Majorprofessional sports leagues in the United States (U.S.) and Canada, which compete in the sports offootball,baseball,basketball,ice hockey, andsoccer, include theNational Football League (NFL),Major League Baseball (MLB), theNational Basketball Association (NBA), theNational Hockey League (NHL), andMajor League Soccer (MLS).^[1][2] As the NFL only competes in the U.S., the prominent gridiron football league in Canada is theCanadian Football League (CFL).

MLB, the NBA, the NFL, and the NHL are commonly referred to as the "Big Four".^[3] Each of these is the wealthiest professional club competition in its sport worldwide, and along with thePremier League, make up the top fivesports leagues by revenue in the world.^[4]

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 2024^[update]. The NFL has the largest stadiums on average in the world, ranging in capacity from just over 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] 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),^[b] CFL and MLS (2),^[c] MLB and MLS (1),^[d] and NBA and NHL (11).^[e] 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,^[f] and the NFL plays a limited number of annual games in stadiums of Germany'sBundesliga,^[g] and less often plays games in stadiums of Mexico'sLiga MX,^[h] Brazil'sBrasileirão,^[i] and Spain'sLa Liga.^[j]

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 thepromotion and relegation systems used in sports leagues in various other regions around the world, American and Canadian sports leagues areclosed leagues 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.

Baseball,American football, and ice hockey have had professional leagues continuously for over 100 years; early leagues such as theNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players, theOhio League, and theNational Hockey Association formed the basis of the modern MLB, NFL, and NHL, respectively. Basketball was invented in 1891, and its first professional league formed in the 1920s. TheBasketball Association of America, founded in 1946, formed the basis of the NBA in 1949 and has lasted for over 75 years.

Soccer was first professionalized in 1894, with past U.S.-based leagues including theAmerican Soccer League (1921–1933) (ASL) and the originalNorth American Soccer League (1968–1984) (NASL). Major League Soccer (MLS) was established in 1996.^[5]

All cities in the United States and Canada with at least one team in MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, or NHL in 2025

Major League Baseball (MLB)

National Basketball Association (NBA)

National Football League (NFL)

National Hockey League (NHL)

The Big Four

Major League Baseball is the highest level of play of baseball in the United States and Canada,^[6] and the oldest of the major American leagues. It consists of theNational League (founded in 1876) and theAmerican League (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 "World Series". 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 asingle commissioner since 1920. There are currently 30 member teams, with 29 located in the U.S. and 1 in Canada. Traditionally called the "national pastime", baseball was the first professional team sport in the U.S.^[7][8][9] MLB consistently draws the largest total attendance of any sports league in the world.^[10][11]

The National Basketball Association was described by Josh Martin ofBleacher Report as "the best basketball league in the world" in a 2012 power ranking of international leagues,^[12] and it is the youngest of the major American leagues. It was founded in 1949 with the merger of theBasketball Association of America (BAA) and theNational Basketball League (NBL)^[13] though it later adopted the BAA's founding date in 1946 as its own.^[14] Four teams from the rivalAmerican Basketball Association joined the NBA with theABA–NBA merger 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^[update] it was the most popular league out of the NFL, NHL, and MLB worldwide in desktop web traffic.^[15] While the NBA is the most viewed basketball league in Canada,Canada Basketball recognizes theCanadian Elite Basketball League as the country's first-division professional league.^[16]

The National Football League is a professionalAmerican football league and was founded in 1920 as a combination of various teams from regional leagues such as theOhio League, theNew York Pro Football League, and the Chicago circuit as a successor toWestern Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit. 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 theAll-America Football Conference in 1949 andmerged with theAmerican Football League in 1970. It has 32 teams, all located in the United States. As of 2015^[update], NFL games have the largest per-game attendance among domestic professional leagues in the world,^[17] and is the most popular league in the U.S. in terms of television ratings and merchandising.^{[citation needed]} Its championship game, theSuper Bowl, is the most watched annual event on U.S. television, withSuper Bowl XLIX being the single most-watched program in U.S. television history.^[18] The NFL is the only one of the "Big Four" leagues not to have a team in Canada, where theCanadian Football League(see§ Canadian Football League) is the premier professional league in a similargridiron football sport ofCanadian football.

The National Hockey League is widely recognized as the world's premier professional ice hockey league,^[19] and is the only "Big Four" league to have been founded in Canada. It was formed in 1917 as a successor to the CanadianNational Hockey Association (founded in 1909), taking all but one of the NHA's teams. The NHLpartially absorbed the rivalWorld Hockey Association 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 asDenver,San Jose,Dallas,Miami,Nashville,Salt Lake City,Raleigh,Tampa,Las Vegas, andSeattle with varying success. The NHL has more Canadian teams (seven) than MLB, the NBA, and MLS combined (five).

Major League Soccer (MLS)

Canadian Football League (CFL)

Major League Soccer is the top-level men's professional soccer league in the United States. As of the league's 2025 season, MLS has 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The league began play in 1996, its creation a requirement byFIFA for awarding the United States the right to host the1994 World Cup. MLS was the first major Division I outdoor soccer league in the U.S. since theNorth American Soccer League (NASL) operated from 1968 to 1984. MLS has increased in popularity following the adoption of theDesignated Player Rule in 2007, which allowed MLS to sign stars such asDavid Beckham (from whom the rule took its colloquial name 'the Beckham rule'),Thierry Henry, andLionel Messi.^[20] 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,^{[21][irrelevant citation]} while 2018 sawAtlanta United FC break multiple single-game attendance records, with crowd figures of over 70,000 among the highest team attendances worldwide.^[22]

With a total attendance of nearly 11 million and an average of over 22,000, MLS has the fifth-largest total attendance and third-largest average attendance, among the sports league in U.S. and Canada(see§ Attendance), had the seventh-highest attendance among global professional soccer leagues.^[23] The top soccer league sanctioned by theCanadian Soccer Association is theCanadian Premier League (CPL).^[24]

MLS is unique among U.S. and Canada's major sports leagues in that the teams take part in multiple separate tournaments outside the MLS regular and playoff season; the knockoutU.S. Open Cup for United States teams andCanadian Championship for Canadian teams, cross-border/regional^[25]Leagues Cup andCampeones Cup and the continentalCONCACAF Champions Cup andFIFA Club World Cup.

