki/New_York_Yankees" title="New York Yankees">New York Yankees</a>, NHL's <a href="/wiki/New_York_Rangers" title="New York Rangers">New York Rangers</a>), whereas the lowest value franchises tend to be in smaller markets (e.g., NFL's <a href="/wiki/Buffalo_Bills" title="Buffalo Bills">Buffalo Bills</a>, NBA's <a href="/wiki/New_Orleans_Pelicans" title="New Orleans Pelicans">New Orleans Pelicans</a>).[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] The NHL has the largest multiples between the highest-value and lowest-value teams, with the New York Rangers worth 5.5 times as much as the Arizona Coyotes.<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-Context plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-style ambox-Context" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/40px-Edit-clear.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/60px-Edit-clear.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/80px-Edit-clear.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48" /></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject. Please help <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit">improve the article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Writing_better_articles#Provide_context_for_the_reader" title="Wikipedia:Writing better articles">providing more context for the reader</a>. (June 2023) (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center;"> <tbody><tr> <th>League</th> <th>Median value</th> <th>High value</th> <th>Low value</th> <th>Expansion fee record</th> <th>Ref. </th></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Football_League" title="National Football League">NFL</a></td> <td>$2.76bn</td> <td>$5.5bn</td> <td>$1.9bn</td> <td>$700m</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-88">[76]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_Association" title="National Basketball Association">NBA</a></td> <td>$1.56bn</td> <td>$4.0bn</td> <td>$1.2bn</td> <td>$300m</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-89">[77]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball" title="Major League Baseball">MLB</a></td> <td>$1.54bn</td> <td>$4.6bn</td> <td>$1.0bn</td> <td>$130m</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-90">[78]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">NHL</a></td> <td>$895m</td> <td>$2.12bn</td> <td>$465m</td> <td>$650m</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-91">[79]</a><a href="#cite_note-92">[80]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">MLS</a></td> <td>$557m</td> <td>$900m</td> <td>$390m</td> <td>$325m</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-93">[81]</a><a href="#cite_note-MLS_30-94">[82]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">CFL</a></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>$7m</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-Lankhof-95">[83]</a> </td></tr></tbody></table> Since 2002 expansion franchises have commanded huge entry fees, which represent the price the new team must pay to gain its share of the existing teams' often guaranteed revenue streams.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="The second clause (especially _to gain its share_ and _guaranteed revenue streams_) is either WP:OR or needs significant sourcing to confirm. The subsequent citations do not cover this. (June 2023)">citation needed</a>] The Houston Texans paid $700 million to join the NFL in 2002.<a href="#cite_note-96">[84]</a> By comparison, the Charlotte Bobcats (now the Hornets) paid $300 million to join the NBA. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays (originally Devil Rays) paid $130 million each to join MLB. The NHL's <a href="/wiki/Seattle_Kraken" title="Seattle Kraken">Seattle Kraken</a> (which started play in 2021), paid $650 million to join the league, a 30% increase from the $500 million paid by the Vegas Golden Knights to join the league in 2017.<a href="#cite_note-97">[85]</a> The Golden Knights' fee was a dramatic increase from the $80 million paid by each of the previous two teams to enter the NHL, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild. Two of the six most recently announced Major League Soccer expansion teams, 2019 entrant <a href="/wiki/FC_Cincinnati" title="FC Cincinnati">FC Cincinnati</a> and 2020 arrival <a href="/wiki/Nashville_SC" title="Nashville SC">Nashville SC</a>, each paid a $150 million expansion fee,<a href="#cite_note-Wahl_2016-12-15-98">[86]</a> a significant increase from the $100 million that New York City FC paid to join MLS in 2015.<a href="#cite_note-99">[87]</a><a href="#cite_note-102">[c]</a><a href="#cite_note-104">[d]</a> MLS announced plans to expand to 30 teams by 2023, and set the expansion fee for the 28th and 29th teams (ultimately Sacramento Republic FC[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:PCR" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:PCR">needs context</a>] and St. Louis City SC) at $200 million.<a href="#cite_note-MLS_30-94">[82]</a> The 30th team, ultimately unveiled as 2022 entry Charlotte FC, reportedly paid $325 million.<a href="#cite_note-105">[91]</a> For comparison, the Ottawa Redblacks paid C$7 million to join the Canadian Football League.<a href="#cite_note-ctv-106">[92]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Franchise_stability">Franchise stability</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Franchise stability">edit</a>]</div> <table class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:1em; text-align:center; float:right; width:40%"> <caption>League stability </caption> <tbody><tr> <th>League </th> <th>Last contraction </th> <th>Last expansion (size) </th> <th>Last relocation </th></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/History_of_the_National_Football_League" title="History of the National Football League">NFL</a> </td> <td>1952 </td> <td>1995–2002 (28→32) </td> <td>2020 </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/History_of_baseball_in_the_United_States" title="History of baseball in the United States">MLB</a> </td> <td>1903 </td> <td>1998 (28→30) </td> <td>2025 </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Timeline_of_the_National_Basketball_Association" class="mw-redirect" title="Timeline of the National Basketball Association">NBA</a> </td> <td>1954 </td> <td>2004 (29→30) </td> <td>2008 </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/History_of_the_National_Hockey_League" title="History of the National Hockey League">NHL</a> </td> <td>1978 </td> <td>2017–2024 (30→32) </td> <td>2011 </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">MLS</a> </td> <td>2014 </td> <td>2023 (28→29) </td> <td>2006 </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">CFL</a> </td> <td>2006 </td> <td>2014 (8→9) </td> <td>1995 </td></tr></tbody></table> All of the top four major leagues exhibit stability in most of their <a href="/wiki/Sports_franchising" class="mw-redirect" title="Sports franchising">franchises</a>. No team from the top four leagues has collapsed outright since the 1970s. The last team to contract was the NHL's <a href="/wiki/Cleveland_Barons_(NHL)" title="Cleveland Barons (NHL)">Cleveland Barons</a> in 1978, when financial pressures forced a merger with the <a href="/wiki/Minnesota_North_Stars" title="Minnesota North Stars">Minnesota North Stars</a>. MLB voted in 2001 to <a href="/wiki/2001_Major_League_Baseball_contraction_plan" title="2001 Major League Baseball contraction plan">contract from 30 teams to 28</a>, but ran into opposition and never executed the contraction plan.<a href="#cite_note-107">[93]</a> Unlike leagues that use a system of <a href="/wiki/Promotion_and_relegation" title="Promotion and relegation">promotion and relegation</a>, franchises in these leagues are stable and do not change annually. <a href="/wiki/Relocation_of_professional_sports_teams" title="Relocation of professional sports teams">Relocation of teams</a> is generally uncommon compared to minor leagues.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="Without sources or context this is at best WP:SYNTH of the subsequent and also unsourced statements, and at worst inaccurate. (How often do minor league teams relocate, as opposed to fold?) (June 2023)">citation needed</a>] However, all of the top four major leagues have had at least one franchise relocate to another city since 2004. Among the Big Four leagues, the NFL has had the most relocations occurring recently, relocating three teams over the course of the late 2010s. The NHL is the most recent of the Big Four to expand, having added the Las Vegas-based <a href="/wiki/Vegas_Golden_Knights" title="Vegas Golden Knights">Vegas Golden Knights</a> in 2017 and the <a href="/wiki/Seattle_Kraken" title="Seattle Kraken">Seattle Kraken</a> in 2021. None of the other Big Four leagues have added expansion teams since 2004. In the fifty years between 1903 and 1953, MLB experienced no franchise changes—no new franchises, no franchises ceasing operations, and no franchises moving—marking the longest such period of stability of any Big Four league.<a href="#cite_note-108">[94]</a><a href="#cite_note-109">[95]</a> In contrast to the Big Four leagues, MLS has operated on a policy of <a href="/wiki/Expansion_of_Major_League_Soccer" title="Expansion of Major League Soccer">continuous expansion</a> since 2005. After bottoming out at 10 teams in 2004, it has never gone more than one season without adding one or two expansion teams, with a further expansion team scheduled for 2025 and no indication that the league will cease awarding expansion teams.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] As of 2023<a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit">[update]</a>, MLS nearly tripled in size from its 2005 minimum, with 29 teams. The league has contracted three teams in its history: teams in <a href="/wiki/Miami_Fusion" title="Miami Fusion">Miami</a> and <a href="/wiki/Tampa_Bay_Mutiny" title="Tampa Bay Mutiny">Tampa Bay</a> folded in 2002, and the Los Angeles-based <a href="/wiki/Chivas_USA" title="Chivas USA">Chivas USA</a> squad folded in 2014.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] MLS has had one franchise relocate, the <a href="/wiki/San_Jose_Earthquakes" title="San Jose Earthquakes">San Jose Earthquakes</a>, which became <a href="/wiki/Houston_Dynamo_FC" title="Houston Dynamo FC">Houston Dynamo FC</a> in 2006;<a href="#cite_note-110">[96]</a> the Earthquakes returned as an expansion club in 2008, inheriting the pre-relocation history of the original Earthquakes.<a href="#cite_note-111">[97]</a> All seven CFL franchises between Vancouver and Toronto have been in place since the <a href="/wiki/BC_Lions" title="BC Lions">BC Lions</a> were founded in 1954. The league has had problems in the two markets east of Toronto; both Montreal and Ottawa have each seen two CFL teams fail since the 1980s, although both cities have active teams as of the 2014 season. The cities are now represented by the <a href="/wiki/Montreal_Alouettes" title="Montreal Alouettes">Alouettes</a> and <a href="/wiki/Ottawa_Redblacks" title="Ottawa Redblacks">Redblacks</a>, respectively. Among existing teams, none has ever formally relocated from one city to another; the Alouettes, however, inherited a management structure from the <a href="/wiki/Baltimore_Stallions" title="Baltimore Stallions">Baltimore Stallions</a>, a team from the league's unsuccessful 1990s-era <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League_in_the_United_States" title="Canadian Football League in the United States">South Division</a>. The CFL has had either eight or nine teams in operation since its inception except for the 1994 and 1995 seasons in which the league temporarily expanded into the United States.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Number_and_locations_of_franchises">Number and locations of franchises</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Number and locations of franchises">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/List_of_American_and_Canadian_cities_by_number_of_major_professional_sports_franchises" class="mw-redirect" title="List of American and Canadian cities by number of major professional sports franchises">List of American and Canadian cities by number of major professional sports franchises</a></div> Each of the Big Four leagues has at least 30 teams (the NFL has had 32 teams since 2002 and the NHL added its 32nd team in 2021), and each has had at least 29 teams since the year 2000. Major League Soccer has 29 teams; it adopted a policy of continuous expansion at a rate of one to two new franchises a year since 2005,and was set to reach its long-range target of 30 teams in 2023 before the Sacramento expansion bid collapsed.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] A 30th team in San Diego is set to join in 2025. The CFL has nine franchises. All of the top four major leagues grant territorial exclusivity to their owners, precluding the addition of another team in the same market unless the current team's owners consent, to avoid competition for ticket sales and televesion rights. Agreements to share are market are generally obtained in exchange for compensation, residual rights, or both. For example, to obtain the consent of the <a href="/wiki/Baltimore_Orioles" title="Baltimore Orioles">Baltimore Orioles</a> to place an MLB team in Washington (about 35 miles (56 km) away), a deal was struck under the terms of which television and radio broadcast rights to Nationals games are handled by the Orioles franchise.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] As of 2022<a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit">[update]</a>, 49 metropolitan areas (42 in the U.S., seven in Canada) have at least one team in the Big Four leagues. <a href="/wiki/Austin_FC" title="Austin FC">Austin FC</a>, which started play in 2021, is the first and only MLS team in a market not also occupied by at least one Big Four team. The CFL has one team, the <a href="/wiki/Saskatchewan_Roughriders" title="Saskatchewan Roughriders">Saskatchewan Roughriders</a>, in a market not served by any other major league (the <a href="/wiki/Hamilton_Tiger-Cats" title="Hamilton Tiger-Cats">Hamilton Tiger-Cats</a>, while having their city to themselves, are on the outskirts of both the <a href="/wiki/Niagara_Frontier" title="Niagara Frontier">Niagara Frontier</a> (less than 50 miles from Buffalo) and the <a href="/wiki/Greater_Toronto_and_Hamilton_Area" title="Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area">extended</a> <a href="/wiki/Greater_Toronto_Area" title="Greater Toronto Area">Greater Toronto Area</a>). The newest market any of the Big Four leagues has entered is the <a href="/wiki/Las_Vegas_Valley" title="Las Vegas Valley">Las Vegas Valley</a>, which received the <a href="/wiki/Vegas_Golden_Knights" title="Vegas Golden Knights">Vegas Golden Knights</a> in 2017 and the <a href="/wiki/Las_Vegas_Raiders" title="Las Vegas Raiders">Las Vegas Raiders</a> in 2020.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="United_States">United States</h4>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: United States">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-More_citations_needed_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a>. Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Special:EditPage/Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a> in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2023) (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> Each of the current major leagues has franchises placed nationwide, with multiple franchises in each of the United States' four <a href="/wiki/U.S._Census_Bureau_regions" class="mw-redirect" title="U.S. Census Bureau regions">census regions</a>—Northeast, Midwest, South, and West. Major leagues tend to place franchises only in the largest, most populated metropolitan areas.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch">according to whom?</a>] Most major league teams are in metropolitan areas having populations of more than 2 million. All but 12 continental U.S. metropolitan areas with a population of more than 1 million host at least one major sports franchise.<a href="#cite_note-112">[e]</a> All five U.S.-based major leagues each currently have at least two teams in both the New York/North Jersey area and the Los Angeles/Anaheim market. MLB, which historically (as a result of its history as two rival leagues) had a team in each component league in Boston, Philadelphia and St. Louis up until the mid-20th century, and in the San Francisco Bay Area until the <a href="/wiki/Oakland_Athletics_relocation_to_Las_Vegas" title="Oakland Athletics relocation to Las Vegas">Athletics move from Oakland to Las Vegas following the 2024 season</a>, still has separate AL and NL teams in Chicago. Twelve American metropolitan areas have a complete set of one or more teams in each of the Big Four leagues; of these, only Detroit does not have an MLS team. MLB, more than any other major league, focuses its teams in the largest markets. MLB is the only major league that does not have any teams in markets with fewer than 1.75 million people; both it and the NFL have teams in every U.S. market with over 4 million people. The NHL is the major league that least follows the general trend, due to the fact that a disproportionate number of its franchises are in cities with cold winters. The NHL lacks teams in a number of southern metropolitan areas with populations of over 3 million (Houston, Atlanta, San Diego) but has five teams in northern metropolitan areas with fewer than 1.25 million people, all of which are in or adjacent to Canada (the lone American team in a metro area of that size being the <a href="/wiki/Buffalo_Sabres" title="Buffalo Sabres">Buffalo Sabres</a>). While only one MLB team, the <a href="/wiki/San_Diego_Padres" title="San Diego Padres">San Diego Padres</a>, is located in a market that has no other major league teams, six NBA teams are located in cities devoid of any additional "Big Four" franchises: the <a href="/wiki/Memphis_Grizzlies" title="Memphis Grizzlies">Memphis Grizzlies</a>, <a href="/wiki/Oklahoma_City_Thunder" title="Oklahoma City Thunder">Oklahoma City Thunder</a>, <a href="/wiki/Orlando_Magic" title="Orlando Magic">Orlando Magic</a>, <a href="/wiki/Portland_Trail_Blazers" title="Portland Trail Blazers">Portland Trail Blazers</a>, <a href="/wiki/Sacramento_Kings" title="Sacramento Kings">Sacramento Kings</a>, and <a href="/wiki/San_Antonio_Spurs" title="San Antonio Spurs">San Antonio Spurs</a>. Four of these six NBA-only cities also lack an MLS team (Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, San Antonio). The <a href="/wiki/Salt_Lake_City" title="Salt Lake City">Salt Lake City</a> market, home to the <a href="/wiki/Utah_Jazz" title="Utah Jazz">Utah Jazz</a> (as well as MLS team <a href="/wiki/Real_Salt_Lake" title="Real Salt Lake">Real Salt Lake</a>), lacked another major-league team before the <a href="/wiki/Utah_Hockey_Club" title="Utah Hockey Club">quasi-relocation of the Arizona Coyotes</a> after the 2023–24 season. <table class="wikitable" style="margin-left:1em; float:right; text-align:center;"> <caption>Franchise locations by population (2023)<a href="#cite_note-113">[98]</a> </caption> <tbody><tr> <th>League </th> <th>Largest urban area without team </th> <th>Smallest urban area with team </th></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Football_League" title="National Football League">NFL</a> </td> <td>San Diego / Orlando (3.1m each)‡ </td> <td>Green Bay (0.3m) </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball" title="Major League Baseball">MLB</a> </td> <td>Montreal (3.8m) </td> <td>Milwaukee (1.3m) </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_Association" title="National Basketball Association">NBA</a> </td> <td>Seattle (4.0m) </td> <td>New Orleans (0.9m) </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">NHL</a> </td> <td>Houston (6.7m) </td> <td>Winnipeg (0.8m) </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">MLS</a> </td> <td>Phoenix (4.6m) </td> <td>Nashville (1.2m) </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">CFL</a> </td> <td>Quebec City (0.8m)‡ </td> <td>Regina (0.2m) </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3">‡The NFL and CFL only have teams in the U.S. and Canada, respectively; this list does not count Canadian markets for the NFL nor U.S. markets for the CFL. For the full list, see <a href="/wiki/List_of_American_and_Canadian_cities_by_number_of_major_professional_sports_franchises" class="mw-redirect" title="List of American and Canadian cities by number of major professional sports franchises">here</a>. </td></tr></tbody></table> The NFL has one major exception. The <a href="/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers" title="Green Bay Packers">Green Bay Packers</a> survive in major league sports' smallest metropolitan area (300,000 population) thanks to <a href="/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers_Board_of_Directors" class="mw-redirect" title="Green Bay Packers Board of Directors">unique nonprofit corporate ownership</a>,<a href="#cite_note-Zirin-114">[99]</a> proximity to the neighboring <a href="/wiki/Milwaukee" title="Milwaukee">Milwaukee</a> market (giving a combined metro area of over 2 million), a league business model that relies more heavily on equally distributed television revenue that puts small-market teams at less of a disadvantage,<a href="#cite_note-Zirin-114">[99]</a> and the loyalty of their <a href="/wiki/Cheesehead" title="Cheesehead">Cheesehead</a> fan base, whose fans and their next of kin typically renew their season tickets every year until their <a href="/wiki/Issue_(genealogy)" title="Issue (genealogy)">issue</a> expires, resulting in a centuries-long waiting list for season tickets.