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Minor leagues are professionalsports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in thosesports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used inNorth America with regard to several organizations competing in various sports. They generally have lesser fan bases, much smaller revenues and salaries, and are used to develop players for bigger leagues. Minor leagues are also occasionally used as a testing ground for proposed rule changes prior to implementation at the top level.
The minor league concept is a manifestation of thefranchise system used inNorth American sports, whereby the group ofmajor league teams in each sport is fixed for long periods between expansions or other adjustments, which only take place with the consent of the major league owners. InEurope, and many other parts of the world, association football (soccer), basketball, american football, baseball, handball, hockey, etc. leagues have many divisions below thetop-flight level as part of thefootball pyramid. In other parts of the world there is usually either a system of annualpromotion and relegation, meaning that clubs have no fixed status in the hierarchy, or there is only one professional league per country in each sport, rendering the major/minor distinction irrelevant.
While there are varioussemi-professionalfootball leagues, none have any affiliation with theNational Football League (NFL). The NFL and its teams have had working relationships with several independent leagues in the past, including theAssociation of Professional Football Leagues, theAtlantic Coast Football League, and most recently, the league owned-and-operatedNFL Europe. In modern times, the NFL has developed players not ready for the active roster through each team'spractice squad.
Several NFL owners had purchased teams in theArena Football League in the mid-2000s, prior to its bankruptcy and restructuring.Arena football is played under very different conditions, and the AFL had its own minor league,af2, until 2009. Several other independentindoor football leagues that play a similar game exist.
Similarly, theCanadian Football League, though it has developed ties with the NFL in recent years and has moved away from competing with the NFL for talent, plays a visibly different game than the American game, and the two sports favor different types of skills; the CFL arguably holds major league status in its home territory ofCanada.
Several minor or developmental leagues, independent of the NFL, have come and gone. Some, such as theAlliance of American Football andFall Experimental Football League (along with the FXFL's successor, the still extant but non-payingThe Spring League), have explicit minor league and developmental aspirations. Others, such as theUnited Football League and both the2001 and2020 incarnations of the XFL, have sought to maintain independence and maintain a national profile while acknowledging the lack of funds (particularly from television, which is by far the NFL's largest revenue stream) that would be needed to compete for NFL-caliber talent. The UFL during its existence was recognized and accepted as the second tier of professional football behind the NFL, with several former NFL stars playing in the UFL near the ends of their careers.
High-level
Low-level
High-level
Mid-level
Low-level
BelowMajor League Soccer several lower-level leagues operate on both sides of the U.S.–Canada border as part of theAmerican andCanadiansoccer pyramids. As is standard forsports in both countries, the formalpromotion and relegation system is not used, although teams have been informally "promoted" from lower leagues up to Major League Soccer. TheUnited Soccer League operates theUSL League Two (formerly the Premier Development League, or PDL), a semi-professional league that has some age restrictions. TheNational Premier Soccer League operates at approximately the same level as USL League Two.
In 2013 Major League Soccer announced a partnership with the USL organization which began formal affiliation between some USL teams and MLS teams.[14] The partnership continued to deepen through the 2010s; by the end of that decade, most MLS teams fielded their reserve teams in the USLC, while a few had their reserve sides in USL1 instead of the USLC. For several years, MLS nominally required all of its teams to either field a reserve team in the USL or officially affiliate with a separately owned USL team, but this was never strictly enforced.[15] No formal relationship existed between NASL and the other leagues; NASL's commissioner had said he believed it would "stay that way for some time".[16] However, MLS clubs started withdrawing their reserve sides from the USL system in 2020 amid rumors that MLS would relaunch its formerMLS Reserve League in the coming years; these rumors were proved correct by the 2022 establishment ofMLS Next Pro.
MLS Next (stylized in all caps) is a system of youthsoccer leagues that are managed, organized and controlled byMajor League Soccer. It was introduced by the league in 2020.
Semi-professional and amateur leagues sanctioned by theUnited States Adult Soccer Association areUSL League Two,National Premier Soccer League,NISA Nation andUnited Premier Soccer League.
The system, introduced in mid-2020, was active for the first time during the 2020–21 season. It is a successor to theU.S. Soccer Development Academy. The system covers the under-13, under-14, under-15, under-16, under-17 and under-19 age groups.