The Canadian Football League is the highest level of play inCanadian football. The league was organized in 1956 as a cooperative agreement between two regional leagues, theInterprovincial Rugby Football Union (which dated to 1907) and theWestern Interprovincial Football Union (which was founded in 1936), and became independent from theCanadian Rugby Union^[k] in 1958. The league now consists of nine teams, all based in Canada. TheGrey Cup is awarded annually to the champion every November and is the highest-attended sporting event in the nation. The oldest extant teams, theHamilton Tiger-Cats and theToronto Argonauts, 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.^{[citation needed]} From 1993 to 1995, the CFL attemptedexpansion into the United States to cities without NFL teams, but all the clubs folded, while the management structure of theBaltimore Stallions was moved to a relaunchedMontreal Alouettes franchise. By 2009 the CFL was the second-most-popular league in Canada, after the NHL.^[26] A 2023 study shows that interest in the CFL had dropped over the previous 10 years.^[27]

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^[update], the CFL's average attendance number was 22,795, continuing a slow upward trend for the league.^[28] 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 theUFL due to the CFL's longer established history.^[29]

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.^{[30][improper synthesis?]} The following table compares the major leagues on certain attributes, such as the longevity and stability of each league, as measured by the number of teams, the year founded, the last time the league underwent expansion, contraction, and relocation, and the annual revenue and average attendance.^{[citation needed]}

The table below represents typical seasons for each league by month. Blank or white denotes off-season and pre-season months and solid colors mark the rest of the year. Leagues in the same sport use the same color.There is some variation between years. For example, depending on the length of preliminary playoff series, theWorld Series may end in either October or November.^[33]

• "R" denotes regular-season play.
• "P" denotes playoff(s)/postseason stages.
• "F" denotes Final(s).

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 EnglishPremier League and the NHL ranked at fourth and fifth place.^{[dubious –discuss]}

Games of the "Big Four" leagues are televised on the four largest U.S. broadcast TV networks—ABC,CBS,NBC, andFox. They enjoy strong TV viewer ratings, and their leagues earn significant revenues from these TV contracts.^{[citation needed]}

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 theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation 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.^{[citation needed]}

The NFL has the largest TV contracts, and earns roughly $9 billion annually from its contracts withAmazon, CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC, and DirecTV for the 2023 through 2033 seasons.^[60]MLB earns approximately $2 billion annually for 2026 to 2028 from its national contracts with Fox, Turner, ESPN, NBC, Netflix, and Apple TV.^[61][62][63]

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.^[64] 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,Peacock, andAmazon, and also covers theWNBA 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.^[65][66] 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.^[46] This $625 million annual contract for American rights is in addition to the $433 million annual feeRogers Sportsnet pays for Canadian rights.^[67][68]

All four major sports leagues have launched a network of their own—NBA TV in the U.S. in 1999 and inCanada in 2001, theNFL Network in 2003, theNHL Network in Canada in 2001 and in theU.S. in 2007, and theMLB Network 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 andregional sports networks. Some teams (such as theNew York Yankees) 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. The collective revenue earned by all MLB clubs is multiple billion dollars annually.^[69] 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 isApple, which paid a reported $2.5 billion for exclusive worldwide streaming rights from 2023 to 2032. All league games are streamed on theMLS Season Pass service onApple TV+. English and Spanish commentary are available for all matches, and games involving Canadian teams are also available in French.^[70][71] Linear television rights for 2023–2026 are held by Fox Sports in both English and Spanish in the US, and the English-languageTSN and French-languageRDS in Canada.^[72]

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.^[73][74][50]

The CFL's current television deal with TSN pays the league at least $50 million per year until 2026.^[54] Its American broadcast contract withCBS Sports Network 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.^[75]

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.

Major-league franchises are generally worth very large amounts of money, due in large part to high revenues earned by the league's teams.^{[82][irrelevant citation]} 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'sNew York Yankees, NHL'sNew York Rangers), whereas the lowest value franchises tend to be in smaller markets (e.g., NFL'sBuffalo Bills, NBA'sNew Orleans Pelicans).^{[citation needed]} 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.

This articleprovides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject. Please helpimprove the article byproviding more context for the reader.(June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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.^{[citation needed]} The Houston Texans paid $700 million to join the NFL in 2002.^[91] 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'sSeattle Kraken (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.^[92] 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 entrantFC Cincinnati and 2020 arrivalNashville SC, each paid a $150 million expansion fee,^[93] a significant increase from the $100 million that New York City FC paid to join MLS in 2015.^[94][l][m] The 29th MLS team, ultimately unveiled as 2022 entry Charlotte FC, reportedly paid $325 million.^[98] The 30th and most recent expansion teamSan Diego FC paid $500 million in 2023.^[89] For comparison, the Ottawa Redblacks paid C$7 million to join the Canadian Football League.^[99]

All of the top four major leagues exhibit stability in most of theirfranchises. No team from the top four leagues has collapsed outright since the 1970s. The last team to contract was the NHL'sCleveland Barons in 1978, when financial pressures forced a merger with theMinnesota North Stars. MLB voted in 2001 tocontract from 30 teams to 28, but ran into opposition and never executed the contraction plan.^[101] Unlike leagues that use a system ofpromotion and relegation, franchises in these leagues are stable and do not change annually.