<a href="#cite_note-packtix-115">[100]</a> Green Bay is one of two NFL teams, the other being the <a href="/wiki/Jacksonville_Jaguars" title="Jacksonville Jaguars">Jacksonville Jaguars</a>, that are the only major league franchises in their metropolitan area.<a href="#cite_note-116">[101]</a> Both MLB and the NFL have had two prolonged recent exceptions in which the league was absent from one of the U.S.'s ten most populous metropolitan areas; from 1972 to 2004, ninth-place <a href="/wiki/History_of_Washington,_D.C._professional_baseball" class="mw-redirect" title="History of Washington, D.C. professional baseball">Washington, D.C., had no MLB team</a>, and from 1995 to 2016, second-place <a href="/wiki/History_of_the_National_Football_League_in_Los_Angeles" class="mw-redirect" title="History of the National Football League in Los Angeles">Los Angeles had no NFL teams</a>. The NHL's national footprint is a relatively recent situation. Historically, the league was concentrated in the northeast, with no teams south of New York City or west of Chicago from 1935 until 1967. The league expanded its footprint westward in a <a href="/wiki/1967_NHL_expansion" title="1967 NHL expansion">1967 expansion</a> but, other than the unsuccessful <a href="/wiki/Atlanta_Flames" title="Atlanta Flames">Atlanta Flames</a>, avoided the South until making a major expansion into the territory in the 1990s. Both the NBA and MLS have higher concentrations of teams in the western United States than the other major leagues. Whereas the NBA's teams tend to be somewhat more evenly distributed across the United States, MLS's presence in areas of the southern United States has historically been sparse; after MLS folded its two Florida-based teams after the 2001 season, it did not re-enter the South until <a href="/wiki/Orlando_City_SC" title="Orlando City SC">Orlando City SC</a> joined the league in 2015, with Atlanta United FC following in 2017. With the addition of <a href="/wiki/Minnesota_United_FC" title="Minnesota United FC">Minnesota United FC</a> in 2017 and <a href="/wiki/Inter_Miami_CF" title="Inter Miami CF">Inter Miami CF</a> in 2020, along with the departure of the NHL's <a href="/wiki/Arizona_Coyotes" title="Arizona Coyotes">Arizona Coyotes</a> from Phoenix in 2024, MLS has a team in every market with a complete set of teams in each of the Big Four major leagues except Detroit. The CFL had a total of six <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League_in_the_United_States" title="Canadian Football League in the United States">teams in the United States</a> over a three-year period between 1993 and 1995, all in medium-sized markets that lacked an NFL team at the time. Of the seven markets those teams occupied, three (Baltimore, San Antonio and Sacramento) had other major league franchises at the time, and two later received a major team (Memphis and Las Vegas). The league also played <a href="/wiki/List_of_neutral_site_Canadian_Football_League_games" title="List of neutral site Canadian Football League games">occasional games in the United States</a> in the 1950s and 1960s. The largest metropolitan area without a major professional sports franchise depends on the definition of "metropolitan area". Among areas defined by the <a href="/wiki/United_States_Census_Bureau" title="United States Census Bureau">United States Census Bureau</a> as <a href="/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_statistical_areas" class="mw-redirect" title="List of metropolitan statistical areas">Metropolitan Statistical Areas</a> (MSAs), California's <a href="/wiki/Inland_Empire" title="Inland Empire">Inland Empire</a> is the largest without a major franchise. However, it is part of <a href="/wiki/Greater_Los_Angeles" title="Greater Los Angeles">Greater Los Angeles</a>, a region defined by the US Census as a <a href="/wiki/Combined_statistical_area" title="Combined statistical area">Combined Statistical Area</a> (CSA), and is thus part of the Los Angeles television market. The largest CSA without a major franchise is the <a href="/wiki/Hampton_Roads" title="Hampton Roads">Hampton Roads</a> area of southeastern Virginia, spilling over into a small part of North Carolina. The <a href="/wiki/List_of_United_States_television_markets" class="mw-redirect" title="List of United States television markets">largest TV market</a> without a major franchise is the <a href="/wiki/Hartford,_Connecticut" title="Hartford, Connecticut">Hartford</a>–<a href="/wiki/New_Haven,_Connecticut" title="New Haven, Connecticut">New Haven</a> market, covering all of Connecticut except the former <a href="/wiki/Fairfield_County,_Connecticut" title="Fairfield County, Connecticut">Fairfield County</a>;<a href="#cite_note-117">[f]</a> Hartford's last major league squad, the NHL's <a href="/wiki/Hartford_Whalers" title="Hartford Whalers">Whalers</a>, left in 1997. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Canada">Canada</h4>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Canada">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-More_citations_needed_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a>. Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Special:EditPage/Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a> in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2023) (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Expansion_of_North_American_major_sports_leagues" class="mw-redirect" title="Expansion of North American major sports leagues">Expansion of North American major sports leagues</a></div> The <a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">NHL</a> has been the dominant professional sports league in Canada, and was first established in Canada in 1917. The NHL was initially based entirely in eastern Canada. By 1925, Hamilton and Quebec City no longer had NHL teams, while Ottawa left in 1934, by which point American teams were slowly being added. The first Canadian expansion launched in 1970 with a team in <a href="/wiki/Vancouver" title="Vancouver">Vancouver</a>; the NHL later added teams in <a href="/wiki/Edmonton" title="Edmonton">Edmonton</a>, <a href="/wiki/Winnipeg" title="Winnipeg">Winnipeg</a> and <a href="/wiki/Quebec_City" title="Quebec City">Quebec City</a> (through absorption of WHA franchises), <a href="/wiki/Calgary" title="Calgary">Calgary</a> (via relocation from <a href="/wiki/Atlanta" title="Atlanta">Atlanta</a>) and Ottawa (via expansion) to go with the still-extant Toronto and Montreal teams. The distinctive place <a href="/wiki/Ice_hockey" title="Ice hockey">ice hockey</a> holds in <a href="/wiki/Canadian_culture" class="mw-redirect" title="Canadian culture">Canadian culture</a> allowed these franchises to compete with teams in larger cities for some time. However, the teams in <a href="/wiki/Winnipeg_Jets_(1972%E2%80%9396)" class="mw-redirect" title="Winnipeg Jets (1972–96)">Winnipeg</a> and <a href="/wiki/Quebec_Nordiques" title="Quebec Nordiques">Quebec City</a> were eventually moved to larger media markets in the U.S. The NHL returned to Winnipeg in 2011 with the <a href="/wiki/Atlanta_Thrashers" title="Atlanta Thrashers">Atlanta Thrashers</a> relocating to become the current version of the <a href="/wiki/Winnipeg_Jets" title="Winnipeg Jets">Winnipeg Jets</a>. Excluding the CFL, the NHL is the only major league to have teams in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg or Ottawa, all markets with populations of less than 1.25 million, smaller than any U.S. NHL market except Buffalo. However, those Canadian cities benefit from the country's very high level of hockey fandom. A 2013 study by <a href="/wiki/Nate_Silver" title="Nate Silver">Nate Silver</a> estimated that all of these markets had roughly the same numbers of avid hockey fans as U.S. markets with several times their total population.<a href="#cite_note-118">[102]</a><a href="#cite_note-119">[g]</a> The <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">Canadian Football League</a> has teams in all seven current NHL markets, in addition to <a href="/wiki/Hamilton_Tiger-Cats" title="Hamilton Tiger-Cats">Hamilton, Ontario</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Saskatchewan_Roughriders" title="Saskatchewan Roughriders">Regina, Saskatchewan</a>. At least eight of these nine markets have hosted CFL teams every year since the league's officially listed inception in 1958, and no other Canadian market has ever had a CFL team of its own. A conditional expansion franchise was awarded to the <a href="/wiki/Atlantic_Schooners" title="Atlantic Schooners">Atlantic Schooners</a> in 1982; it folded before ever playing a game. Another bid for a Schooners franchise by <a href="/wiki/Schooners_Sports_and_Entertainment" title="Schooners Sports and Entertainment">Schooners Sports and Entertainment</a> in the late 2010s also failed. The first Major League Baseball team in Canada was the <a href="/wiki/Montreal_Expos" title="Montreal Expos">Montreal Expos</a>, who began play in 1969. In 2005, they moved to Washington, D.C., and became the <a href="/wiki/Washington_Nationals" title="Washington Nationals">Washington Nationals</a>. The <a href="/wiki/Toronto_Blue_Jays" title="Toronto Blue Jays">Toronto Blue Jays</a>, who began play in 1977, became the first team outside the United States to win the World Series in 1992 and 1993. The <a href="/wiki/Toronto_Huskies" title="Toronto Huskies">Toronto Huskies</a> were a charter member of the <a href="/wiki/Basketball_Association_of_America" title="Basketball Association of America">Basketball Association of America</a> in 1946, but that team only lasted one season. The NBA expanded into Canada in 1995 when the <a href="/wiki/Vancouver_Grizzlies" title="Vancouver Grizzlies">Vancouver Grizzlies</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Toronto_Raptors" title="Toronto Raptors">Raptors</a> joined the league. The <a href="/wiki/Vancouver_Grizzlies_relocation_to_Memphis" title="Vancouver Grizzlies relocation to Memphis">Grizzlies moved</a> to <a href="/wiki/Memphis_Grizzlies" title="Memphis Grizzlies">Memphis</a> in 2001. MLS has teams in <a href="/wiki/Vancouver_Whitecaps_FC" title="Vancouver Whitecaps FC">Vancouver</a>, <a href="/wiki/Toronto_FC" title="Toronto FC">Toronto</a>, and <a href="/wiki/CF_Montr%C3%A9al" title="CF Montréal">Montreal</a>. The NFL is the only major league to have no team based in a Canadian city; the closest teams to Canada are the <a href="/wiki/Buffalo_Bills" title="Buffalo Bills">Buffalo Bills</a> and <a href="/wiki/Detroit_Lions" title="Detroit Lions">Detroit Lions</a>, both representing cities located on the <a href="/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93United_States_border" title="Canada–United States border">U.S.–Canada border</a>. The Lions play in <a href="/wiki/Downtown_Detroit" title="Downtown Detroit">downtown Detroit</a>, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from <a href="/wiki/Windsor,_Ontario" title="Windsor, Ontario">Windsor, Ontario</a>. The Bills' stadium is located 21 kilometres (13 mi) south of the Canada–U.S. border. From 2008 to 2013, the Bills played 8 games in Toronto as part of the <a href="/wiki/Bills_Toronto_Series" title="Bills Toronto Series">Bills Toronto Series</a> which included one regular season game per year.<a href="#cite_note-120">[103]</a> On August 22, 2019, the <a href="/wiki/Oakland_Raiders" title="Oakland Raiders">Oakland Raiders</a> played the <a href="/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers" title="Green Bay Packers">Green Bay Packers</a> in a preseason game at the <a href="/wiki/Winnipeg" title="Winnipeg">Winnipeg</a> venue now known as <a href="/wiki/Princess_Auto_Stadium" title="Princess Auto Stadium">Princess Auto Stadium</a>.<a href="#cite_note-121">[104]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Ownership_restrictions">Ownership restrictions</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Ownership restrictions">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/List_of_NFL_franchise_owners" class="mw-redirect" title="List of NFL franchise owners">List of NFL franchise owners</a></div> All four major leagues have strict rules regarding who may own a team, and also place some restrictions on what other sort of activities the owners may engage in. The major leagues generally do not allow anyone to own a stake in more than one franchise, to prevent the perception of being in a <a href="/wiki/Conflict_of_interest" title="Conflict of interest">conflict of interest</a>. This rule was adopted after several high-profile controversies involving <a href="/wiki/Cleveland_Spiders" title="Cleveland Spiders">ownership of multiple baseball teams</a> in the 1890s. Additionally, the NHL's "<a href="/wiki/Original_Six" title="Original Six">Original Six</a>" period, from 1942 to 1967, was marked by the <a href="/wiki/James_E._Norris" title="James E. Norris">Norris</a> family owning a controlling stake in half of the league's teams, a factor in the league's stagnation during that period.<a href="#cite_note-Boyle-122">[105]</a> With the exception of the NFL, every other major league has had at least one case since 2000 where the league itself has taken ownership or control of a franchise: <ul><li>MLB – Purchased the <a href="/wiki/Montreal_Expos" title="Montreal Expos">Montreal Expos</a> in 2001 and moved the franchise to Washington, D.C., as the <a href="/wiki/Washington_Nationals" title="Washington Nationals">Nationals</a> in 2005 before selling the team to a local group in 2006. MLB also <a href="/wiki/2011_Los_Angeles_Dodgers_ownership_dispute" class="mw-redirect" title="2011 Los Angeles Dodgers ownership dispute">took over the operations</a> of the <a href="/wiki/Los_Angeles_Dodgers" title="Los Angeles Dodgers">Los Angeles Dodgers</a> in 2011, citing financial and governance issues stemming from the divorce of the team's co-owners,<a href="#cite_note-123">[106]</a> before <a href="/wiki/Frank_McCourt_(executive)" title="Frank McCourt (executive)">Frank McCourt</a> sold the Dodgers to <a href="/wiki/Guggenheim_Partners" title="Guggenheim Partners">an ownership group</a> in March 2012.<a href="#cite_note-124">[107]</a><a href="#cite_note-125">[108]</a></li> <li>NHL – Took over the <a href="/wiki/Buffalo_Sabres" title="Buffalo Sabres">Buffalo Sabres</a> in 2002 after owner <a href="/wiki/John_Rigas" title="John Rigas">John Rigas</a> was arrested for <a href="/wiki/Embezzlement" title="Embezzlement">embezzlement</a>, and sold the team to <a href="/wiki/Tom_Golisano" title="Tom Golisano">Tom Golisano</a> in 2003. The NHL also seized the <a href="/wiki/Arizona_Coyotes" title="Arizona Coyotes">Phoenix Coyotes</a> in <a href="/wiki/Phoenix_Coyotes_bankruptcy_and_sale" title="Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy and sale">2009</a> to prevent its owner from selling it to a buyer who intended to relocate the team, and sold the team to a Phoenix-area group in 2013.<a href="#cite_note-126">[109]</a> The league again took over the Coyotes and sold them to a new owner in 2024, facilitating the franchise's inactivation and activation of the <a href="/wiki/Utah_Hockey_Club" title="Utah Hockey Club">Utah Hockey Club</a>.</li> <li>NBA – Purchased the <a href="/wiki/New_Orleans_Pelicans" title="New Orleans Pelicans">New Orleans Hornets</a> from its owner in December 2010,<a href="#cite_note-127">[110]</a> and sold the team to owner <a href="/wiki/Tom_Benson" title="Tom Benson">Tom Benson</a> in April 2012.<a href="#cite_note-128">[111]</a></li> <li>MLS – Purchased <a href="/wiki/Chivas_USA" title="Chivas USA">Chivas USA</a> from <a href="/wiki/Jorge_Vergara" title="Jorge Vergara">Jorge Vergara</a> in 2014 and folded the team after the 2014 season. A new L.A. franchise, <a href="/wiki/Los_Angeles_FC" title="Los Angeles FC">Los Angeles FC</a>, began play in 2018 as an expansion team and did not inherit Chivas USA's history.</li> <li>CFL – Seized the <a href="/wiki/Ottawa_Renegades" title="Ottawa Renegades">Ottawa Renegades</a> from owner <a href="/wiki/Bernard_Glieberman" title="Bernard Glieberman">Bernard Glieberman</a> in 2006, suspended the franchise, then sold it to <a href="/wiki/Jeff_Hunt" title="Jeff Hunt">Jeff Hunt</a>, who reactivated it in 2014 as the <a href="/wiki/Ottawa_Redblacks" title="Ottawa Redblacks">Ottawa Redblacks</a>. The CFL also accepted ownership in 2019 of the <a href="/wiki/Montreal_Alouettes" title="Montreal Alouettes">Montreal Alouettes</a> from owner <a href="/wiki/Robert_C._Wetenhall" title="Robert C. Wetenhall">Robert Wetenhall</a> in order to keep it operating until the league announced Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern as the team's new owners in January 2020.<a href="#cite_note-129">[112]</a> The CFL again assumed ownership of the Alouettes in February 2023 following Spiegel's death,<a href="#cite_note-130">[113]</a> and sold the franchise to Québec businessman <a href="/wiki/Pierre_Karl_P%C3%A9ladeau" title="Pierre Karl Péladeau">Pierre Karl Péladeau</a> the next month.<a href="#cite_note-131">[114]</a></li></ul> The NFL (nor any of its predecessors) has not taken over operations of any team since 1962, when the <a href="/wiki/American_Football_League" title="American Football League">American Football League</a> took over the nearly bankrupt <a href="/wiki/New_York_Jets" title="New York Jets">Titans of New York</a> in an effort to prevent the team from folding;<a href="#cite_note-jetsone-132">[115]</a> in 1963, a new ownership group bought the franchise and it became the <a href="/wiki/New_York_Jets" title="New York Jets">New York Jets</a>.<a href="#cite_note-jetstwo-133">[116]</a> The NFL has <a href="/wiki/List_of_NFL_franchise_owners#Ownership_restrictions" class="mw-redirect" title="List of NFL franchise owners">stronger ownership restrictions</a> than other leagues. The NFL forbids ownership by groups of over 24 people or publicly-traded corporations, except the grandfathered <a href="/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers" title="Green Bay Packers">Green Bay Packers</a>. Additionally, the league requires that at least one member of the ownership group hold a 30% interest, with stringent limits on the amount of debt that a new ownership group can take on.