The developmental pathway for players outside thecollegiate system has so far been mostly an ad hoc affair, with semi-professional and amateur leagues including the formerUSL W-League. The currentUnited Women's Soccer,UWS League 2 andWomen's Premier Soccer League not being sanctioned directly through theUnited States Soccer Federation, but through the affiliatedUnited States Adult Soccer Association.
The USL organization has announced plans to create a full women's developmental pathway, establishing the semi-professional third-levelUSL W League (USLW; not to be confused with its former W-League) in 2022 and planning to launch theUSL Super League (USLS) in 2023. The USL has applied for U.S. Soccer sanctioning of USLS; it has not yet announced its sanctioning plans for USLW.
TheMajor Arena Soccer League 2 (M2) is a North American indoor soccer league that serves as the developmental league of theMajor Arena Soccer League.
Minor league baseball is almost as old as the professional game itself, and at first consisted of attempts to play baseball in smaller cities and towns independent of theNational League, the first true major league. Soon,scouts for the National League were traveling to watch minor league teams play and attempting to sign the more talented ones away. SoonMajor League Baseball began formal developmental agreements with some minor league teams, while others remainedindependent.
Since it was first developed in the 1920s bySt. Louis Cardinals executiveBranch Rickey, the formal developmental affiliations have come to dominate minor league baseball, and the majority of minor leagues are part of the affiliated system. A general decline in minor league attendance occurred following the advent of television; minor league clubs only survived in many markets because their major league affiliations included financial support. The trend began to reverse in the 1990s, as new independent minor leagues began for the first time in decades and have become successful to varying levels.
In 2021, a major reorganization of the minor leagues saw the number of affiliated teams (i.e., those with formal links to MLB teams) reduced from 160 to 120, the Short-Season A level eliminated from the minor leagues, and all leagues above Rookie level in the affiliated system renamed. Also, four independent leagues were officially designated as "MLB Partner Leagues". In 2022, the leagues renamed in 2021 reverted to their traditional names.
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TheNational Basketball Association has affiliated minor leagues: theNBA G League (formerly called the "NBA D-League") andNBA Summer League. The now-defunctContinental Basketball Association (CBA) served some of the purposes of a minor league for the NBA for many years. However, there were no direct developmental agreements between CBA and NBA teams the way that there are between Major League Baseball and National Hockey League teams and their minor league affiliates.
Pro
Semi-Pro
The sport with the next most extensive system of minor league teams other than baseball isice hockey. In North America, between 1988 and 2005, 233 minor league ice hockey teams played in a total of 160 cities in 13 minor professional leagues. The vast majority of these teams played in the United States, with only 21 of these teams based in Canadian cities. 123 of these minor professional teams played in the southern United States.[17] One reason given for the large number of American-based teams is that minor league franchises will frequently move from city to city, and even between leagues.[17] In contrast, Canadian cities more commonly hostmajor junior teams, which develop teenage prospects prior to their move to the professional leagues.
AllNational Hockey League teams have afarm team in theAmerican Hockey League and often have a secondary affiliated team in theECHL. On "the farm", the NHL team will develop young players, occasionally rehabilitate older players who are injured or whose quality of play has slumped. These teams, in turn, have lower-level minor leagues to draw players from and pass players down to. Minor professional ice hockey leagues should not be confused withJunior (amateur players) orSenior (semi-professional to amateur) ice hockey leagues.
TheAmerican Hockey League is the most prominent of the minor hockey leagues in North America.
Minor League Cricket (MiLC) is a developmental league ofMajor League Cricket that began play in 2021.
Other sports organizations considered to be minor leagues are golf'sKorn Ferry Tour andEpson Tour, respectively affiliated with thePGA Tour andLPGA;NASCAR'sXfinity Series,Craftsman Truck Series andWhelen All-American Series (and to a lesser extentARCA and itsARCA Menards Series since ARCA's buyout by NASCAR in 2018);Monster Jam's Triple Threat Series;Overwatch Contenders; theFIA Formula 2 Championship andFIA Formula 3 Championship forFormula One; and various other affiliated satellite tours of other individual sports, including the Challengers Tour of Professional Tennis.
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