Relocation of teams is generally uncommon compared to minor leagues.^{[citation needed]} 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 theVegas Golden Knights in 2017, theSeattle Kraken in 2021, and the Utah Hockey Club (now theUtah Mammoth) in 2024. 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.^[102][103]

In contrast to the Big Four leagues, MLS has operated on a policy ofcontinuous expansion since 2005. After bottoming out at 10 teams in 2004, it has never gone more than two seasons without adding one or two expansion teams. As of 2025^[update], MLS tripled in size from its 2004 minimum, with 30 teams. The league has contracted three teams in its history: teams inMiami andTampa Bay folded in 2002, and the Los Angeles-basedChivas USA squad folded in 2014.^{[citation needed]} MLS has had one franchise relocate, theSan Jose Earthquakes, which becameHouston Dynamo FC in 2006;^[104] the Earthquakes returned as an expansion club in 2008, inheriting the pre-relocation history of the original Earthquakes.^[105]

All seven CFL franchises geographically between Vancouver and Toronto have been in place since theBC Lions 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 theAlouettes andRedblacks, respectively. Among existing teams, none has ever formally relocated from one city to another; the Alouettes, however, inherited a management structure from theBaltimore Stallions, a team from the league's unsuccessful 1990s-eraSouth Division. 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 30 teams since 2004. Major League Soccer adopted a policy of continuous expansion at a rate of one to two new franchises a year since 2005, and reached 30 teams in 2025 with the addition ofSan Diego FC. 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 television rights. Agreements to share are market are generally obtained in exchange for compensation, residual rights, or both. For example, to obtain the consent of theBaltimore Orioles 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.^{[citation needed]}

As of 2025^[update], 50 metropolitan areas (42 in the U.S., eight in Canada) have at least one team in the Big Four leagues.Austin FC, 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, theSaskatchewan Roughriders, in a market not served by any other major league (theHamilton Tiger-Cats, while having the city to themselves, are on the outskirts of both theNiagara Frontier (less than 50 miles from Buffalo) and theGreater Toronto and Hamilton Area). The newest market any of the Big Four leagues has entered is theLas Vegas Valley, which received theVegas Golden Knights in 2017 and theLas Vegas Raiders in 2020.^{[citation needed]}

This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Each of the current major leagues has franchises placed nationwide, with multiple franchises in each of the United States' fourcensus regions—Northeast, Midwest, South, and West.

Major leagues tend to place franchises only in the largest, most populated metropolitan areas.^{[according to whom?]} 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.^[n] 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 theAthletics move from Oakland to Sacramento following the 2024 season, 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 (Atlanta, Houston, Orlando, Phoenix, and San Diego) but has four teams in northern metropolitan areas with fewer than 1.5 million people, all of which are in or adjacent to Canada (the lone American team in a metro area of that size being theBuffalo Sabres). While only one MLB team, theSan Diego Padres, is located in a market that has no other major league teams, five NBA teams are located in cities devoid of any additional "Big Four" franchises: theMemphis Grizzlies,Oklahoma City Thunder,Orlando Magic,Portland Trail Blazers, andSan Antonio Spurs. A sixth NBA team, theSacramento Kings, will share its market with theformer Oakland Athletics from 2025 until the latter team moves to Las Vegas in 2028. Three of these NBA-only cities (Memphis, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio) and Sacramento also lack an MLS team. TheSalt Lake City market, home to theUtah Jazz (as well as MLS teamReal Salt Lake), lacked another major-league team before the hockey assets of theArizona Coyotes were transferred to create the expansionUtah Mammoth for the 2024–25 season.

The NFL has one major exception. TheGreen Bay Packers survive in major league sports' smallest metropolitan area (330,000 population) thanks tounique nonprofit corporate ownership,^[107] proximity to the neighboringMilwaukee market (giving a combined metro area of over 1.5 million), a league business model that relies more heavily on equally distributed television revenue that puts small-market teams at less of a disadvantage,^[107] and the loyalty of theirCheesehead fan base, whose fans and their next of kin typically renew their season tickets every year until theirissue expires, resulting in a centuries-long waiting list for season tickets.^[108] Green Bay is one of two NFL teams, the other being theJacksonville Jaguars, that are the only major league franchises in their metropolitan area.^[109]

Both MLB and the NFL have had two prolonged recent exceptions in which the league was absent from one of the ten most populous metropolitan areas in the U.S.; from 1972 to 2004, ninth-placeWashington, D.C., had no MLB team, and from 1995 to 2016, second-placeLos Angeles had no NFL teams.

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 a1967 expansion but, other than the unsuccessfulAtlanta Flames, 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' 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 untilOrlando City SC joined the league in 2015, with Atlanta United FC following in 2017. With the addition ofMinnesota United FC in 2017 andInter Miami CF in 2020, along with the departure of the NHL'sArizona Coyotes 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 sixteams in the United States 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 league team (Memphis and Las Vegas). The league also playedoccasional games in the United States 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 theUnited States Census Bureau asMetropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), California'sInland Empire is the largest without a major franchise. However, it is part ofGreater Los Angeles, a region defined by the U.S. Census as aCombined Statistical Area (CSA), and is thus part of the Los Angeles television market. The largest CSA without a major franchise is theHampton Roads area of southeastern Virginia, spilling over into a small part of North Carolina. Thelargest TV market without a major franchise is theHartford–New Haven market, covering all of Connecticut except the formerFairfield County;^[o] Hartford's last major league squad, the NHL'sWhalers, left in 1997.