<a href="#cite_note-NFL_limits_lifted-134">[117]</a> The NFL also forbids its owners from owning any other professional American football teams; this rule has not always been in place (as the NFL owners previously owned <a href="/wiki/Minor_league" title="Minor league">minor league</a> teams in the 1940s) but was in place by the 1980s, when the DeBartolo family was scrutinized for owning both the <a href="/wiki/San_Francisco_49ers" title="San Francisco 49ers">San Francisco 49ers</a> and <a href="/wiki/United_States_Football_League" title="United States Football League">USFL</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Pittsburgh_Maulers_(1984)" title="Pittsburgh Maulers (1984)">Pittsburgh Maulers</a> (as different members of the family owned each team, the league allowed the DeBartolos to keep the 49ers).<a href="#cite_note-135">[118]</a> <a href="/wiki/Arena_Football_League" title="Arena Football League">Arena Football League</a> teams playing in the NFL team's home market were exempt from this rule during that league's existence. NFL owners were long prohibited from owning major league baseball, basketball and hockey teams unless they were in the NFL team's home market, or not located in other NFL cities.<a href="#cite_note-136">[119]</a> This last set of restrictions was lifted in October 2018; many owners believed that cross-ownership restrictions had outlived their purpose, and they had largely been disregarded since <a href="/wiki/Stan_Kroenke" title="Stan Kroenke">Stan Kroenke</a>, who purchased the then-St. Louis Rams and moved them to Los Angeles while simultaneously owning assets in Denver, became a majority NFL owner in 2010. Additionally, media reports theorized that the cross-ownership ban materially reduced the sale price of the <a href="/wiki/Carolina_Panthers" title="Carolina Panthers">Carolina Panthers</a> earlier in 2018, with several NBA team owners reportedly interested in bidding but barred by then-current NFL rules.<a href="#cite_note-NFL_limits_lifted-134">[117]</a> The cross-ownership restrictions originally covered soccer, but a 1982 federal court decision in a lawsuit filed against the NFL by <a href="/wiki/North_American_Soccer_League_(1968%E2%80%9384)" class="mw-redirect" title="North American Soccer League (1968–84)">the original NASL</a> went in favor of the NASL, thereby exempting soccer from these restrictions.<a href="#cite_note-137">[120]</a> MLS has adopted a different league structure and operates as a single-entity league, a structure that survived a lawsuit from the players in <a href="/wiki/Fraser_v._Major_League_Soccer" title="Fraser v. Major League Soccer">Fraser v. Major League Soccer</a>. During the first few years of the league, MLS for the sake of stability allowed individuals to operate multiple teams. MLS ownership arrangements have evolved, however; each of the league's current 29 teams is now controlled by a separate ownership group, and no group member has a stake in more than one team.<a href="#cite_note-138">[121]</a> Five out of nine clubs in the CFL are held by some form of partnership or corporation; of those, one (<a href="/wiki/Saskatchewan_Roughriders" title="Saskatchewan Roughriders">Saskatchewan Roughriders</a>) is a publicly held corporations in and of themselves, two (<a href="/wiki/Toronto_Argonauts" title="Toronto Argonauts">Toronto Argonauts</a> and <a href="/wiki/Hamilton_Tiger-Cats" title="Hamilton Tiger-Cats">Hamilton Tiger-Cats</a>) are partially owned by public conglomerates, and two (<a href="/wiki/Calgary_Stampeders" title="Calgary Stampeders">Calgary Stampeders</a> and <a href="/wiki/Ottawa_Redblacks" title="Ottawa Redblacks">Ottawa Redblacks</a>) are held by closely held partnerships. Three (<a href="/wiki/BC_Lions" title="BC Lions">BC Lions</a>, <a href="/wiki/Montreal_Alouettes" title="Montreal Alouettes">Montreal Alouettes</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Edmonton_Elks" title="Edmonton Elks">Edmonton Elks</a>) are held by an individual owner. The ninth team, the <a href="/wiki/Winnipeg_Blue_Bombers" title="Winnipeg Blue Bombers">Winnipeg Blue Bombers</a>, operates under the shell of the Winnipeg Football Club, a nonprofit <a href="/wiki/Sports_club" title="Sports club">sports club</a> with no clear ownership structure or share capital.<a href="#cite_note-139">[122]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Challenges_from_rival_leagues">Challenges from rival leagues</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: Challenges from rival leagues">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Original_research plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Original_research" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/40px-Ambox_important.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/60px-Ambox_important.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/80px-Ambox_important.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="40" data-file-height="40" /></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section possibly contains <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research" title="Wikipedia:No original research">original research</a>. MLB, NFL, NBA are unsourced, and lede makes <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SYNTH" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SYNTH">WP:SYNTH</a> statements based on the unsourced content. Please <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit">improve it</a> by <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verifying</a> the claims made and adding <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Inline_citations" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">inline citations</a>. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (June 2023) (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/AFL%E2%80%93NFL_merger" title="AFL–NFL merger">AFL–NFL merger</a>, <a href="/wiki/ABA%E2%80%93NBA_merger" title="ABA–NBA merger">ABA–NBA merger</a>, and <a href="/wiki/NHL%E2%80%93WHA_merger" class="mw-redirect" title="NHL–WHA merger">NHL–WHA merger</a></div> All of the majors have bested at least one rival league formed with the intention of being just as "big" as the established league, often by signing away star players and by locating franchises in cities that were already part of the existing league. In many cases, the major leagues have absorbed the most successful franchises from their failing rivals, or merged outright with them. Baseball's <a href="/wiki/National_League_(baseball)" title="National League (baseball)">National League</a> withstood three challenges in its first quarter century of existence. The <a href="/wiki/American_Association_(19th_century)" class="mw-redirect" title="American Association (19th century)">American Association</a> began in 1882 in several lucrative markets without an NL team. For several years, the AA was a viable competitor to the NL, and the NL and AA champions competed in an informal <a href="/wiki/World_Series" title="World Series">World Series</a>. Four of the AA's teams defected to the NL in its later years, before the AA expired in 1891. Labor problems led to the formation of the <a href="/wiki/Players%27_League" title="Players' League">Players' League</a> for the 1890 season; it attracted a significant percentage of the baseball talent and caused the NL and AA significant financial harm,[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] but it lacked financial backing and folded after only one season. The minor <a href="/wiki/Western_League_(1885%E2%80%931899)" class="mw-redirect" title="Western League (1885–1899)">Western League</a> moved several franchises in NL cities and cities abandoned by the NL for the 1900 and 1901 seasons, and renamed itself the <a href="/wiki/American_League" title="American League">American League</a> in direct competition with the NL. The NL and AL made peace in 1903; the resulting agreement formed what today is known as <a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball" title="Major League Baseball">Major League Baseball</a>. MLB withstood the challenge of the <a href="/wiki/Federal_League" title="Federal League">Federal League</a> in 1914. Various <a href="/wiki/Negro_leagues" class="mw-redirect" title="Negro leagues">Negro leagues</a> peaked from the 1920s to the 1940s, and on <a href="/wiki/Barnstorm_(sports)" class="mw-redirect" title="Barnstorm (sports)">barnstorming</a> tours the Negro league players showed themselves to be MLB players' competitive equals, but after <a href="/wiki/Jackie_Robinson" title="Jackie Robinson">Jackie Robinson</a> broke the <a href="/wiki/Baseball_color_line" title="Baseball color line">color barrier</a> in 1947, the influx of black stars into the major leagues drained the Negro leagues of talent. MLB prevented the <a href="/wiki/Continental_League" title="Continental League">Continental League</a> from getting off the ground in 1961–62 by placing teams in four of that league's proposed cities by either expansion or relocation. The NFL has fought off the most rivals throughout the years, and to this day faces a competing start-up league every few years. One strong rival to the NFL was the <a href="/wiki/All-America_Football_Conference" title="All-America Football Conference">All-America Football Conference</a> of 1946–1949; three of their seven teams merged with the NFL for the 1950 season, and two of the three still exist in the NFL. Four (all unrelated) rivals were named American Football League; the last <a href="/wiki/American_Football_League" title="American Football League">American Football League</a> existed from 1960 to 1970, winning the last two of the four pre-merger <a href="/wiki/Super_Bowl" title="Super Bowl">Super Bowl</a> games, before merging with the NFL in 1970. The NFL has beaten back other significant rival football leagues, often placing expansion or relocation teams in those cities following that league's demise: the <a href="/wiki/World_Football_League" title="World Football League">World Football League</a> of 1974–1975 (the NFL added two teams in 1975), the <a href="/wiki/United_States_Football_League" title="United States Football League">United States Football League</a> of 1983–1985 (the NFL relocated one team to a USFL market in 1988), and the <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">Canadian Football League</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League_in_the_United_States" title="Canadian Football League in the United States">American franchises</a> of 1993–1995 (the NFL added three teams in the mid 1990s, including one in the CFL's most successful U.S. market). All told, 13 of the NFL's current 32 franchises were absorbed from a rival league—all 10 AFL franchises of the 1960s, two from the AAFC, and one from the 1936 AFL. The NBA was formed in 1949 after three years of competition between the large-market <a href="/wiki/Basketball_Association_of_America" title="Basketball Association of America">Basketball Association of America</a> (from which the NBA traces its existence) and the industrial-based <a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_League_(United_States)" title="National Basketball League (United States)">National Basketball League</a>. The NBA also had to fend off two incarnations of the American Basketball League, the <a href="/wiki/American_Basketball_League_(1925%E2%80%9355)" class="mw-redirect" title="American Basketball League (1925–55)">first</a> being an Eastern circuit that predated the NBA, and the <a href="/wiki/American_Basketball_League_(1961%E2%80%9363)" class="mw-redirect" title="American Basketball League (1961–63)">second</a> existing from 1961 to 1963, after <a href="/wiki/Abe_Saperstein" title="Abe Saperstein">Abe Saperstein</a> was repeatedly denied an NBA expansion team. The NBA later fought off the challenge of the <a href="/wiki/American_Basketball_Association" title="American Basketball Association">American Basketball Association</a> from 1967 to 1976, in part by expanding from nine to eighteen teams. The NBA then absorbed four of the ABA's most successful franchises <a href="/wiki/ABA%E2%80%93NBA_merger" title="ABA–NBA merger">in a 1976 merger</a>, and adopted several of the ABA's rule variations, most notably the <a href="/wiki/Three-point_field_goal" title="Three-point field goal">three-point shot</a>. The NHL began its existence competing with the <a href="/wiki/Western_Canada_Hockey_League" title="Western Canada Hockey League">Western Canada Hockey League</a> and its predecessor, the <a href="/wiki/Pacific_Coast_Hockey_Association" title="Pacific Coast Hockey Association">Pacific Coast Hockey Association</a>; both had folded by 1926, leaving the NHL as the sole major North American hockey league. The NHL fended off two challenges in the 1960s and 1970s. The NHL prevented the <a href="/wiki/Western_Hockey_League_(1952%E2%80%931974)" title="Western Hockey League (1952–1974)">Western Hockey League</a> from achieving parity in the quality of players, salaries and attendance by <a href="/wiki/1967_NHL_expansion" title="1967 NHL expansion">doubling in size</a> from six to twelve teams in 1967, including into the WHL markets of Los Angeles and San Francisco, and added two more teams in 1970, including a former WHL team in Vancouver. During its existence from 1972 to 1979, the <a href="/wiki/World_Hockey_Association" title="World Hockey Association">World Hockey Association</a> challenged the dominance of the NHL. The WHA initially attracted stars by offering higher salaries than the NHL and successfully invalidating the NHL's <a href="/wiki/Reserve_clause" title="Reserve clause">reserve clause</a>, forcing NHL teams to keep up. The bidding war brought financial distress to both leagues. With the WHA and several NHL teams faced with collapse, the NHL negotiated a <a href="/wiki/NHL%E2%80%93WHA_merger" class="mw-redirect" title="NHL–WHA merger">merger of the leagues</a> whereby the four strongest WHA teams joined the NHL. The CFL has been historically protected from the competing leagues that the NFL faced, in part because of threats of parliamentary legislation to stop any CFL competitor from being allowed to play in Canada. The <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_Act" title="Canadian Football Act">Canadian Football Act</a>, proposed in 1974 but never passed, would have given the CFL a government-endorsed monopoly on professional <a href="/wiki/Gridiron_football" title="Gridiron football">gridiron football</a> in Canada by prohibiting any other league from playing its games in the country; the mere introduction of the bill in <a href="/wiki/Parliament_of_Canada" title="Parliament of Canada">Parliament</a> prompted the <a href="/wiki/World_Football_League" title="World Football League">WFL</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Toronto_Northmen" class="mw-redirect" title="Toronto Northmen">Toronto Northmen</a> to move to the United States before playing a single game and later the first <a href="/wiki/United_States_Football_League" title="United States Football League">USFL</a> was discouraged from establishing teams in Canada with the threat to reintroduce the Act in 1982.<a href="#cite_note-140">[123]</a> In the context of the modern North American sports market as a whole, however, CFL has faced and survived numerous challenges from upstart US-based leagues seeking to establish themselves as a second-tier gridiron football league relative to the NFL and thus competing with the CFL for player talent and consumer exposure.<a href="#cite_note-141">[124]</a><a href="#cite_note-142">[125]</a> The vast majority of these leagues (such as the first and <a href="/wiki/United_States_Football_League_(2022)" class="mw-redirect" title="United States Football League (2022)">second USFL</a>, <a href="/wiki/United_Football_League_(2009%E2%80%932012)" title="United Football League (2009–2012)">second</a> and <a href="/wiki/United_Football_League_(2024)" title="United Football League (2024)">third UFL</a>, <a href="/wiki/XFL_(2001)" title="XFL (2001)">XFL</a> and its <a href="/wiki/XFL_(2020)" class="mw-redirect" title="XFL (2020)">later reincarnation</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Alliance_of_American_Football" title="Alliance of American Football">AAF</a>) have all been short-lived; all but the current UFL have folded, with that league having formed in advance of the 2024 season by the merger of the 2020s incarnations of the USFL and XFL.<a href="#cite_note-143">[126]</a> Similarly, the CFL itself played the role of a competitor to the NFL during <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League_in_the_United_States" title="Canadian Football League in the United States">its mid-1990s expansion out of Canada and into the US market</a>, which was also short-lived.<a href="#cite_note-144">[127]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Fixed_league_membership">Fixed league membership</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: Fixed league membership">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="/wiki/Closed_league" title="Closed league">Closed league</a> and <a href="/wiki/Promotion_and_relegation#Historical_comparisons" title="Promotion and relegation">Promotion and relegation: Historical comparisons</a></div> In general, sports leagues in the United States and Canada are <a href="/wiki/Closed_league" title="Closed league">closed leagues</a> that never developed any system of <a href="/wiki/Promotion_and_relegation" title="Promotion and relegation">promotion and relegation</a> like those in Europe. A major professional sports team stays at the top level of the sport, regardless of their performance. A major factor in this development was the greater distances between cities, with some teams separated by at least half the continent, which in turn resulted in higher traveling costs. When the <a href="/wiki/National_League_(baseball)" title="National League (baseball)">National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs</a> was established in 1876, its founders judged that in order to prosper, they must make baseball's highest level of competition a "closed shop", with a strict limit on the number of teams, and with each member having exclusive local rights. This guarantee of a place in the league year after year permitted each club owner to monopolize fan bases in their respective exclusive territories and give them the confidence to invest in infrastructure, such as improved ballparks. This in turn guaranteed the revenues needed to support traveling across the continent.<a href="#cite_note-145">[128]</a> With the introduction of TV exposure and other sources of increased revenue during the 20th century, team owners have no incentive to risk giving up this annual income in favor of establishing an "open shop system" where they could be relegated to a lower league that does not generate that kind of lucrative money. There has been discussion of <a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">Major League Soccer</a> adopting promotion and relegation, but MLS is not pursuing the option.<a href="#cite_note-146">[129]</a> Eight current MLS teams—<a href="/wiki/Seattle_Sounders_FC" title="Seattle Sounders FC">Seattle Sounders FC</a>, <a href="/wiki/Portland_Timbers" title="Portland Timbers">Portland Timbers</a>, <a href="/wiki/Vancouver_Whitecaps_FC" title="Vancouver Whitecaps FC">Vancouver Whitecaps FC</a>, <a href="/wiki/CF_Montr%C3%A9al" title="CF Montréal">CF Montréal</a>, <a href="/wiki/Orlando_City_SC" title="Orlando City SC">Orlando City SC</a>, <a href="/wiki/Minnesota_United_FC" title="Minnesota United FC">Minnesota United FC</a>, <a href="/wiki/FC_Cincinnati" title="FC Cincinnati">FC Cincinnati</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Nashville_SC" title="Nashville SC">Nashville SC</a>—were promoted from lower leagues through the traditional expansion process, without regard to on-pitch record; instead new teams are brought into MLS based on the financial strength of their ownership and market. <a href="/wiki/Sacramento_Republic_FC" title="Sacramento Republic FC">Sacramento Republic FC</a> was scheduled to become the ninth such MLS team in 2023 until <a href="/wiki/Ron_Burkle" class="mw-redirect" title="Ron Burkle">its lead investor</a> pulled out of the expansion deal.<a href="#cite_note-147">[130]</a>[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Writing_better_articles#Stay_on_topic" title="Wikipedia:Writing better articles"><span title="The material near this tag may contain information that is not relevant to the article's main topic. The Sacramento bid is relevant elsewhere in this article (and unsourced in those places), but not here, and its cited source doesn't mention promotion or relegation. (June 2023)">relevant?