This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

TheNHL 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 inVancouver; the NHL later added teams inEdmonton,Quebec City, andWinnipeg (through absorption of WHA franchises),Calgary (via relocation fromAtlanta), and Ottawa (via expansion) to go with the still-extant Toronto and Montreal teams. The distinctionice hockey holds inCanadian culture allowed these franchises to compete with teams in larger cities for some time. However, the teams inQuebec City andWinnipeg were eventually moved to larger media markets in the U.S. The NHL returned to Winnipeg in 2011 with theAtlanta Thrashers relocating to become the current version of theWinnipeg Jets. Excluding theCanadian Football League (CFL), the NHL is the only major league to have teams in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, or Ottawa, all markets with populations of less than 1.6 million. However, those Canadian cities benefit from the country's very high level of hockey fandom. A 2013 study byNate Silver 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.^[110][p]

In addition toHamilton, Ontario, andRegina, Saskatchewan, the CFL has teams in all seven current NHL markets. Seven 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 theAtlantic Schooners in 1982; it folded before ever playing a game. Another bid for a Schooners franchise bySchooners Sports and Entertainment in the late 2010s also failed.

The first Major League Baseball team in Canada was theMontreal Expos, who began play in 1969. In 2005, they moved to Washington, D.C., and became theWashington Nationals. TheToronto Blue Jays, who began play in 1977, became the first team outside the United States to win the World Series in 1992 and 1993.

TheToronto Huskies were a charter member of theBasketball Association of America in 1946, but that team only lasted one season. The NBA expanded into Canada in 1995 when theVancouver Grizzlies andRaptors joined the league. TheGrizzlies moved toMemphis in 2001.

The first Major League Soccer team in Canada was theToronto FC, who began play in 2007, and became the first team outside the United States to win the MLS Cup in 2017. The MLS also has teams inMontreal andVancouver.

The NFL is the only major league to have no team based in a Canadian city; the closest teams to Canada are theBuffalo Bills andDetroit Lions, both representing cities located on theCanada–U.S border. The Lions play indowntown Detroit, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) fromWindsor, Ontario. The Bills' stadium is located 21 kilometres (13 mi) south of the Canada–U.S. border. From 2008 to 2013, the Bills played eight games in Toronto as part of theBills Toronto Series, which included one regular season game per year.^[111] On August 22, 2019, theOakland Raiders played theGreen Bay Packers in a preseason game at theWinnipeg venue now known asPrincess Auto Stadium.^[112]

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 aconflict of interest. This rule was adopted after several high-profile controversies involvingownership of multiple baseball teams in the 1890s. Additionally, the NHL's "Original Six" period, from 1942 to 1967, was marked by theNorris family owning a controlling stake in half of the league's teams, a factor in the league's stagnation during that period.^[113]

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:

• MLB – Purchased theMontreal Expos in 2001 and moved the franchise to Washington, D.C., as theNationals in 2005 before selling the team to a local group in 2006. MLB alsotook over the operations of theLos Angeles Dodgers in 2011, citing financial and governance issues stemming from the divorce of the team's co-owners,^[114] beforeFrank McCourt sold the Dodgers toan ownership group in March 2012.^[115][116]
• NHL – Took over theBuffalo Sabres in 2002 after ownerJohn Rigas was arrested forembezzlement, and sold the team toTom Golisano in 2003. The NHL also seized thePhoenix Coyotes in2009 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.^[117] The league again took over the Coyotes and sold them to a new owner in 2024, facilitating the franchise's inactivation and activation of theUtah Mammoth.
• NBA – Purchased theNew Orleans Hornets from its owner in December 2010,^[118] and sold the team to ownerTom Benson in April 2012.^[119]
• MLS – PurchasedChivas USA fromJorge Vergara in 2014 and folded the team after the 2014 season. A new L.A. franchise,Los Angeles FC, began play in 2018 as an expansion team and did not inherit Chivas USA's history.
• CFL – Seized theOttawa Renegades from ownerBernard Glieberman in 2006, suspended the franchise, then sold it toJeff Hunt, who reactivated it in 2014 as theOttawa Redblacks. The CFL also accepted ownership in 2019 of theMontreal Alouettes from ownerRobert Wetenhall in order to keep it operating until the league announced Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern as the team's new owners in January 2020.^[120] The CFL again assumed ownership of the Alouettes in February 2023 following Spiegel's death,^[121] and sold the franchise to Québec businessmanPierre Karl Péladeau the next month.^[122]

The NFL (nor any of its predecessors) has not taken over operations of any team since 1962, when theAmerican Football League took over the nearly bankruptTitans of New York in an effort to prevent the team from folding;^[123] in 1963, a new ownership group bought the franchise and it became theNew York Jets.^[124]

The NFL hasstronger ownership restrictions than other leagues. The NFL forbids ownership by groups of over 24 people or publicly traded corporations, except the grandfatheredGreen Bay Packers. 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.^[125] 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 ownedminor league teams in the 1940s) but was in place by the 1980s, when the DeBartolo family was scrutinized for owning both theSan Francisco 49ers andUSFL'sPittsburgh Maulers (as different members of the family owned each team, the league allowed the DeBartolos to keep the 49ers).^[126]Arena Football League 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.^[127] 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 sinceStan Kroenke, 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 theCarolina Panthers earlier in 2018, with several NBA team owners reportedly interested in bidding but barred by then-current NFL rules.^[125] The cross-ownership restrictions originally covered soccer, but a 1982 federal court decision in a lawsuit filed against the NFL bythe original NASL went in favor of the NASL, thereby exempting soccer from these restrictions.^[128]

MLS has adopted a different league structure and operates as a single-entity league, a structure that survived a lawsuit from the players inFraser v. Major League Soccer. 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 30 teams is now controlled by a separate ownership group, and no group member has a stake in more than one team.^[129]

Five out of nine clubs in the CFL are held by some form of partnership or corporation; of those, one (Saskatchewan Roughriders) is a publicly held corporations in and of themselves, two (Toronto Argonauts andHamilton Tiger-Cats) are partially owned by public conglomerates, and two (Calgary Stampeders andOttawa Redblacks) are held by closely held partnerships. Three (BC Lions,Montreal Alouettes, andEdmonton Elks) are held by an individual owner. The ninth team, theWinnipeg Blue Bombers, operates under the shell of the Winnipeg Football Club, a nonprofitsports club with no clear ownership structure or share capital.^[130]

This sectionpossibly containsoriginal research. MLB, NFL, NBA are unsourced, and lede makesWP:SYNTH statements based on the unsourced content. Pleaseimprove it byverifying the claims made and addinginline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.(June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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'sNational League withstood three challenges in its first quarter century of existence. TheAmerican Association 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 informalWorld Series. 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 thePlayers' League for the 1890 season; it attracted a significant percentage of the baseball talent and caused the NL and AA significant financial harm,^{[citation needed]} but it lacked financial backing and folded after only one season. The minorWestern League moved several franchises in NL cities and cities abandoned by the NL for the 1900 and 1901 seasons, and renamed itself theAmerican League in direct competition with the NL. The NL and AL made peace in 1903; the resulting agreement formed what today is known asMajor League Baseball. MLB withstood the challenge of theFederal League in 1914. VariousNegro leagues peaked from the 1920s to the 1940s, and onbarnstorming tours the Negro league players showed themselves to be MLB players' competitive equals, but afterJackie Robinson broke thecolor barrier in 1947, the influx of black stars into the major leagues drained the Negro leagues of talent. MLB prevented theContinental League 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 theAll-America Football Conference 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 namedAmerican Football League; the lastAmerican Football League existed from 1960 to 1970, winning the last two of the four pre-mergerSuper Bowl 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: theWorld Football League of 1974–1975 (the NFL added two teams in 1975), theUnited States Football League of 1983–1985 (the NFL relocated one team to a USFL market in 1988), and theCanadian Football League'sAmerican franchises 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-marketBasketball Association of America (from which the NBA traces its existence) and the industrial-basedNational Basketball League. The NBA also had to fend off two incarnations of the American Basketball League, thefirst being an Eastern circuit that predated the NBA, and thesecond existing from 1961 to 1963, afterAbe Saperstein was repeatedly denied an NBA expansion team. The NBA later fought off the challenge of theAmerican Basketball Association from 1967 to 1976, in part by expanding from nine to eighteen teams. The NBA then absorbed four of the ABA's most successful franchisesin a 1976 merger, and adopted several of the ABA's rule variations, most notably thethree-point shot.

The NHL began its existence competing with theWestern Canada Hockey League and its predecessor, thePacific Coast Hockey Association; 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 theWestern Hockey League from achieving parity in the quality of players, salaries and attendance bydoubling in size 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, theWorld Hockey Association challenged the dominance of the NHL. The WHA initially attracted stars by offering higher salaries than the NHL and successfully invalidating the NHL'sreserve clause, 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 amerger of the leagues 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. TheCanadian Football Act, proposed in 1974 but never passed, would have given the CFL a government-endorsed monopoly on professionalgridiron football in Canada by prohibiting any other league from playing its games in the country; the mere introduction of the bill inParliament prompted theWFL'sToronto Northmen to move to the United States before playing a single game and later the firstUSFL was discouraged from establishing teams in Canada with the threat to reintroduce the Act in 1982.^[131] 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.^[132][133] The vast majority of these leagues (such as the first andsecond USFL,second andthird UFL,XFL and itslater reincarnation, andAAF) 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.^[134] Similarly, the CFL itself played the role of a competitor to the NFL duringits mid-1990s expansion out of Canada and into the US market, which was also short-lived.^[135]

In general, sports leagues in the United States and Canada areclosed leagues that never developed any system ofpromotion and relegation 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 theNational League of Professional Base Ball Clubs 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.^[136] 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 ofMajor League Soccer adopting promotion and relegation, but MLS is not pursuing the option.^[137] Eight current MLS teams—Seattle Sounders FC,Portland Timbers,Vancouver Whitecaps FC,CF Montréal,Orlando City SC,Minnesota United FC,FC Cincinnati, andNashville SC—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.Sacramento Republic FC was scheduled to become the ninth such MLS team in 2023 untilits lead investor pulled out of the expansion deal.^{[138][relevant?]}

This section has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(May 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article or sectionpossibly contains originalsynthesis. Source material shouldverifiably mention andrelate to the main topic. Relevant discussion may be found on thetalk page.(June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

All of the major North American professional sports leagues use adraft 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 thwarttanking, use adraft lottery 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 theminor league baseball system. Prospective players generally are drafted, and are then assigned to the appropriate minor league level for development. With the growth ofcollege baseball, 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 playcollegiate summer baseball 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.Entering the majors directly 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 fromLatin American countries, and have also recruited many players from theJapanese leagues.