</a>] <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Player_development">Player development</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=22" title="Edit section: Player development">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1248332772">.mw-parser-output .multiple-issues-text{width:95%;margin:0.2em 0}.mw-parser-output .multiple-issues-text>.mw-collapsible-content{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox{border:none;border-collapse:collapse;background-color:transparent;margin:0 0 0 1.6em!important;padding:0!important;width:auto;display:block}body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox.mbox-small-left{font-size:100%;width:auto;margin:0}.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-text{padding:0!important;margin:0!important}.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-text-span{display:list-item;line-height:1.5em;list-style-type:disc}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .multiple-issues-text>.mw-collapsible-toggle,.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-image,.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-imageright,.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .ambox .mbox-empty-cell,.mw-parser-output .compact-ambox .hide-when-compact{display:none}</style><table class="box-Multiple_issues plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-multiple_issues compact-ambox" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/40px-Ambox_important.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/60px-Ambox_important.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/80px-Ambox_important.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="40" data-file-height="40" /></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span"><div class="multiple-issues-text mw-collapsible">This section has multiple issues. Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Special:EditPage/Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">improve it</a> or discuss these issues on the <a href="/wiki/Talk:Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Talk:Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">talk page</a>. (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove these messages</a>) <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-More_citations_needed_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a>. Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Special:EditPage/Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a> in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2014) (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Synthesis plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Ambox_question.svg/40px-Ambox_question.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Ambox_question.svg/60px-Ambox_question.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Ambox_question.svg/80px-Ambox_question.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="40" data-file-height="40" /></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article or section possibly contains <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research#Synthesis_of_published_material" title="Wikipedia:No original research">synthesis of material</a> which does not <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verifiably mention</a> or <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Content_removal#Irrelevant_information" title="Wikipedia:Content removal">relate</a> to the main topic. Relevant discussion may be found on the <a href="/wiki/Talk:Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada##" title="Talk:Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">talk page</a>. (June 2023) (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> </div> (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> All of the major North American professional sports leagues use a <a href="/wiki/Draft_(sports)" title="Draft (sports)">draft</a> system to assign prospective players to teams. The NFL, NHL and NBA all use their respective drafts to ensure a certain measure of parity between franchises, so that teams with losing records pick early in the draft, while the league champions pick last in each round. (In the NFL, the relationship is directly linear, so that the worst team always gets the first overall pick; MLB, the NHL and the NBA, in efforts to thwart <a href="/wiki/Match_fixing" title="Match fixing">tanking</a>, use a <a href="/wiki/NBA_draft_lottery" title="NBA draft lottery">draft lottery</a> to determine the early draft order.) Three of the top four major leagues possess sophisticated player development systems. The vast majority of MLB players are developed through the <a href="/wiki/Minor_league_baseball" class="mw-redirect" title="Minor league baseball">minor league baseball</a> system. Prospective players generally are drafted, and are then assigned to the appropriate minor league level for development. With the growth of <a href="/wiki/College_baseball" title="College baseball">college baseball</a>, more players opt to play at the collegiate level and delay entry into the MLB draft; college baseball players with professional aspirations will usually also play <a href="/wiki/Collegiate_summer_baseball" title="Collegiate summer baseball">collegiate summer baseball</a> to gain experience and exposure while maintaining their college eligibility. Individual teams' large scouting staffs have given way to smaller staffs and subscriptions to commercial player scouting services. <a href="/wiki/List_of_baseball_players_who_went_directly_to_Major_League_Baseball" title="List of baseball players who went directly to Major League Baseball">Entering the majors directly</a> from high school or college is rare, and most of the few that have were quickly reassigned to the minors. MLB clubs also sign many players from <a href="/wiki/Latin_American" class="mw-redirect" title="Latin American">Latin American</a> countries, and have also recruited many players from the <a href="/wiki/Nippon_Professional_Baseball" title="Nippon Professional Baseball">Japanese leagues</a>. Most of the NBA's talent comes from <a href="/wiki/College_basketball" title="College basketball">college</a> and <a href="/wiki/High_school_basketball" title="High school basketball">high school basketball</a>, although minimum age rules have ended the NBA's practice of drafting players directly from high school beginning in <a href="/wiki/2006_NBA_draft" title="2006 NBA draft">2006</a>. The NBA's developmental league, now known as the <a href="/wiki/NBA_G_League" title="NBA G League">G League</a>, was implemented in 2001 by the NBA to perform the role of a <a href="/wiki/Farm_system" class="mw-redirect" title="Farm system">farm system</a> in helping with player development and market reach, but NBA teams more frequently recruit talent from overseas professional leagues, mostly in Europe with a few players being recruited from leagues in Latin America, China, and Australia. Prior to the development of the G League, the <a href="/wiki/Continental_Basketball_Association" title="Continental Basketball Association">Continental Basketball Association</a> had served as a minor league to the NBA. The National Football League is the only one of the four major sports leagues that does not have a <a href="/wiki/Minor_league_football_(gridiron)" title="Minor league football (gridiron)">formalized farm system</a>. The source for almost all NFL players is <a href="/wiki/College_football" title="College football">college football</a>, but NFL also has <a href="/wiki/International_Player_Pathway_Program" class="mw-redirect" title="International Player Pathway Program">International Player Pathway Program</a> for potential international prospects. Drafted players from college immediately join the main team; if they fail to make the regular season roster, a limited number of players may be assigned to the <a href="/wiki/Practice_squad" title="Practice squad">practice squad</a>. NFL teams rarely recruit players from other gridiron football leagues. American football also has the least global reach for prospects, with one exception being several <a href="/wiki/List_of_players_who_have_converted_from_one_football_code_to_another" title="List of players who have converted from one football code to another">players from other codes of football</a> primarily as kickers and punters. The league's teams backed the <a href="/wiki/World_League_of_American_Football" class="mw-redirect" title="World League of American Football">World League</a> (later known as <a href="/wiki/NFL_Europe" title="NFL Europe">NFL Europe</a>) in the 1990s and 2000s, and purchased teams in the <a href="/wiki/Arena_Football_League" title="Arena Football League">Arena Football League</a> for a period in the 2000s. As of 2019, the <a href="/wiki/National_Football_League_Players_Association" title="National Football League Players Association">National Football League Players Association</a> explicitly opposes having an official minor league in the same model as the other major sports, mainly because of the risk of injury.<a href="#cite_note-148">[131]</a> The current version of the <a href="/wiki/United_Football_League_(2024)" title="United Football League (2024)">United Football League</a> has positioned itself as a de facto minor league and opportunity for players to reach the NFL<a href="#cite_note-xfl-axios-149">[132]</a> while asserting its independence as an organization.<a href="#cite_note-150">[133]</a> The NFL does operate two overseas <a href="/wiki/Youth_academy" class="mw-redirect" title="Youth academy">youth academies</a>, one in England at <a href="/wiki/Loughborough_University" title="Loughborough University">Loughborough University</a> and the other in Australia at <a href="/wiki/A._B._Paterson_College" class="mw-redirect" title="A. B. Paterson College">A. B. Paterson College</a>.<a href="#cite_note-151">[134]</a> Each NHL team has an affiliate in North America's top-tier <a href="/wiki/Minor_hockey_league" class="mw-redirect" title="Minor hockey league">minor hockey league</a>, the <a href="/wiki/American_Hockey_League" title="American Hockey League">American Hockey League</a>, and most have an affiliation with teams in the <a href="/wiki/ECHL" title="ECHL">ECHL</a>. For decades, the traditional route to the NHL has been through <a href="/wiki/Junior_ice_hockey" title="Junior ice hockey">junior hockey</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Hockey_League" title="Canadian Hockey League">Canadian Hockey League</a> (CHL). Beginning in the 1970s, NHL teams began drafting and signing prospects from Europe, and a growing number of NHL hopefuls are forgoing the CHL in favor of NCAA Division I college hockey.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] Additionally, <a href="/wiki/USA_Hockey" title="USA Hockey">USA Hockey</a> also sanctions junior hockey leagues, such as the <a href="/wiki/United_States_Hockey_League" title="United States Hockey League">United States Hockey League</a> and <a href="/wiki/North_American_Hockey_League" title="North American Hockey League">North American Hockey League</a>, that allow players to develop while also retain NCAA eligibility in order to make the NHL. Almost all draft picks are initially assigned to an affiliate in their NHL team's minor league system for development.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] MLS teams sign players from their <a href="/wiki/Youth_academy" class="mw-redirect" title="Youth academy">youth academies</a>, from the <a href="/wiki/MLS_SuperDraft" title="MLS SuperDraft">MLS college draft</a>, and from overseas. MLS teams rely on their youth academies, which are now a requirement for all MLS clubs. MLS clubs can operate youth teams as young as 13–14 years old. Some youth academy teams participate in lower-tier leagues. MLS also holds an annual draft in which top <a href="/wiki/College_soccer_in_the_United_States" class="mw-redirect" title="College soccer in the United States">college soccer</a> players are selected. MLS has in the recent past had a formal relationship with the <a href="/wiki/United_Soccer_League" title="United Soccer League">United Soccer League</a>, which operates (among other leagues) the Division II <a href="/wiki/USL_Championship" title="USL Championship">USL Championship</a> (USLC) and Division III <a href="/wiki/USL_League_One" title="USL League One">USL League One</a> (USL 1). For several years in the 2010s, MLS teams were nominally required to field a reserve team in a USL league, either by direct ownership or affiliation with a separately owned team, although this requirement was never strictly enforced.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] MLS relaunched its reserve league in 2022 as <a href="/wiki/MLS_Next_Pro" title="MLS Next Pro">MLS Next Pro</a>, a third-level league that initially featured 20 MLS reserve teams and one independently owned team (<a href="/wiki/Rochester_New_York_FC" title="Rochester New York FC">Rochester New York FC</a>, which folded after Next Pro's first season). Of the nine current and then-future MLS teams that did not field a side in Next Pro's first season, all but <a href="/wiki/CF_Montr%C3%A9al" title="CF Montréal">CF Montréal</a> and <a href="/wiki/D.C._United" title="D.C. United">D.C. United</a> field reserve sides in Next Pro in 2023. This setup allows developing MLS players to gain playing experience.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] The CFL's draft is limited to Canadian citizens, plus non-citizens who were raised in Canada. In addition to university/college football, the CFL draft also draws players from the long-established <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Junior_Football_League" title="Canadian Junior Football League">Canadian Junior Football League</a> and its component leagues. The league also draws from the same pool of free agents as the NFL, with players who do not make the NFL often going north to seek work in the CFL. The CFL requires free agents to sign contracts, and thus stay in the league, for a minimum of two years. Unique to the CFL is the concept of the negotiation list, which allows CFL teams to unilaterally declare exclusive rights to any given player. Described as an "enduring mystery", the negotiation list forces players to accept the offer they are given, usually at league minimum, with no leverage to negotiate with other teams; there is no order or limits to the negotiation list, and teams can add or remove players to a 45-position negotiation list without their permission and at any time, regardless of age. Since <a href="/wiki/2018_CFL_season" title="2018 CFL season">2018</a>, ten of the 45 players must be publicly announced.<a href="#cite_note-152">[135]</a><a href="#cite_note-153">[136]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="High_player_salaries">High player salaries</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=23" title="Edit section: High player salaries">edit</a>]</div> <table class="wikitable" style="margin-left:1em; float:right; text-align:center;"> <caption>Player salaries </caption> <tbody><tr> <th>League </th> <th>Average salary </th> <th>Team salary cap </th></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball" title="Major League Baseball">MLB</a> </td> <td>$4.36 mil </td> <td>$210 mil* </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Football_League" title="National Football League">NFL</a> </td> <td>$2.7 mil </td> <td>$198.2 mil<a href="#cite_note-urlBuilding_the_best_NFL_team_money_can_buy_under_the_2020_salary_cap-154">[137]</a> + $40 million per team in player benefits<a href="#cite_note-urlHow_Can_the_NFL_Prevent_a_Salary_Cap_Crisis?_-_The_Ringer-155">[138]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_Association" title="National Basketball Association">NBA</a> </td> <td>$7.7 mil </td> <td>$109.14 mil<a href="#cite_note-2019NBAcap-156">[139]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">NHL</a> </td> <td>$2.78 mil </td> <td>$81.5 mil </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">MLS</a> </td> <td>$0.423 mil </td> <td>$13.38 mil<a href="#cite_note-inquirer-157">[140]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">CFL</a> </td> <td>$0.113 mil </td> <td>$5.70 mil<a href="#cite_note-158">[141]</a> </td></tr></tbody></table> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Salary_cap" title="Salary cap">Salary cap</a></div> The average annual <a href="/wiki/Salary" title="Salary">salary</a> for players in the four major leagues is about US$2.9 million in 2008, although player salaries can range from $500,000 for backup players to as much as $40 million (up to around $60 mil in the NFL and the NBA by 2021, not counting endorsements and sponsorship deals) for <a href="/wiki/Superstar" title="Superstar">superstars</a>. NFL, MLB, and NBA have the <a href="/wiki/List_of_largest_sports_contracts" title="List of largest sports contracts">biggest and longest contracts</a> in the history of professional sports.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] NBA players have the highest average player salaries of the four leagues; however, their teams also have the smallest rosters. The NFL has the highest average team <a href="/wiki/Payroll" title="Payroll">payroll</a>. However, 55-player NFL rosters are far larger than the other three leagues'. Many players on NFL rosters see little actual game play, and teams play far fewer games, making their players on average the lowest paid of the Big Four leagues. After a brief lockout during the 2011 off-season, league owners and the <a href="/wiki/NFLPA" class="mw-redirect" title="NFLPA">players' union</a> signed a new <a href="/wiki/Collective_bargaining_agreement" class="mw-redirect" title="Collective bargaining agreement">collective bargaining agreement</a> that imposed a hard salary cap of $120 million in the 2011 season, but temporarily suspended the salary floor, which returned in the 2013 season at 89% of the cap.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] MLB is now alone among the major leagues in that it lacks any form of a <a href="/wiki/Salary_cap" title="Salary cap">salary cap</a> and has enacted only modest forms of <a href="/wiki/Revenue_sharing" title="Revenue sharing">revenue sharing</a> and <a href="/wiki/Luxury_tax_(sports)" title="Luxury tax (sports)">luxury taxes</a>.<a href="#cite_note-159">[142]</a> Compared to the other leagues, there is a far greater disparity between MLB payrolls. The <a href="/wiki/New_York_Yankees" title="New York Yankees">New York Yankees</a> had the highest payroll of any American sports team in 2006 when they paid $194 million in players' salaries – nearly twice the NFL salary cap and nearly thirteen times the payroll of the <a href="/wiki/Miami_Marlins" title="Miami Marlins">Florida Marlins</a> who spent about $15 million (significantly less than the mandatory minimum team payrolls in the NFL and NHL).[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] For the <a href="/wiki/2010%E2%80%9311_NHL_season" title="2010–11 NHL season">2010–11 NHL season</a>, the average player salary was slightly above the pre-lockout level of US$1.8 million. In the same season, the league's salary cap was US$59.4 million per team, with the salary floor set at US$16 million under the cap. For the <a href="/wiki/2018%E2%80%9319_NHL_season" title="2018–19 NHL season">2018–19 season</a>, the cap has been set as US$79.5 million, with the floor at US$58.8 million.<a href="#cite_note-160">[143]</a> MLS has lower average salaries and smaller payrolls than the other leagues. MLS kept a strict rein on player salaries until 2007, when MLS introduced the <a href="/wiki/Designated_Player_Rule" title="Designated Player Rule">Designated Player Rule</a>, which allows MLS teams to pay higher wages for star players. David Beckham was the first player signed under this rule. The highest MLS payroll in 2019 was Toronto FC, with $24.5 million.