Most of the NBA's talent comes fromcollege andhigh school basketball, although minimum age rules have ended the NBA's practice of drafting players directly from high school beginning in2006. The NBA's developmental league, now known as theG League, was implemented in 2001 by the NBA to perform the role of afarm system 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, theContinental Basketball Association 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 aformalized farm system. The source for almost all NFL players iscollege football, but NFL also hasInternational Player Pathway Program 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 thepractice squad. NFL teams rarely recruit players from other gridiron football leagues. American football also has the least global reach for prospects, with one exception being severalplayers from other codes of football primarily as kickers and punters. The league's teams backed theWorld League (later known asNFL Europe) in the 1990s and 2000s, and purchased teams in theArena Football League for a period in the 2000s. As of 2019, theNational Football League Players Association explicitly opposes having an official minor league in the same model as the other major sports, mainly because of the risk of injury.^[139] The current version of theUnited Football League has positioned itself as ade facto minor league and opportunity for players to reach the NFL^[140] while asserting its independence as an organization.^[141] The NFL does operate two overseasyouth academies, one in England atLoughborough University and the other in Australia atA. B. Paterson College.^[142]

Each NHL team has an affiliate in North America's top-tierminor hockey league, theAmerican Hockey League, and most have an affiliation with teams in theECHL. For decades, the traditional route to the NHL has been throughjunior hockey and theCanadian Hockey League (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.^{[citation needed]} Additionally,USA Hockey also sanctions junior hockey leagues, such as theUnited States Hockey League andNorth American Hockey League, 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.^{[citation needed]}

MLS teams sign players from theiryouth academies, from theMLS college draft, 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 topcollege soccer players are selected. MLS has in the recent past had a formal relationship with theUnited Soccer League, which operates (among other leagues) the Division IIUSL Championship (USLC) and Division IIIUSL League One (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.^{[citation needed]} MLS relaunched its reserve league in 2022 asMLS Next Pro, a third-level league that initially featured 20 MLS reserve teams and one independently owned team (Rochester New York FC, which folded after Next Pro's first season). Of the 30 current MLS teams, all butCF Montréal,D.C. United, andSan Diego FC field reserve sides in Next Pro. This setup allows developing MLS players to gain playing experience.^{[citation needed]}

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-establishedCanadian Junior Football League 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 thenegotiation 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. Since2018, ten of the 45 players must be publicly announced.^[143][144]

The average annualsalary 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) forsuperstars.

NFL, MLB, and NBA have thebiggest and longest contracts in the history of professional sports.^{[citation needed]}

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 teampayroll. 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 theplayers' union signed a newcollective bargaining agreement 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.^{[citation needed]}

MLB is now alone among the major leagues in that it lacks any form of asalary cap and has enacted only modest forms ofrevenue sharing andluxury taxes.^[150] Compared to the other leagues, there is a far greater disparity between MLB payrolls. TheNew York Yankees 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 theFlorida Marlins who spent about $15 million (significantly less than the mandatory minimum team payrolls in the NFL and NHL).^{[citation needed]}

For the2010–11 NHL season, 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 the2018–19 season, the cap has been set as US$79.5 million, with the floor at US$58.8 million.^[151]

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 theDesignated Player Rule, 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 2024 was Inter Miami CF with $41.7 million, whileCF Montréal spent the lowest at $11.4 million.^[152][153] The league's average salary was $596,226 per year. MLS' minimum player salary will increase^[when?] from $63,542 to $85,502 for most players.^[154]

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.^[155] 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.^{[156][157][155]}

This section has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article is about an event or subjectthat may not be current but does not specify the time period. Please helpimprove it to include this information. Thetalk page may contain suggestions.(June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Each of the top four major leagues are the premier competitions of their respective sport on the world stage. Major League Baseball is increasinglyattracting the stars from theJapanese pro leagues, theEuropean 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 inEurope,Latin America,Australia andChina.^[3][4]

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.^{[according to whom?]} However, of the four major leagues, the NFL has the least presence outside both countries; it is mainly an American and Canadian interest.^{[citation needed]} Basketball is a strong spectator and participation sport in parts of the world, and the NBA is unquestionably the top basketball league.^[158] 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 playedexhibition games against European teams in the "NHL Premiere" series (2007–11), theNHL Challenge (2000–10), and theVictoria Cup (2008–09), and NHL teams have won 24 games to the European teams' four.

Major League Soccer 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 theCONCACAF Champions League; beforeSeattle Sounders FC won in2022, 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^[ambiguous], the Big five European soccer leagues (England,Germany,Spain,Italy, andFrance) 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 theDesignated Player Rule in 2007, allowing MLS to attract and retain international stars such asDavid Beckham.^{[citation needed]} MLS attendance has increased to the point where MLS average attendance is among the top ten soccer leagues worldwide.^[23] The introduction ofsoccer-specific stadiums had improved revenue growth.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1940s and 1950s, theCanadian Football League (CFL) and the U.S.National Football League (NFL) operated on roughly equal footing financially,^{[citation needed]} with even some U.S.-born starplayers joining CFL teams. The situation changed along with the rise of theAmerican Football League (AFL) founded in 1959. By the end of the 1960s, revenue from the U.S. television market andabsorption of the AFL 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 failedCFL USA experiment in the 1990s. In 2009, a record 6.1 million viewers watched the CFL's annualGrey Cup championship game,^[159] while 151.6 million viewers watched the NFL's annualSuper Bowl championship game that same year.^[160]

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 asworld champions.^[161] 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,^[162] and the use of the term in the United States is also criticized domestically by some athletes who regularly participate in international competitions, such as theOlympic Games andworld championships.^[163]

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 theWorld Series. Major League Baseball later set up theWorld Baseball Classic, a quadrennial international competition, to crown a world champion among national teams.^[164] By the 1950s, the phraseWorld Champions was also being used by the newly formed NBA. TheSuper Bowl, the interleague championship between the NFL and American Football League, was explicitly named a "World Championship Game" for itsfirst iteration.

In ice hockey, theStanley Cup 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 asWorld's Champions. The phrase was repeatedlyengraved on the Cup, 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 theIIHF'sIce Hockey World Championships, at the time nominally contested by amateurs, althoughEastern Bloc nations violated the rules and usedde facto professionals).^{[165][irrelevant citation]} When theWorld Hockey Association 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 theWorld Champions, as by this time, theSoviet Championship League 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 theStanley Cup Champions.

This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(May 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Professional sports leagues as known today evolved during the decades between theCivil War and World War II, when therailroad 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 theGreat Lakes and theNortheast regions. Early professional soccer activity was concentrated almost entirely on an East Coast corridor from Baltimore to Boston,except for theSt. Louis metropolitan area.

There were very few major league teams in the far west until afterWorld War II. As travel and settlement patterns changed, so did the geography of professional sports. The NFL attempted to establishtraveling teams representing the west and other far-flung regions in1926 andbarnstormed in Los Angeles that season; the experiment did not last beyond that year. The firstwest coast major-league franchise was the NFL'sLos Angeles Rams, who moved fromCleveland in 1946. The same year, theAll-America Football Conference began play, with teams inLos Angeles andSan Francisco. Baseball extended west in 1958 in the move of theBrooklyn Dodgers andNew York Giants. The NBA followed in 1960 with the move of theMinneapolis Lakers to Los Angeles, while the NHL did not have a west coast presence until itexpanded 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 ofthe Twin Cities. Since then, as newer, fast-growingSunbelt areas such asPhoenix,Tampa, andDallas became prominent, the major sports leagues have expanded or franchises have relocated to service these communities.

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 theEuroleague. In 2005, the two bodies agreed to organize a summer competition known as theNBA Europe Live Tour featuring four NBA teams and four Euroleague clubs, with the first competition taking place in 2006.^[166] The NBA has also played teams fromAustralia'sNational Basketball League, and since 2015, the league has playedall-star games in theJohannesburg,South Africa, area against squads composed of NBA players who were either born on or whose parents were born on the African continent. The NBA has played regular season games in Japan, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and France, while playing preseason games in many countries around the world.

The NFL has attempted to promote its game worldwide by scheduling selected pre-season games abroad since 1976.^[167] The NFL had promoted the game abroad throughNFL Europe, but the latter was unprofitable and ceased operations in 2007. The NFL began itsInternational Series, holding at least one regular-season game atWembley Stadium in London every year since 2007.^[168][169] The NFL held three games at Wembley in the 2014 season.^[170] Since then,Twickenham Stadium, the home ofEnglish rugby union, has been added as a second London venue. The primary venue for London NFL games is set to switch toTottenham Hotspur Stadium, opened in 2019 by thesoccer club of that name. The new stadium hosted two of the four London games in the 2019 season. The original contract between the NFL andThe Football Association, 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, Ireland, Mexico, Germany, Spain, and Brazil^{[citation needed]}.

MLB has played regular season games outside of the United States and Canada, but in the 1990s and 2000s, games were initially limited toMexico andJapan due to baseball's popularity in both countries. However in recent years, regular season games have been played inAustralia, theUnited Kingdom, andSouth Korea with further plans for expansion. Spring training and postseason all star games have also been played in countries like theDominican Republic,China, andTaiwan. Prior to theCuban Revolution in 1959, MLB teams had previously played some spring training and exhibition games inCuba, but theBaltimore Orioles andTampa Bay Rays 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 inWestern andCentral Europe as well as theNordic countries due to ice hockey's popularity in those countries. As theCold War came to an end, exhibition games were played inCzechoslovakia and theSoviet Union. During the1997–98 NHL season, 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.

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, theAmerican Basketball League, thede 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 thecourts' decisions might establish precedents that affect them all. One recent example was theUS Supreme Court decision in 2010 inAmerican Needle, Inc. v. National Football League, in which the NFL (which ultimately lost the case) receivedamicus curiae briefs from the NBA, NHL, and MLS.^[171] The leagues' commissioners occasionally meet in person, most recently in 2009.^[172] 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.^[173][174]

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.Multi-purpose stadiums were built to accommodate multiple sports in the later half of the 20th century; the last multi-purpose stadium in the NFL, what is nowOakland Coliseum, hosted its last NFL game in2019. Even in situations where separate stadiums have been constructed for each team (as is generally the norm in the 21st century^{[according to whom?]}), the individual stadiums may be constructed adjacent to each other and share parking space and other infrastructure.^{[citation needed]} 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 onsoccer-specific stadiums) or for special event games; in reverse, in at least one case, an NFL team (theLos Angeles Chargers) 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.Seattle Sounders FC shareLumen Field with theSeattle Seahawks; the Seahawks were owned byPaul Allen, also a member of the Sounders ownership group, until his death in 2018.Atlanta United FC sharesMercedes-Benz Stadium with theAtlanta Falcons, with both teams under the ownership ofArthur Blank.Charlotte FC sharesBank of America Stadium with theCarolina Panthers; both teams are owned byDavid Tepper. In Canada,Vancouver Whitecaps FC shareBC Place with the CFL'sBC Lions. 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, theNew England Revolution sharesGillette Stadium with theNew England Patriots,New York City FC sharesYankee Stadium with theNew York Yankees MLB team, which also owns part of NYCFC, andToronto FC sharesBMO Field with the CFL'sToronto Argonauts, with both teams now owned byMaple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the company that also owns theToronto Raptors and theToronto Maple Leafs.