<a href="#cite_note-forbes_mls-161">[144]</a> The league's average salary is about $423,232 per year. MLS' minimum player salary will increase[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Dates_and_numbers#Chronological_items" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers">when?</a>] from $63,542 to $85,502 for most players.<a href="#cite_note-162">[145]</a> The CFL has a relatively smaller annual player salary and salary cap compared to the other leagues. The average salary in 2018 is $113,000 and the salary cap in 2018 is CAD $5.2 million.<a href="#cite_note-bolevi-163">[146]</a> As recently as the 1990s, loopholes in the salary cap allowed CFL teams to pay select marquee players a salary comparable to their NFL counterparts, but financial problems forced the league to close those loopholes. Starting quarterbacks, typically the highest paid players on a CFL roster, can make as much as CAD$750,000.<a href="#cite_note-164">[147]</a><a href="#cite_note-165">[148]</a><a href="#cite_note-bolevi-163">[146]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Dominance_of_the_sport">Dominance of the sport</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=24" title="Edit section: Dominance of the sport">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1248332772"><table class="box-Multiple_issues plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-multiple_issues compact-ambox" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/40px-Ambox_important.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/60px-Ambox_important.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/80px-Ambox_important.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="40" data-file-height="40" /></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span"><div class="multiple-issues-text mw-collapsible">This section has multiple issues. Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Special:EditPage/Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">improve it</a> or discuss these issues on the <a href="/wiki/Talk:Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Talk:Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">talk page</a>. (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove these messages</a>) <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-More_citations_needed_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a>. Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Special:EditPage/Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a> in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2023) (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Time-context plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Ambox_currentevent_yellow.svg/50px-Ambox_currentevent_yellow.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Ambox_currentevent_yellow.svg/75px-Ambox_currentevent_yellow.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Ambox_currentevent_yellow.svg/100px-Ambox_currentevent_yellow.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="360" data-file-height="290" /></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article is about an event or subject that may not be current but does not specify the time period. Please help <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit">improve it</a> to include this information. The <a href="/wiki/Talk:Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Talk:Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">talk page</a> may contain suggestions. (June 2023)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> </div> (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> Each of the top four major leagues are the premier competitions of their respective sport on the world stage. Major League Baseball is increasingly <a href="/wiki/Posting_system" title="Posting system">attracting the stars</a> from the <a href="/wiki/Nippon_Professional_Baseball" title="Nippon Professional Baseball">Japanese pro leagues</a>, the European pro hockey leagues have become a source of star talent for National Hockey League clubs, and the National Basketball Association frequently attracts talent from professional leagues in Europe, Latin America, Australia and China.<a href="#cite_note-:0-1">[1]</a><a href="#cite_note-urlMajor_sports_leagues_all_make_a_lot_of_money,_heres_how_they_do_it:,_Major_sports_leagues_all_make_a_lot_of_money,_heres_how_they_do_it:-2">[2]</a> Each of the Big Four leagues is considered the top league in their respective sports, not only in revenue but also in quality of talent, player salaries, and worldwide interest.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch">according to whom?</a>] However, of the four major leagues, the NFL has the least presence outside both countries; it is mainly an American and Canadian interest.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] Basketball is a strong spectator and participation sport in parts of the world, and the NBA is unquestionably the top basketball league.<a href="#cite_note-166">[149]</a> Ice hockey (Europe) and baseball (East Asia, Latin America, Caribbean) have loyal followings in some of the world's other regions as well. Selling league broadcasting rights to foreign markets is another way for the leagues to generate revenue, and all the leagues have tried to exploit revenue streams outside of their home market. The NHL is the top professional hockey league in the world, and the NHL attracts top players from European leagues. The NHL played <a href="/wiki/Exhibition_game" title="Exhibition game">exhibition games</a> against European teams in the "NHL Premiere" series (2007–11), the <a href="/wiki/NHL_Challenge" title="NHL Challenge">NHL Challenge</a> (2000–10), and the <a href="/wiki/Victoria_Cup_(ice_hockey)" title="Victoria Cup (ice hockey)">Victoria Cup</a> (2008–09), and NHL teams have won 24 games to the European teams' four. <a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">Major League Soccer</a> is not the premier soccer competition in the world, or even in the Americas, in terms of competition success, revenues, and players. MLS teams compete with top teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean in the <a href="/wiki/CONCACAF_Champions_League" class="mw-redirect" title="CONCACAF Champions League">CONCACAF Champions League</a>; before <a href="/wiki/Seattle_Sounders_FC" title="Seattle Sounders FC">Seattle Sounders FC</a> won in <a href="/wiki/2022_CONCACAF_Champions_League" title="2022 CONCACAF Champions League">2022</a>, every edition since the current format was introduced in the 2008–09 season was won by a Mexican club. MLS has annual revenues of 1.2 billion[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify">ambiguous</a>], the Big five European soccer leagues (<a href="/wiki/Premier_League" title="Premier League">England</a>, <a href="/wiki/Bundesliga" title="Bundesliga">Germany</a>, <a href="/wiki/La_Liga" title="La Liga">Spain</a>, <a href="/wiki/Serie_A" title="Serie A">Italy</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Ligue_1" title="Ligue 1">France</a>) have annual revenues in excess of $1 billion as well. The top players from MLS often move to Europe in search of tougher competition and higher salaries. However, MLS has steadily improved in international stature in recent years. The league implemented the <a href="/wiki/Designated_Player_Rule" title="Designated Player Rule">Designated Player Rule</a> in 2007, allowing MLS to attract and retain international stars such as <a href="/wiki/David_Beckham" title="David Beckham">David Beckham</a>.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] MLS attendance has increased to the point where MLS average attendance is among the top ten soccer leagues worldwide.<a href="#cite_note-gannett-mls-attendance-29">[28]</a> The introduction of <a href="/wiki/Soccer-specific_stadium" title="Soccer-specific stadium">soccer-specific stadiums</a> had improved revenue growth.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] In the late 1940s and 1950s, the <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">Canadian Football League</a> (CFL) and the U.S. <a href="/wiki/National_Football_League" title="National Football League">National Football League</a> (NFL) operated on roughly equal footing financially,[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] with even some U.S.-born star <a href="/wiki/Football_player" title="Football player">players</a> joining CFL teams. The situation changed along with the rise of the <a href="/wiki/American_Football_League" title="American Football League">American Football League</a> (AFL) founded in 1959. By the end of the 1960s, revenue from the U.S. television market and <a href="/wiki/AFL%E2%80%93NFL_merger" title="AFL–NFL merger">absorption of the AFL</a> helped the NFL become much more successful than its Canadian counterpart. By the 1980s, the CFL became virtually unknown outside of Canada. Attempts to promote the CFL included the failed <a href="/wiki/CFL_USA" class="mw-redirect" title="CFL USA">CFL USA</a> experiment in the 1990s. In 2009, a record 6.1 million viewers watched the CFL's annual <a href="/wiki/Grey_Cup" title="Grey Cup">Grey Cup</a> championship game,<a href="#cite_note-167">[150]</a> while 151.6 million viewers watched the NFL's annual <a href="/wiki/Super_Bowl" title="Super Bowl">Super Bowl</a> championship game that same year.<a href="#cite_note-168">[151]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Use_of_the_phrase_"world_champions"">Use of the phrase "world champions"</h4>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=25" title="Edit section: Use of the phrase "world champions"">edit</a>]</div> The perceived lack of competition from the rest of the world has contributed to the long-standing but controversial practice of the North American media referring to the major sports league champions as <a href="/wiki/Champion" title="Champion">world champions</a>.<a href="#cite_note-169">[152]</a> Today, the phrase is more popular in the United States but it retains some acceptance in Canada. However, this practice is usually mocked by non-Americans.<a href="#cite_note-170">[153]</a> Usage of the phrase in baseball started with organization of championship series between the National League and the earlier American Association in the 1880s, later to be known as the <a href="/wiki/World_Series" title="World Series">World Series</a>. Major League Baseball later set up the <a href="/wiki/World_Baseball_Classic" title="World Baseball Classic">World Baseball Classic</a>, a quadrennial international competition, to crown a world champion among national teams.<a href="#cite_note-171">[154]</a> By the 1950s, the phrase World Champions was also being used by the newly formed NBA. The <a href="/wiki/Super_Bowl" title="Super Bowl">Super Bowl</a>, the interleague championship between the NFL and American Football League, was explicitly named a "World Championship Game" for its <a href="/wiki/Super_Bowl_I" title="Super Bowl I">first iteration</a>. In ice hockey, the <a href="/wiki/Stanley_Cup" title="Stanley Cup">Stanley Cup</a> was initially open only to Canadian teams, but in 1914 the Cup's trustees allowed American teams to compete, with the provision that the Stanley Cup winners were to be recognized as World's Champions. The phrase was repeatedly <a href="/wiki/Chronology_of_Stanley_Cup_engravings" title="Chronology of Stanley Cup engravings">engraved on the Cup</a>, and continued to be used when the NHL began admitting American franchises. When the NHL assumed formal control of the Cup in 1947, the resulting agreement required "that the winners of this trophy shall be the acknowledged World's Professional Hockey Champions" (in contrast to the <a href="/wiki/International_Ice_Hockey_Federation" title="International Ice Hockey Federation">IIHF</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Ice_Hockey_World_Championships" title="Ice Hockey World Championships">Ice Hockey World Championships</a>, at the time nominally contested by amateurs, although <a href="/wiki/Eastern_Bloc" title="Eastern Bloc">Eastern Bloc</a> nations violated the rules and used <a href="/wiki/De_facto" title="De facto">de facto</a> professionals).<a href="#cite_note-172">[155]</a>[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">irrelevant citation</a>] When the <a href="/wiki/World_Hockey_Association" title="World Hockey Association">World Hockey Association</a> commenced play in the 1970s, they sought to challenge for the Stanley Cup, referring to the 1947 agreement. Both the NHL and the Cup trustees rejected the WHA's challenges; nevertheless, the NHL stopped calling its champions the World Champions, as by this time, the <a href="/wiki/Soviet_Championship_League" title="Soviet Championship League">Soviet Championship League</a> was regularly beating the NHL in interleague competitions and the IIHF World Championship was officially opened up to professionals in 1976. Since then, the NHL has called their champions the Stanley Cup Champions. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History_and_expansion_of_major_leagues">History and expansion of major leagues</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=26" title="Edit section: History and expansion of major leagues">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Expansion_of_major_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Expansion of major sports leagues in the United States and Canada">Expansion of major sports leagues in the United States and Canada</a></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Timeline_of_Major_League_Baseball" title="Timeline of Major League Baseball">Timeline of Major League Baseball</a>, <a href="/wiki/Timeline_of_the_NBA" title="Timeline of the NBA">Timeline of the NBA</a>, <a href="/wiki/Timeline_of_the_National_Football_League" title="Timeline of the National Football League">Timeline of the National Football League</a>, and <a href="/wiki/History_of_organizational_changes_in_the_NHL" title="History of organizational changes in the NHL">History of organizational changes in the NHL</a></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="United_States_2">United States</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=27" title="Edit section: United States">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Unreferenced_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Unreferenced" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section does not <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">cite</a> any <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">sources</a>. Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Special:EditPage/Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">improve this section</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">removed</a>. (May 2014) (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> Professional sports leagues as known today evolved during the decades between the <a href="/wiki/American_Civil_War" title="American Civil War">Civil War</a> and World War II, when the <a href="/wiki/Railroad" class="mw-redirect" title="Railroad">railroad</a> was the main means of intercity transportation. As a result, virtually all major league teams were concentrated in the northeastern quarter of the United States, within roughly the radius of a day-long train ride, within the <a href="/wiki/Great_Lakes" title="Great Lakes">Great Lakes</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Northeastern_United_States" title="Northeastern United States">Northeast</a> regions. Early professional soccer activity was concentrated almost entirely on an East Coast corridor from Baltimore to Boston, <a href="/wiki/Soccer_in_St._Louis" title="Soccer in St. Louis">except for</a> the <a href="/wiki/Greater_St._Louis" title="Greater St. Louis">St. Louis metropolitan area</a>. There were very few major league teams in the far west until after <a href="/wiki/World_War_II" title="World War II">World War II</a>. As travel and settlement patterns changed, so did the geography of professional sports. The NFL attempted to establish <a href="/wiki/Traveling_team" title="Traveling team">traveling teams</a> representing the west and other far-flung regions in <a href="/wiki/1926_NFL_season" title="1926 NFL season">1926</a> and <a href="/wiki/Barnstorm_(sports)" class="mw-redirect" title="Barnstorm (sports)">barnstormed</a> in Los Angeles that season; the experiment did not last beyond that year. The first <a href="/wiki/West_Coast_of_the_United_States" title="West Coast of the United States">west coast</a> major-league franchise was the NFL's <a href="/wiki/Los_Angeles_Rams" title="Los Angeles Rams">Los Angeles Rams</a>, who moved from <a href="/wiki/Cleveland" title="Cleveland">Cleveland</a> in 1946. The same year, the <a href="/wiki/All-America_Football_Conference" title="All-America Football Conference">All-America Football Conference</a> began play, with teams in <a href="/wiki/Los_Angeles_Dons" title="Los Angeles Dons">Los Angeles</a> and <a href="/wiki/San_Francisco_49ers" title="San Francisco 49ers">San Francisco</a>. Baseball extended west in 1958 in the move of the <a href="/wiki/Brooklyn_Dodgers" title="Brooklyn Dodgers">Brooklyn Dodgers</a> and <a href="/wiki/New_York_Giants_(baseball)" title="New York Giants (baseball)">New York Giants</a>. The NBA followed in 1960 with the move of the <a href="/wiki/History_of_the_Los_Angeles_Lakers" title="History of the Los Angeles Lakers">Minneapolis Lakers</a> to Los Angeles, while the NHL did not have a west coast presence until it <a href="/wiki/1967_NHL_expansion" title="1967 NHL expansion">expanded</a> in 1967. Almost all of the NHL's initial franchises in the Southern and Western United States were unsuccessful and relocated. From 1982 until 1991, the Kings were the only U.S.-based NHL franchise south of St. Louis and/or west of <a href="/wiki/Minneapolis%E2%80%93Saint_Paul" title="Minneapolis–Saint Paul">the Twin Cities</a>. Since then, as newer, fast-growing <a href="/wiki/Sunbelt" class="mw-redirect" title="Sunbelt">Sunbelt</a> areas such as <a href="/wiki/Phoenix_metropolitan_area" title="Phoenix metropolitan area">Phoenix</a>, <a href="/wiki/Tampa_Bay_Area" class="mw-redirect" title="Tampa Bay Area">Tampa</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Dallas%E2%80%93Fort_Worth_metroplex" title="Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex">Dallas</a> became prominent, the major sports leagues have expanded or franchises have relocated to service these communities. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="International_expansion">International expansion</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=28" title="Edit section: International expansion">edit</a>]</div> The Big Four sports leagues have looked to expand their revenues by playing overseas games in attempt to develop a wider international fan base. There has been increasing cooperation between the NBA and the <a href="/wiki/Euroleague_Basketball" title="Euroleague Basketball">Euroleague</a>. In 2005, the two bodies agreed to organize a summer competition known as the <a href="/wiki/NBA_Europe_Live_Tour" class="mw-redirect" title="NBA Europe Live Tour">NBA Europe Live Tour</a> featuring four NBA teams and four Euroleague clubs, with the first competition taking place in 2006.<a href="#cite_note-173">[156]</a> The NBA has also played teams from <a href="/wiki/Australia" title="Australia">Australia</a>'s <a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_League_(Australia)" title="National Basketball League (Australia)">National Basketball League</a>, and since 2015, the league has played <a href="/wiki/NBA_Africa_Game_(disambiguation)" class="mw-redirect" title="NBA Africa Game (disambiguation)">all-star games</a> in the <a href="/wiki/Johannesburg" title="Johannesburg">Johannesburg</a>, <a href="/wiki/South_Africa" title="South Africa">South Africa</a>, area against squads composed of NBA players who were either born on or whose parents were born on the African continent. The NFL has attempted to promote its game worldwide by scheduling selected pre-season games abroad since 1976.<a href="#cite_note-174">[157]</a> The NFL had promoted the game abroad through <a href="/wiki/NFL_Europe" title="NFL Europe">NFL Europe</a>, but the latter was unprofitable and ceased operations in 2007. The NFL began its <a href="/wiki/NFL_International_Series" title="NFL International Series">International Series</a>, holding at least one regular-season game at <a href="/wiki/Wembley_Stadium" title="Wembley Stadium">Wembley Stadium</a> in London every year since 2007.<a href="#cite_note-175">[158]</a><a href="#cite_note-176">[159]</a> The NFL held three games at Wembley in the 2014 season.<a href="#cite_note-177">[160]</a> Since then, <a href="/wiki/Twickenham_Stadium" title="Twickenham Stadium">Twickenham Stadium</a>, the home of <a href="/wiki/England_national_rugby_union_team" title="England national rugby union team">English rugby union</a>, has been added as a second London venue. The primary venue for London NFL games is set to switch to <a href="/wiki/Tottenham_Hotspur_Stadium" title="Tottenham Hotspur Stadium">Tottenham Hotspur Stadium</a>, opened in 2019 by the <a href="/wiki/Tottenham_Hotspur_F.C." title="Tottenham Hotspur F.C.">soccer club of that name</a>. The new stadium hosted two of the four London games in the 2019 season. The original contract between the NFL and <a href="/wiki/The_Football_Association" title="The Football Association">The Football Association</a>, owners of Wembley Stadium, expired after the 2020 season, though was renewed for another term. The NFL has a contract with Tottenham Hotspur (aka Spurs) for games through 2027. The Spurs stadium, in which the NFL made a modest investment, is designed to be capable of hosting both forms of football on a single weekend if necessary. NFL regular season games have also been played in Canada, Mexico, Germany, and Brazil[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>]. MLB has played regular season games outside of the United States and Canada, but in the 1990s and 2000s, games were initially limited to <a href="/wiki/Mexico" title="Mexico">Mexico</a> and <a href="/wiki/Japan" title="Japan">Japan</a> due to baseball's popularity in both countries. However in recent years, regular season games have been played in <a href="/wiki/Australia" title="Australia">Australia</a>, the <a href="/wiki/United_Kingdom" title="United Kingdom">United Kingdom</a>, and <a href="/wiki/South_Korea" title="South Korea">South Korea</a> with further plans for expansion. Spring training and postseason all star games have also been played in countries like the <a href="/wiki/Dominican_Republic" title="Dominican Republic">Dominican Republic</a>, <a href="/wiki/China" title="China">China</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Taiwan" title="Taiwan">Taiwan</a>. Prior to the <a href="/wiki/Cuban_Revolution" title="Cuban Revolution">Cuban Revolution</a> in 1959, MLB teams had previously played some spring training and exhibition games in <a href="/wiki/Cuba" title="Cuba">Cuba</a>, but the <a href="/wiki/Baltimore_Orioles" title="Baltimore Orioles">Baltimore Orioles</a> and <a href="/wiki/Tampa_Bay_Rays" title="Tampa Bay Rays">Tampa Bay Rays</a> would play exhibition games in the country in 1999 and 2016 respectively as part of efforts to improve relations between the two countries. The NHL has played games overseas as early as 1938 with most games being limited to exhibition games in <a href="/wiki/Western_Europe" title="Western Europe">Western</a> and <a href="/wiki/Central_Europe" title="Central Europe">Central Europe</a> as well as the <a href="/wiki/Nordic_countries" title="Nordic countries">Nordic countries</a> due to ice hockey's popularity in those countries. As the <a href="/wiki/Cold_War" title="Cold War">Cold War</a> came to an end, exhibition games were played in <a href="/wiki/Czechoslovakia" title="Czechoslovakia">Czechoslovakia</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a>. During the <a href="/wiki/1997%E2%80%9398_NHL_season" title="1997–98 NHL season">1997–98 NHL season</a>, the first regular season games were played overseas in Japan. Since 2007, regular season games have been played in the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Finland, and Czechia. Some preseason games have been played in Latvia, Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, Russia, China, and Australia. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Relations_between_leagues">Relations between leagues</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=29" title="Edit section: Relations between leagues">edit</a>]</div> Although they are competitors, at times the "Big Four" leagues also cooperate. Some owners have teams in multiple leagues. In the early years of professional basketball, the <a href="/wiki/American_Basketball_League_(1925%E2%80%931955)" title="American Basketball League (1925–1955)">American Basketball League</a>, the de facto major league of the 1920s, was backed primarily by NFL owners. There are common business and legal interests; the leagues will often support one another in legal matters since the <a href="/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law#Scope_of_antitrust_law" title="United States antitrust law">courts' decisions might establish precedents</a> that affect them all. One recent example was the <a href="/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States" title="Supreme Court of the United States">US Supreme Court</a> decision in 2010 in <a href="/wiki/American_Needle,_Inc._v._National_Football_League" title="American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League">American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League</a>, in which the NFL (which ultimately lost the case) received <a href="/wiki/Amicus_curiae" title="Amicus curiae">amicus curiae</a> briefs from the NBA, NHL, and MLS.<a href="#cite_note-178">[161]</a> The leagues' commissioners occasionally meet in person, most recently in 2009.<a href="#cite_note-everson20090507-179">[162]</a> In addition, the Big Four have also partnered together on community initiatives such as working together in the "Time Out Against Hate" campaign (alongside Major League Soccer, the Women’s National Basketball Association, the National Women’s Soccer League, and NASCAR) which aims to address and tackle hatred and racism, and the "Love, Your Mind" campaign which encourages fans to take care of their mental health.<a href="#cite_note-180">[163]</a><a href="#cite_note-181">[164]</a> The leagues also cooperate in the construction and use of facilities. Many NBA and NHL teams share arenas, and, in years past, such sharing was very common for MLB and NFL teams. <a href="/wiki/Multi-purpose_stadium" title="Multi-purpose stadium">Multi-purpose stadiums</a> were built to accommodate multiple sports in the later half of the 20th century; the last multi-purpose stadium in the NFL, what is now <a href="/wiki/Oakland_Coliseum" title="Oakland Coliseum">Oakland Coliseum</a>, hosted its last NFL game in <a href="/wiki/2019_Oakland_Raiders_season" title="2019 Oakland Raiders season">2019</a>. Even in situations where separate stadiums have been constructed for each team (as is generally the norm in the 21st century[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch">according to whom?</a>]), the individual stadiums may be constructed adjacent to each other and share parking space and other infrastructure.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] More recently, MLS teams have used NFL and CFL stadiums as either full-time home fields (much less so now, due to the league's insistence on <a href="/wiki/Soccer-specific_stadium" title="Soccer-specific stadium">soccer-specific stadiums</a>) or for special event games; in reverse, in at least one case, an NFL team (the <a href="/wiki/Los_Angeles_Chargers" title="Los Angeles Chargers">Los Angeles Chargers</a>) used a soccer-specific MLS stadium on a temporary basis from 2017 to 2019 while a larger stadium was built for them. In recent years, two MLS teams have shared stadiums permanently with NFL teams that were explicitly built to host both sports. <a href="/wiki/Seattle_Sounders_FC" title="Seattle Sounders FC">Seattle Sounders FC</a> share <a href="/wiki/Lumen_Field" title="Lumen Field">Lumen Field</a> with the <a href="/wiki/Seattle_Seahawks" title="Seattle Seahawks">Seattle Seahawks</a>; the Seahawks were owned by <a href="/wiki/Paul_Allen" title="Paul Allen">Paul Allen</a>, also a member of the Sounders ownership group, until his death in 2018. <a href="/wiki/Atlanta_United_FC" title="Atlanta United FC">Atlanta United FC</a> shares <a href="/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_Stadium" title="Mercedes-Benz Stadium">Mercedes-Benz Stadium</a> with the <a href="/wiki/Atlanta_Falcons" title="Atlanta Falcons">Atlanta Falcons</a>, with both teams under the ownership of <a href="/wiki/Arthur_Blank" title="Arthur Blank">Arthur Blank</a>. <a href="/wiki/Charlotte_FC" title="Charlotte FC">Charlotte FC</a> shares <a href="/wiki/Bank_of_America_Stadium" title="Bank of America Stadium">Bank of America Stadium</a> with the <a href="/wiki/Carolina_Panthers" title="Carolina Panthers">Carolina Panthers</a>; both teams are owned by <a href="/wiki/David_Tepper" title="David Tepper">David Tepper</a>. In Canada, <a href="/wiki/Vancouver_Whitecaps_FC" title="Vancouver Whitecaps FC">Vancouver Whitecaps FC</a> share <a href="/wiki/BC_Place" title="BC Place">BC Place</a> with the CFL's <a href="/wiki/BC_Lions" title="BC Lions">BC Lions</a>. The Seattle, Atlanta, and Vancouver stadiums are designed to have reduced seating capacity for most MLS games. Charlotte's stadium was renovated to allow for lower capacity soccer crowds before the MLS team debuted in 2022. Additionally, the <a href="/wiki/New_England_Revolution" title="New England Revolution">New England Revolution</a> shares <a href="/wiki/Gillette_Stadium" title="Gillette Stadium">Gillette Stadium</a> with the <a href="/wiki/New_England_Patriots" title="New England Patriots">New England Patriots</a>, <a href="/wiki/New_York_City_FC" title="New York City FC">New York City FC</a> shares <a href="/wiki/Yankee_Stadium" title="Yankee Stadium">Yankee Stadium</a> with the <a href="/wiki/New_York_Yankees" title="New York Yankees">New York Yankees</a> MLB team, which also owns part of NYCFC, and <a href="/wiki/Toronto_FC" title="Toronto FC">Toronto FC</a> shares <a href="/wiki/BMO_Field" title="BMO Field">BMO Field</a> with the CFL's <a href="/wiki/Toronto_Argonauts" title="Toronto Argonauts">Toronto Argonauts</a>, with both teams now owned by <a href="/wiki/Maple_Leaf_Sports_%26_Entertainment" title="Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment">Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment</a>, the company that also owns the <a href="/wiki/Toronto_Raptors" title="Toronto Raptors">Toronto Raptors</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Toronto_Maple_Leafs" title="Toronto Maple Leafs">Toronto Maple Leafs</a>. Also notable in recent years have been the <a href="/wiki/NHL_Winter_Classic" title="NHL Winter Classic">NHL's Winter Classic</a> and <a href="/wiki/NHL_Heritage_Classic" title="NHL Heritage Classic">Heritage Classic</a>, which have been held in NFL, CFL, and MLB, as well as college football, stadiums. A unique situation is the <a href="/wiki/Lansdowne_Park" title="Lansdowne Park">TD Place Complex</a> in <a href="/wiki/Ottawa" title="Ottawa">Ottawa</a>; the same structure serves as the indoor <a href="/wiki/Ottawa_Civic_Centre" class="mw-redirect" title="Ottawa Civic Centre">Ottawa Civic Centre</a> (which hosted the NHL's <a href="/wiki/Ottawa_Senators" title="Ottawa Senators">Senators</a> in the 1990s), while on the roof of that arena was seating for Frank Clair Stadium (at that time home of the CFL's <a href="/wiki/Ottawa_Rough_Riders" title="Ottawa Rough Riders">Ottawa Rough Riders</a>; by 2014 the stadium was renovated into <a href="/wiki/TD_Place_Stadium" title="TD Place Stadium">TD Place Stadium</a> and is now home to the CFL's <a href="/wiki/Ottawa_Redblacks" title="Ottawa Redblacks">Ottawa Redblacks</a>). In the early years of the NFL and to a lesser extent the NHL, it was not uncommon for teams to share nicknames with their MLB counterparts. For example, <a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_relocation_of_1950s-1960s" class="mw-redirect" title="Major League Baseball relocation of 1950s-1960s">until 1957</a> New York City played host to <a href="/wiki/History_of_the_New_York_Giants_(baseball)" class="mw-redirect" title="History of the New York Giants (baseball)">baseball</a> and <a href="/wiki/New_York_Giants" title="New York Giants">football</a> Giants. MLB's <a href="/wiki/Pittsburgh_Pirates" title="Pittsburgh Pirates">Pittsburgh Pirates</a> shared its nickname with an NFL team (which ultimately became the <a href="/wiki/Pittsburgh_Steelers" title="Pittsburgh Steelers">Pittsburgh Steelers</a>) as well as a <a href="/wiki/Pittsburgh_Pirates_(NHL)" title="Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL)">now-defunct early NHL team</a>, while the Canadian football team <a href="/wiki/Hamilton_Tigers_(football)" title="Hamilton Tigers (football)">Hamilton Tigers</a> shared a team name with an <a href="/wiki/Hamilton_Tigers" title="Hamilton Tigers">NHL team</a>. The most recent example of two major teams sharing a franchise name was between 1960 and 1987; when the NFL's <a href="/wiki/History_of_the_Chicago_Cardinals" class="mw-redirect" title="History of the Chicago Cardinals">Chicago Cardinals</a> relocated to <a href="/wiki/St._Louis" title="St. Louis">St. Louis, Missouri</a>, it was allowed to <a href="/wiki/History_of_the_St._Louis_Cardinals_(NFL)" class="mw-redirect" title="History of the St. Louis Cardinals (NFL)">keep the Cardinals name</a> despite the established existence of a <a href="/wiki/St._Louis_Cardinals" title="St. Louis Cardinals">baseball team of the same name</a>. In 1997, the NFL loaned $3 million to the CFL after the latter's failed expansion into the United States market in the early 1990s left it in financial danger.<a href="#cite_note-182">[165]</a> In 2015, the NHL partnered with MLB's digital arm <a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_Advanced_Media" class="mw-redirect" title="Major League Baseball Advanced Media">Major League Baseball Advanced Media</a> (MLBAM) to assume the operations of its digital properties; the league's television network <a href="/wiki/NHL_Network_(American_TV_channel)" title="NHL Network (American TV channel)">NHL Network</a> was also taken over by the staff of <a href="/wiki/MLB_Network" title="MLB Network">MLB Network</a> and re-located to its facilities.<a href="#cite_note-Ben_Popper-183">[166]</a><a href="#cite_note-recode-mlbnhl-184">[167]</a><a href="#cite_note-wsj-mlbamnhl-185">[168]</a> The <a href="/wiki/NBA_Finals" title="NBA Finals">NBA Finals</a> of the NBA and the <a href="/wiki/Stanley_Cup_Finals" title="Stanley Cup Finals">Stanley Cup Finals</a> of the NHL are the championship series of their respective leagues, which occur in June. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Sports_equinox">Sports equinox</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=30" title="Edit section: Sports equinox">edit</a>]</div> To date there have been 31 occasions in which all of the Big Four leagues played games on the same day, an occurrence popularly termed a sports equinox. Typically occurring on a Sunday, <a href="/wiki/Monday_Night_Football" title="Monday Night Football">Monday</a> or <a href="/wiki/Thursday_Night_Football" title="Thursday Night Football">Thursday</a> due to the NFL's scheduling windows, the first sports equinox occurred on October 17, 1971, when the <a href="/wiki/1971_World_Series" title="1971 World Series">1971 World Series</a> went to a Game 7 and landed on a Sunday with a full slate of 12 NFL games, three NHL games and six NBA games. Including that day, ten sports equinoxes occurred between 1971 and 1985, but only one between then and 2009. The phenomenon became a regular occurrence from 2010 onward, and at least annually since 2015. Additionally, MLS is beginning the <a href="/wiki/MLS_Cup_Playoffs" class="mw-redirect" title="MLS Cup Playoffs">MLS Cup Playoffs</a>; it has scheduled playoff games on the day of the sports equinox since 2021. The most recent sports equinox is occurring on October 28, 2024, with two MLS Cup Playoff games, Game 3 of the <a href="/wiki/2024_World_Series" title="2024 World Series">2024 World Series</a> in MLB, a Monday Night Football game in the NFL, 11 NBA games and 8 NHL games.<a href="#cite_note-186">[169]</a> The CFL is near the end of its regular season and beginning the playoffs during this window. As for a super sports equinox where a single city's teams in each league all play on the same day, only two have happened so far: November 4, 2001 in the <a href="/wiki/Phoenix_metropolitan_area" title="Phoenix metropolitan area">Phoenix area</a> for the Big Four (which involved the <a href="/wiki/Arizona_Diamondbacks" title="Arizona Diamondbacks">Arizona Diamondbacks</a> at the <a href="/wiki/2001_World_Series" title="2001 World Series">2001 World Series</a>, and regular season games involving the <a href="/wiki/Arizona_Cardinals" title="Arizona Cardinals">Arizona Cardinals</a>, <a href="/wiki/Phoenix_Suns" title="Phoenix Suns">Phoenix Suns</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Arizona_Coyotes" title="Arizona Coyotes">Phoenix Coyotes</a>) and October 28, 2018 in the <a href="/wiki/Greater_Los_Angeles" title="Greater Los Angeles">Los Angeles area</a> for the Big Four and MLS (which involved the <a href="/wiki/Los_Angeles_Dodgers" title="Los Angeles Dodgers">Los Angeles Dodgers</a> at the <a href="/wiki/2018_World_Series" title="2018 World Series">2018 World Series</a>, and regular season games for the <a href="/wiki/Los_Angeles_Kings" title="Los Angeles Kings">Los Angeles Kings</a>, <a href="/wiki/Los_Angeles_Rams" title="Los Angeles Rams">Los Angeles Rams</a>, <a href="/wiki/LA_Galaxy" title="LA Galaxy">LA Galaxy</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Los_Angeles_Clippers" title="Los Angeles Clippers">Los Angeles Clippers</a>).<a href="#cite_note-187">[170]</a><a href="#cite_note-188">[171]</a> Notably, the Los Angeles super sports equinox is currently the only one where all teams played at home, as the Phoenix Coyotes were on the road during the Phoenix super sports equinox in 2001. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=31" title="Edit section: See also">edit</a>]</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1130092004">.mw-parser-output .portal-bar{font-size:88%;font-weight:bold;display:flex;justify-content:center;align-items:baseline}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-bordered{padding:0 2em;background-color:#fdfdfd;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;clear:both;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-related{font-size:100%;justify-content:flex-start}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-unbordered{padding:0 1.7em;margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-header{margin:0 1em 0 0.5em;flex:0 0 auto;min-height:24px}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-content{display:flex;flex-flow:row wrap;flex:0 1 auto;padding:0.15em 0;column-gap:1em;align-items:baseline;margin:0;list-style:none}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-content-related{margin:0;list-style:none}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-item{display:inline-block;margin:0.15em 0.2em;min-height:24px;line-height:24px}@media screen and (max-width:768px){.mw-parser-output .portal-bar{font-size:88%;font-weight:bold;display:flex;flex-flow:column wrap;align-items:baseline}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-header{text-align:center;flex:0;padding-left:0.5em;margin:0 auto}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-related{font-size:100%;align-items:flex-start}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-content{display:flex;flex-flow:row wrap;align-items:center;flex:0;column-gap:1em;border-top:1px solid #a2a9b1;margin:0 auto;list-style:none}.mw-parser-output .portal-bar-content-related{border-top:none;margin:0;list-style:none}}.mw-parser-output .navbox+link+.portal-bar,.mw-parser-output .navbox+style+.portal-bar,.mw-parser-output .navbox+link+.portal-bar-bordered,.mw-parser-output .navbox+style+.portal-bar-bordered,.mw-parser-output .sister-bar+link+.portal-bar,.mw-parser-output .sister-bar+style+.portal-bar,.mw-parser-output .portal-bar+.navbox-styles+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .portal-bar+.navbox-styles+.sister-bar{margin-top:-1px}</style><div class="portal-bar noprint metadata noviewer portal-bar-bordered" role="navigation" aria-label="Portals"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents/Portals" title="Wikipedia:Contents/Portals">Portals</a>:<ul class="portal-bar-content"><li class="portal-bar-item"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Sports_icon.png/21px-Sports_icon.png" decoding="async" width="21" height="19" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Sports_icon.png/32px-Sports_icon.