Also notable in recent years have been theNHL's Winter Classic andHeritage Classic, which have been held in NFL, CFL, and MLB, as well as college football, stadiums. A unique situation is theTD Place Complex inOttawa; the same structure serves as the indoorOttawa Civic Centre (which hosted the NHL'sSenators in the 1990s), while on the roof of that arena was seating for Frank Clair Stadium (at that time home of the CFL'sOttawa Rough Riders; by 2014 the stadium was renovated intoTD Place Stadium and is now home to the CFL'sOttawa Redblacks).

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,until 1957 New York City played host tobaseball andfootball Giants. MLB'sPittsburgh Pirates shared its nickname with an NFL team (which ultimately became thePittsburgh Steelers) as well as anow-defunct early NHL team, while the Canadian football teamHamilton Tigers shared a team name with anNHL team. The most recent example of two major teams sharing a franchise name was between 1960 and 1987; when the NFL'sChicago Cardinals relocated toSt. Louis, Missouri, it was allowed tokeep the Cardinals name despite the established existence of abaseball team of the same name.

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.^[175]

In 2015, the NHL partnered with MLB's digital armMajor League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) to assume the operations of its digital properties; the league's television networkNHL Network was also taken over by the staff ofMLB Network and re-located to its facilities.^{[176][177][178]}

TheNBA Finals of the NBA and theStanley Cup Finals of the NHL are the championship series of their respective leagues, which occur in June.

As of October 2025^[update] there have been 32 occasions in which all of the Big Four leagues played games on the same day, an occurrence popularly termed asports equinox. These can only occur in late October or early November, while the MLB postseason is still ongoing after the beginning of the NHL and NBA seasons, on a Sunday, Monday, or Thursday, due to the NFL's scheduling windows. The first sports equinox occurred on October 17, 1971, when the1971 World Series went to a Game 7, which 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, during this period, theMLS Cup playoffs are also ongoing; MLS has scheduled playoff games on the day of a sports equinox since 2021. The most recent sports equinox took place on October 27, 2025, with two MLS Cup playoff games, Game 3 of the2025 World Series, aMonday Night Football game in the NFL, 11 NBA games, and two NHL games.^[179] The CFL is near the end of its regular season and beginning the playoffs during this window. A super sports equinox, where a single city's teams in each league all play on the same day, has occurred only twice: November 4, 2001, in thePhoenix area for the Big Four (which involved theArizona Diamondbacks at the2001 World Series, and regular season games involving theArizona Cardinals,Phoenix Suns, andPhoenix Coyotes) and October 28, 2018, in theLos Angeles area for the Big Four and MLS (which involved theLos Angeles Dodgers at the2018 World Series, and regular season games for theAnaheim Ducks,Los Angeles Kings,Los Angeles Rams,LA Galaxy, andLos Angeles Clippers).^[180][181] Notably, the Los Angeles super sports equinox is the only one where all teams played at home, as the Coyotes were on the road during the Phoenix super sports equinox in 2001.

• Sports in the United States
• Major professional sports teams in the United States and Canada
• Prominent women's sports leagues in the United States and Canada
• Professional sports leagues in the United States
• List of American and Canadian cities by number of major professional sports teams
• List of professional sports teams in the United States and Canada
• U.S. cities with teams from four major league sports
• Sports in Canada
• Sports in Mexico
• List of professional sports leagues
• List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues – a summary of total and average attendances for the major sports leagues from around the world.
• List of professional sports leagues by revenue

This section usescitations thatlink to broken or outdated sources. Pleaseimprove the article byaddressing link rot or discuss this issue on thetalk page.(June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• USA Today Salary DatabaseArchived 2011-08-24 at theWayback Machine – Lists and sorts team payroll by year for all teams inMLB,NFL,NBA,NHL, andMajor League Soccer.

• Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada
• Professional sports leagues in Canada
• Professional sports leagues in the United States

• Webarchive template wayback links
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from May 2012
• Articles with dead external links from January 2017
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from September 2010
• Pages containing links to subscription-only content
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2024
• All articles containing potentially dated statements
• Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2022
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2015
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from June 2023
• All articles lacking reliable references
• Articles lacking reliable references from June 2023
• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2022
• Articles that may contain original research from June 2023
• All accuracy disputes
• Articles with disputed statements from June 2023
• Wikipedia articles needing context from June 2023
• All Wikipedia articles needing context
• All pages needing cleanup
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2025
• Articles needing additional references from June 2023
• All articles needing additional references
• All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases
• Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from June 2023
• All articles that may contain original research
• Articles with unsourced statements from September 2016
• All articles that may have off-topic sections
• Wikipedia articles that may have off-topic sections from June 2023
• Articles needing additional references from May 2014
• Articles with multiple maintenance issues
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2014
• All articles with vague or ambiguous time
• Vague or ambiguous time from June 2023
• Wikipedia introduction cleanup from June 2023
• Wikipedia articles needing clarification from June 2023
• Articles with unsourced statements from December 2016
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2024
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from October 2025
• Articles with broken or outdated citations from June 2023
• All articles with broken or outdated citations