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Sports_icon.png/42px-Sports_icon.png 2x" data-file-width="251" data-file-height="226" /> <a href="/wiki/Portal:Sports" title="Portal:Sports">Sports</a></li><li class="portal-bar-item"><img alt="flag" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Maple_Leaf_%28from_roundel%29.svg/17px-Maple_Leaf_%28from_roundel%29.svg.png" decoding="async" width="17" height="19" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Maple_Leaf_%28from_roundel%29.svg/26px-Maple_Leaf_%28from_roundel%29.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Maple_Leaf_%28from_roundel%29.svg/34px-Maple_Leaf_%28from_roundel%29.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="305" data-file-height="343" /> <a href="/wiki/Portal:Canada" title="Portal:Canada">Canada</a></li><li class="portal-bar-item"><img alt="flag" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg/21px-Flag_of_the_United_States.svg.png" decoding="async" width="21" height="11" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg/32px-Flag_of_the_United_States.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a4/Flag_of_the_United_States.svg/42px-Flag_of_the_United_States.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1235" data-file-height="650" /> <a href="/wiki/Portal:United_States" title="Portal:United States">United States</a></li></ul></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Sports_in_the_United_States" title="Sports in the United States">Sports in the United States</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Major_professional_sports_teams_of_the_United_States_and_Canada" class="mw-redirect" title="Major professional sports teams of the United States and Canada">Major professional sports teams of the United States and Canada</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Prominent_women%27s_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Prominent women's sports leagues in the United States and Canada">Prominent women's sports leagues in the United States and Canada</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States" title="Professional sports leagues in the United States">Professional sports leagues in the United States</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_U.S._and_Canadian_cities_by_number_of_major_professional_sports_teams" title="List of U.S. and Canadian cities by number of major professional sports teams">List of U.S. and Canadian cities by number of major professional sports teams</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_professional_sports_teams_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="List of professional sports teams in the United States and Canada">List of professional sports teams in the United States and Canada</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/U.S._cities_with_teams_from_four_major_league_sports" class="mw-redirect" title="U.S. cities with teams from four major league sports">U.S. cities with teams from four major league sports</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sports_in_Canada" title="Sports in Canada">Sports in Canada</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sports_in_Mexico" class="mw-redirect" title="Sports in Mexico">Sports in Mexico</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_professional_sports_leagues" title="List of professional sports leagues">List of professional sports leagues</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_attendance_figures_at_domestic_professional_sports_leagues" title="List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues">List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues</a> – a summary of total and average attendances for the major sports leagues from around the world.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_professional_sports_leagues_by_revenue" title="List of professional sports leagues by revenue">List of professional sports leagues by revenue</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Footnotes">Footnotes</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=32" title="Edit section: Footnotes">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239543626"><div class="reflist reflist-lower-alpha"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-3"><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a> While a few MLS teams play in NFL stadiums, the upper decks of such venues are often partially or entirely closed for MLS matches, leading to an effective capacity closer to that of a typical MLS <a href="/wiki/Soccer-specific_stadium" title="Soccer-specific stadium">soccer-specific stadium</a>. </li> <li id="cite_note-32"><a href="#cite_ref-32">^</a> Despite its misleading name, the CRU was the governing body for Canadian football, not rugby </li> <li id="cite_note-102"><a href="#cite_ref-102">^</a> An identical $150 million fee was paid by the new ownership group of <a href="/wiki/Columbus_Crew" title="Columbus Crew">Columbus Crew SC</a> when they purchased the team from <a href="/wiki/Anthony_Precourt" title="Anthony Precourt">Anthony Precourt</a> in 2018. As part of the deal, Precourt received the rights to <a href="/wiki/Austin_FC" title="Austin FC">Austin FC</a>, which started play in 2021.<a href="#cite_note-100">[88]</a><a href="#cite_note-101">[89]</a> </li> <li id="cite_note-104"><a href="#cite_ref-104">^</a> <a href="/wiki/Inter_Miami_CF" title="Inter Miami CF">Inter Miami CF</a>, announced in January 2018 as a 2020 entry, only paid a $25 million fee. <a href="/wiki/David_Beckham" title="David Beckham">David Beckham</a>, the public face of the ownership group, received an option for a future MLS team at that specified fee as part of his original MLS playing contract in 2007.<a href="#cite_note-103">[90]</a> </li> <li id="cite_note-112"><a href="#cite_ref-112">^</a> The exceptions, in descending order of population, are the <a href="/wiki/Inland_Empire" title="Inland Empire">Inland Empire</a> of California, <a href="/wiki/Hampton_Roads" title="Hampton Roads">Hampton Roads</a>, <a href="/wiki/Providence_metropolitan_area" title="Providence metropolitan area">Providence</a>, <a href="/wiki/Louisville_metropolitan_area" title="Louisville metropolitan area">Louisville</a>, <a href="/wiki/Greater_Richmond_Region" title="Greater Richmond Region">Richmond</a>, <a href="/wiki/Birmingham_metropolitan_area,_Alabama" title="Birmingham metropolitan area, Alabama">Birmingham</a>, <a href="/wiki/Metropolitan_Fresno" title="Metropolitan Fresno">Fresno</a>, <a href="/wiki/Grand_Rapids_metropolitan_area" title="Grand Rapids metropolitan area">Grand Rapids</a>, <a href="/wiki/Greater_Hartford" title="Greater Hartford">Hartford</a>, <a href="/wiki/Pima_County,_Arizona" title="Pima County, Arizona">Tucson</a>, <a href="/wiki/Rochester_metropolitan_area,_New_York" title="Rochester metropolitan area, New York">Rochester</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Tulsa_metropolitan_area" title="Tulsa metropolitan area">Tulsa</a>. </li> <li id="cite_note-117"><a href="#cite_ref-117">^</a> Since 2022, Connecticut's counties no longer serve as statistical entities, having been replaced by the state's <a href="/wiki/Councils_of_governments_in_Connecticut" title="Councils of governments in Connecticut">planning regions</a>. The territory of Fairfield County has been divided among three planning regions. </li> <li id="cite_note-119"><a href="#cite_ref-119">^</a> For example, Silver's study concluded that Edmonton's media market had nearly the same number of avid hockey fans as that of Philadelphia, despite the Philadelphia market having more than four times the population of the Edmonton market. </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=33" title="Edit section: References">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Citations_broken plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><a href="/wiki/File:Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg/40px-Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg/60px-Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg/80px-Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48" /></a></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section uses <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">citations</a> that <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot" title="Wikipedia:Link rot">link to broken or outdated sources</a>. Please <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit">improve the article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:LR" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:LR">addressing link rot</a> or discuss this issue on the <a href="/wiki/Talk:Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" title="Talk:Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada">talk page</a>. (June 2023) (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239543626"><div class="reflist reflist-columns references-column-width" style="column-width: 30em;"> <ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-:0-1">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:0_1-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_1-1">b</a> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/nba-market-size-nfl-mlb-nhl-nielsen-ratings/">"Major pro sports teams ranked by market size"</a>. 2022. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230511154836/https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/nba-market-size-nfl-mlb-nhl-nielsen-ratings/">Archived</a> from the original on May 11, 2023. Retrieved May 11, 2023.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Major+pro+sports+teams+ranked+by+market+size&rft.date=2022&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportsmediawatch.com%2Fnba-market-size-nfl-mlb-nhl-nielsen-ratings%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988">[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Self-published_sources" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">self-published source</a>] </li> <li id="cite_note-urlMajor_sports_leagues_all_make_a_lot_of_money,_heres_how_they_do_it:,_Major_sports_leagues_all_make_a_lot_of_money,_heres_how_they_do_it:-2">^ <a href="#cite_ref-urlMajor_sports_leagues_all_make_a_lot_of_money,_heres_how_they_do_it:,_Major_sports_leagues_all_make_a_lot_of_money,_heres_how_they_do_it:_2-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-urlMajor_sports_leagues_all_make_a_lot_of_money,_heres_how_they_do_it:,_Major_sports_leagues_all_make_a_lot_of_money,_heres_how_they_do_it:_2-1">b</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMathewson2019" class="citation web cs1">Mathewson, TJ (March 7, 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://globalsportmatters.com/business/2019/03/07/tv-is-biggest-driver-in-global-sport-league-revenue/">"TV is biggest driver in global sport league revenue"</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20211207033032/https://globalsportmatters.com/business/2019/03/07/tv-is-biggest-driver-in-global-sport-league-revenue/">Archived</a> from the original on December 7, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2020.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=TV+is+biggest+driver+in+global+sport+league+revenue&rft.date=2019-03-07&rft.aulast=Mathewson&rft.aufirst=TJ&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fglobalsportmatters.com%2Fbusiness%2F2019%2F03%2F07%2Ftv-is-biggest-driver-in-global-sport-league-revenue%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-:1-4"><a href="#cite_ref-:1_4-0">^</a> Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Foxboro and Charlotte </li> <li id="cite_note-:2-5"><a href="#cite_ref-:2_5-0">^</a> Vancouver and Toronto </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a> Yankee Stadium in New York </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a> Los Angeles, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Washington D.C., Toronto, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and New York. </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a> Principally <a href="/wiki/Tottenham_Hotspur_Stadium" title="Tottenham Hotspur Stadium">Tottenham Hotspur Stadium</a>. </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a> Specifically <a href="/wiki/Allianz_Arena" title="Allianz Arena">Allianz Arena</a> and <a href="/wiki/Waldstadion_(Frankfurt)" title="Waldstadion (Frankfurt)">Deutsche Bank Park</a>. </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a> Specifically <a href="/wiki/Estadio_Azteca" title="Estadio Azteca">Estadio Azteca</a>. </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a> Specifically <a href="/wiki/Arena_Corinthians" title="Arena Corinthians">Arena Corinthians</a>, which hosted its first NFL game in 2024. </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a> Specifically <a href="/wiki/Santiago_Bernab%C3%A9u_Stadium" title="Santiago Bernabéu Stadium">Estadio Santiago Bernabéu</a>, which hosts its first NFL game in 2025. </li> <li id="cite_note-mlssoccer.com-13"><a href="#cite_ref-mlssoccer.com_13-0">^</a> MLSsoccer.com, The expansion, refs, Cascadia: MLS Commissioner Don Garber covers it all in annual address, February 27, 2013, <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/02/27/expansion-refs-cascadia-commissioner-garber-covers-it-all-march-soccer-addre">http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/02/27/expansion-refs-cascadia-commissioner-garber-covers-it-all-march-soccer-addre</a> (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150322043641/http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/02/27/expansion-refs-cascadia-commissioner-garber-covers-it-all-march-soccer-addre">Archived</a> 2015-03-22 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>). </li> <li id="cite_note-aboutmlb-14"><a href="#cite_ref-aboutmlb_14-0">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.mlb.com/official-information/about-mlb">"About MLB"</a>. Major League Baseball (MLB). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240624081509/https://www.mlb.com/official-information/about-mlb">Archived</a> from the original on 24 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Major+League+Baseball+%28MLB%29&rft.atitle=About+MLB&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mlb.com%2Fofficial-information%2Fabout-mlb&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-urlGovernment,_Community,_and_Sports_Teams:_Tax_Credits_-_The_Policy_Circle-15"><a href="#cite_ref-urlGovernment,_Community,_and_Sports_Teams:_Tax_Credits_-_The_Policy_Circle_15-0">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.thepolicycircle.org/minibrief/government-community-and-sports-teams-tax-credits/">"Government, Community, and Sports Teams: Tax Credits"</a>. 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Retrieved 2020-11-26.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=The+Policy+Circle&rft.atitle=Government%2C+Community%2C+and+Sports+Teams%3A+Tax+Credits&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepolicycircle.org%2Fminibrief%2Fgovernment-community-and-sports-teams-tax-credits%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-urlMajor_Professional_Sports_Leagues:_The_US_&_Canada_|_The_Daily_Gazette,_Major_Professional_Sports_Leagues:_The_US_&_Canada_|_The_Daily_Gazette-16"><a href="#cite_ref-urlMajor_Professional_Sports_Leagues:_The_US_&_Canada_|_The_Daily_Gazette,_Major_Professional_Sports_Leagues:_The_US_&_Canada_|_The_Daily_Gazette_16-0">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://dailygazette.com/major-professional-sports-leagues-the-us-canada/">"Major Professional Sports Leagues: The US & Canada"</a>. The Daily Gazette. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201125082823/https://dailygazette.com/major-professional-sports-leagues-the-us-canada/">Archived</a> from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2020-11-26.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=The+Daily+Gazette&rft.atitle=Major+Professional+Sports+Leagues%3A+The+US+%26+Canada&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdailygazette.com%2Fmajor-professional-sports-leagues-the-us-canada%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-urlWhat_Is_the_Oldest_Major_Sports_League_in_the_U.S.?-17"><a href="#cite_ref-urlWhat_Is_the_Oldest_Major_Sports_League_in_the_U.S.?_17-0">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.sportscasting.com/what-is-the-oldest-major-sports-league-in-the-u-s/">"What Is the Oldest Major Sports League in the U.S.?"</a>. February 22, 2020. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201205134358/https://www.sportscasting.com/what-is-the-oldest-major-sports-league-in-the-u-s/">Archived</a> from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2020.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=What+Is+the+Oldest+Major+Sports+League+in+the+U.S.%3F&rft.date=2020-02-22&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportscasting.com%2Fwhat-is-the-oldest-major-sports-league-in-the-u-s%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-18"><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1120142/total-sports-attendance-by-league/">"Total sports attendance by league 2019/20"</a>. Statista. 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Retrieved 2024-03-28.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Business+Insider&rft.atitle=The+NFL+and+Major+League+Baseball+are+the+most+attended+sports+leagues+in+the+world&rft.aulast=Gaines&rft.aufirst=Cork&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fattendance-sports-leagues-world-2015-5&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-urlPower_Ranking_the_Best_Basketball_Leagues_in_the_World,_Outside_of_the_NBA_|_Bleacher_Report_|_Latest_News,_Videos_and_Highlights-20"><a href="#cite_ref-urlPower_Ranking_the_Best_Basketball_Leagues_in_the_World,_Outside_of_the_NBA_|_Bleacher_Report_|_Latest_News,_Videos_and_Highlights_20-0">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1291287-power-ranking-the-best-basketball-leagues-in-the-world-outside-of-the-nba">"Power Ranking the Best Basketball Leagues in the World, Outside of the NBA"</a>. <a href="/wiki/Bleacher_Report" title="Bleacher Report">Bleacher Report</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201111213011/https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1291287-power-ranking-the-best-basketball-leagues-in-the-world-outside-of-the-nba">Archived</a> from the original on 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2020-12-08.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Bleacher+Report&rft.atitle=Power+Ranking+the+Best+Basketball+Leagues+in+the+World%2C+Outside+of+the+NBA&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Farticles%2F1291287-power-ranking-the-best-basketball-leagues-in-the-world-outside-of-the-nba&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-21"><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-republic-nbl-baa-merge-end-pro-net/149768648/">"NBL, BAA merge, end pro net war"</a>. The Republic. UP. 4 August 1949. p. 11. Retrieved 21 June 2024 – via <a href="/wiki/Newspapers.com" class="mw-redirect" title="Newspapers.com">Newspapers.com</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=The+Republic&rft.atitle=NBL%2C+BAA+merge%2C+end+pro+net+war&rft.pages=11&rft.date=1949-08-04&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-republic-nbl-baa-merge-end-pro-net%2F149768648%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"><a href="/wiki/Open_access" title="open access publication – free to read"><img alt="Open access icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Open_Access_logo_PLoS_transparent.svg/9px-Open_Access_logo_PLoS_transparent.svg.png" decoding="async" width="9" height="14" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Open_Access_logo_PLoS_transparent.svg/14px-Open_Access_logo_PLoS_transparent.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Open_Access_logo_PLoS_transparent.svg/18px-Open_Access_logo_PLoS_transparent.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="640" data-file-height="1000" /></a> </li> <li id="cite_note-22"><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCurtis_Harris2022" class="citation news cs1">Curtis Harris (21 January 2022). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/01/21/nba-history-nbl-baa/">"How the NBA's 75th anniversary sweeps away its early history"</a>. <a href="/wiki/The_Washington_Post" title="The Washington Post">The Washington Post</a>. 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Retrieved February 2, 2015.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=National+Football+League&rft.atitle=Super+Bowl+XLIX+is+most-watched+show+in+U.S.+history&rft.date=2015-02-02&rft.aulast=Patra&rft.aufirst=Kevin&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nfl.com%2Fnews%2Fsuper-bowl-xlix-is-most-watched-show-in-u-s-history-0ap3000000467823&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-27"><a href="#cite_ref-27">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMarsh2012" class="citation encyclopaedia cs1">Marsh, James (2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/national-hockey-league/">"National Hockey League"</a>. The Canadian Encyclopedia. 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'Inside the NHL?' What we know about the NHL's new media rights deals"</a>. USA Today. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221123182940/https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2021/04/28/nhl-espn-turner-broadcast-media-rights-deals-explained/4857987001/">Archived</a> from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=USA+Today&rft.atitle=Split+Stanley+Cup+Finals%3F+%27Inside+the+NHL%3F%27+What+we+know+about+the+NHL%27s+new+media+rights+deals&rft.date=2022-04-28&rft.aulast=Bumbaca&rft.aufirst=Chris&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fsports%2Fnhl%2F2021%2F04%2F28%2Fnhl-espn-turner-broadcast-media-rights-deals-explained%2F4857987001%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-55"><a href="#cite_ref-55">^</a> Television revenue number approximate, due to differences in American and Canadian dollar exchange rates; the league draws US$200 m from American television and C$433 m from Canadian television in its most recent contracts. </li> <li id="cite_note-forbes1-56"><a href="#cite_ref-forbes1_56-0">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2019/11/04/major-league-soccers-most-valuable-teams-2019-atlanta-stays-on-top-as-expansion-fees-sale-prices-surge/">"Major League Soccer's Most Valuable Teams 2019: Atlanta Stays On Top As Expansion Fees, Sale Prices Surge"</a>. <a href="/wiki/Forbes" title="Forbes">Forbes</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191106182416/https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2019/11/04/major-league-soccers-most-valuable-teams-2019-atlanta-stays-on-top-as-expansion-fees-sale-prices-surge/">Archived</a> from the original on November 6, 2019. 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Retrieved November 24, 2008. <q>A group of investors has agreed to pay the Canadian Football League a $7 million fee to bring a new CFL franchise to Ottawa</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Group+pays+millions+to+bring+CFL+back+to+Ottawa&rft.date=2008-03-25&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fottawa.ctvnews.ca%2Fgroup-pays-millions-to-bring-cfl-back-to-ottawa-1.284858&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-107"><a href="#cite_ref-107">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBrown2012" class="citation web cs1">Brown, Maury (November 13, 2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=18886">"Bizball: Ranking 10 MLB Relocation and Expansion Markets Shows Why Either is Difficult"</a>. 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TheStar.com. <a href="/wiki/Toronto_Star" title="Toronto Star">Toronto Star</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200605110606/https://www.thestar.com/sports/argos/2014/09/17/toronto_argonauts_could_become_communityoperated_team.html">Archived</a> from the original on 5 June 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2020. <q>The Roughriders and Eskimos are the only two community-owned teams in the CFL who sell shares to the public. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a not-for-profit, community organization, but they do not sell shares to the public. The Winnipeg Football Club governs the team through a 13-member volunteer board of directors. 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Vox Media. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171101020825/https://www.theverge.com/2015/8/4/9090897/mlb-bam-live-streaming-internet-tv-nhl-hbo-now-espn">Archived</a> from the original on 1 November 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2021.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=The+Verge&rft.atitle=The+Change+Up%3A+How+baseball%27s+tech+team+built+the+future+of+television&rft.date=2015-08-04&rft.au=Ben+Popper&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2015%2F8%2F4%2F9090897%2Fmlb-bam-live-streaming-internet-tv-nhl-hbo-now-espn&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-recode-mlbnhl-184"><a href="#cite_ref-recode-mlbnhl_184-0">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://recode.net/2015/08/04/pro-baseballs-streaming-video-unit-gets-ready-for-a-3-billion-spinoff-by-adding-pro-hockey/">"Pro Baseball's Streaming Video Unit Gets Ready for a $3 Billion Spinoff by Adding Pro Hockey"</a>. Re/code. Vox Media. 4 August 2015. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150807064419/http://recode.net/2015/08/04/pro-baseballs-streaming-video-unit-gets-ready-for-a-3-billion-spinoff-by-adding-pro-hockey/">Archived</a> from the original on 7 August 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Re%2Fcode&rft.atitle=Pro+Baseball%27s+Streaming+Video+Unit+Gets+Ready+for+a+%243+Billion+Spinoff+by+Adding+Pro+Hockey&rft.date=2015-08-04&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Frecode.net%2F2015%2F08%2F04%2Fpro-baseballs-streaming-video-unit-gets-ready-for-a-3-billion-spinoff-by-adding-pro-hockey%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-wsj-mlbamnhl-185"><a href="#cite_ref-wsj-mlbamnhl_185-0">^</a> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/mlbs-tech-unit-wins-nhl-streaming-business-1438715135">"MLB's Tech Unit Wins NHL Streaming Business"</a>. 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Retrieved 2024-10-28.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Yahoo+Sports&rft.atitle=Yahoo+Sports+AM%3A+Happy+Sports+Equinox%21&rft.date=2024-10-28&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Fyahoo-sports-am-happy-sports-equinox-123422429.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMajor+professional+sports+leagues+in+the+United+States+and+Canada" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-187"><a href="#cite_ref-187">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-sports-equinox-is-upon-us/">https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-sports-equinox-is-upon-us/</a> </li> <li id="cite_note-188"><a href="#cite_ref-188">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2018/10/30/five-leagues-one-day-sports-equinox-los-angeles-dodgers-rams-galaxy-kings-clippers">https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2018/10/30/five-leagues-one-day-sports-equinox-los-angeles-dodgers-rams-galaxy-kings-clippers</a> </li> </ol></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada&action=edit&section=34" title="Edit section: External links">edit</a>]</div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/baseball/mlb/salaries/team">USA Today Salary Database</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110824215728/http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/baseball/mlb/salaries/team/">Archived</a> 2011-08-24 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> – Lists and sorts team payroll by year for all 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class="navbox-group" style="width:6em">Men's</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball" title="Major League Baseball">Baseball</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_Association" title="National Basketball Association">Basketball</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Cricket" title="Major League Cricket">Cricket</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/National_Football_League" title="National Football League">American football</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">Canadian football</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arena_football" title="Arena football">Arena football</a> (<a href="/wiki/Arena_Football_One_(2025)" title="Arena Football One (2025)">AF1</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Indoor_Football_League" title="Indoor Football League">IFL</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">Ice hockey</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/National_Lacrosse_League" title="National Lacrosse League">Box lacrosse</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Premier_Lacrosse_League" title="Premier Lacrosse League">Field lacrosse</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/USA_Rugby_League" title="USA Rugby League">Rugby league</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Rugby" title="Major League Rugby">Rugby union</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Premier_Rugby_Sevens" title="Premier Rugby Sevens">Rugby sevens</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">Soccer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Major_Arena_Soccer_League" title="Major Arena Soccer League">Indoor soccer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ultimate_Frisbee_Association" title="Ultimate Frisbee Association">Ultimate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/National_Volleyball_Association_(US)" class="mw-redirect" title="National Volleyball Association (US)">Volleyball</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:6em">Women's</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Women%27s_Pro_Baseball_League" title="Women's Pro Baseball League">Baseball</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Women%27s_National_Basketball_Association" title="Women's National Basketball Association">Basketball</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Women%27s_Football_Alliance" title="Women's Football Alliance">American football</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Professional_Women%27s_Hockey_League" title="Professional Women's Hockey League">Ice hockey</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Women%27s_Lacrosse_League" title="Women's Lacrosse League">Lacrosse sixes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/National_Ringette_League" title="National Ringette League">Ringette</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Women%27s_Elite_Rugby" title="Women's Elite Rugby">Rugby union</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Premier_Rugby_Sevens" title="Premier Rugby Sevens">Rugby sevens</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Soccer" class="mw-redirect" title="Soccer">Soccer</a> (<a href="/wiki/National_Women%27s_Soccer_League" title="National Women's Soccer League">NWSL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/USL_Super_League" title="USL Super League">USLS</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Softball" title="Softball">Softball</a> (<a href="/wiki/Women%27s_Professional_Fastpitch" title="Women's Professional Fastpitch">WPF</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Association_of_Fastpitch_Professionals" title="Association of Fastpitch Professionals">AFP</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Athletes_Unlimited_Pro_Softball" title="Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball">AUSL</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ultimate_(sport)" class="mw-redirect" title="Ultimate (sport)">Ultimate</a> (<a href="/wiki/Premier_Ultimate_League" title="Premier Ultimate League">PUL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_Ultimate_League" title="Western Ultimate League">WUL</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Volleyball" title="Volleyball">Volleyball</a> (<a href="/wiki/Pro_Volleyball_Federation" title="Pro Volleyball Federation">PVF</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/League_One_Volleyball" class="mw-redirect" title="League One Volleyball">LOVB</a>)</li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Others</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:6em">Individual</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/IndyCar_Series" title="IndyCar Series">American open-wheel car racing</a></li> <li>Athletics <ul><li><a href="/wiki/USA_Outdoor_Track_and_Field_Championships" title="USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships">outdoor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/USA_Indoor_Track_and_Field_Championships" title="USA Indoor Track and Field Championships">indoor</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/U.S._National_Badminton_Championships" title="U.S. National Badminton Championships">Badminton</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Professional_Bowlers_Association" title="Professional Bowlers Association">Bowling</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Professional_Bull_Riders" title="Professional Bull Riders">Bull riding</a></li> <li>Chess <ul><li><a href="/wiki/U.S._Chess_Championship" class="mw-redirect" title="U.S. Chess Championship">men</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/U.S._Women%27s_Chess_Championship" title="U.S. Women's Chess Championship">women</a></li></ul></li> <li>Cycling <ul><li><a href="/wiki/United_States_National_Road_Race_Championships" title="United States National Road Race Championships">road race</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/United_States_National_Time_Trial_Championships" title="United States National Time Trial Championships">time trial</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/U.S._Figure_Skating_Championships" title="U.S. Figure Skating Championships">Figure skating</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_USFA_Division_I_National_Champions" title="List of USFA Division I National Champions">Fencing</a></li> <li>Gymnastics <ul><li><a href="/wiki/USA_Gymnastics_National_Championships" title="USA Gymnastics National Championships">artistic</a></li> <li>rhythmic</li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/NASCAR" title="NASCAR">Stock car racing</a></li> <li>Swimming <ul><li><a href="/wiki/United_States_Swimming_National_Championships" title="United States Swimming National Championships">nationals</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/United_States_Short_Course_Swimming_Championships" title="United States Short Course Swimming Championships">short course</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Golf" title="Golf">Golf</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/PGA_Tour" title="PGA Tour">PGA Tour</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tennis" title="Tennis">Tennis</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Association_of_Tennis_Professionals" title="Association of Tennis Professionals">Association of Tennis Professionals</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Women%27s_Tennis_Association" title="Women's Tennis Association">Women's Tennis Association</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/X_Games" title="X Games">X Games</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:6em">Diverse</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Eating" title="Major League Eating">Major League Eating</a> (MLE)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Major_League_Gaming" title="Major League Gaming">Major League Gaming</a> (MLG)</li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2"><div> <ul><li><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/16px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/23px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/31px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="180" data-file-height="185" /> <a href="/wiki/Category:Professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States" title="Category:Professional sports leagues in the United States">USA</a></li> <li><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/16px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/23px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/31px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="180" data-file-height="185" /> <a href="/wiki/Category:Professional_sports_leagues_in_Canada" title="Category:Professional sports leagues in Canada">Canada</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235"></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Heads_of_top-level_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:North_American_sports_heads" title="Template:North American sports heads"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:North_American_sports_heads" title="Template talk:North American sports heads"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:North_American_sports_heads" title="Special:EditPage/Template:North American sports heads"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Heads_of_top-level_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em">Heads of <a class="mw-selflink selflink">top-level professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada</a></div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Commissioner_of_Baseball" class="mw-redirect" title="Commissioner of Baseball">Commissioner</a> of <a href="/wiki/Major_League_Baseball" title="Major League Baseball">Major League Baseball</a>: <a href="/wiki/Rob_Manfred" title="Rob Manfred">Rob Manfred</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Commissioner_of_the_National_Basketball_Association" class="mw-redirect" title="Commissioner of the National Basketball Association">Commissioner</a> of the <a href="/wiki/National_Basketball_Association" title="National Basketball Association">National Basketball Association</a>: <a href="/wiki/Adam_Silver" title="Adam Silver">Adam Silver</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Commissioner_of_the_National_Football_League" title="Commissioner of the National Football League">Commissioner</a> of the <a href="/wiki/National_Football_League" title="National Football League">National Football League</a>: <a href="/wiki/Roger_Goodell" title="Roger Goodell">Roger Goodell</a></li> <li>Commissioner of the <a href="/wiki/Canadian_Football_League" title="Canadian Football League">Canadian Football League</a>: <a href="/wiki/Randy_Ambrosie" title="Randy Ambrosie">Randy Ambrosie</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/NHL_Commissioner" class="mw-redirect" title="NHL Commissioner">Commissioner</a> of the <a href="/wiki/National_Hockey_League" title="National Hockey League">National Hockey League</a>: <a href="/wiki/Gary_Bettman" title="Gary Bettman">Gary Bettman</a></li> <li>Commissioner of <a href="/wiki/Major_League_Soccer" title="Major League Soccer">Major League Soccer</a>: <a href="/wiki/Don_Garber" title="Don Garber">Don Garber</a></li> <li>Commissioner of <a href="/wiki/Women%27s_National_Basketball_Association" title="Women's National Basketball Association">Women's National Basketball Association</a>: <a href="/wiki/Cathy_Engelbert" title="Cathy Engelbert">Cathy Engelbert</a></li> <li>Commissioner of the <a 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