In an organizedsports league, a typicalseason is the portion of oneyear in which regulated games of thesport are in session: for example, inMajor League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of September.[1] In otherteam sports, likeassociation football orbasketball, it is generally from August or September to May although in some countries – such as Northern Europe, North America or East Asia – the season for outdoor summer sports starts in the spring and finishes in autumn, mainly due to weather conditions encountered during the winter.
A year can often be broken up into several distinct sections (sometimes themselves called seasons). These are: a preseason, usually a series ofexhibition games played for training purposes; a regular season, the main period of the league's competition; thepostseason, a playoff tournament played against the league's top teams to determine the league's champion; and the offseason, the time when there is no official competition.
In association football, many clubs tour and then they have a series ofexhibition games for training purposes. Specifically in Brazil, teams play instate championships before the start of theBrazilian League.
In baseball, many clubs go to spring camp and then they havespring training.
Ingridiron football, theNational Football League'spreseason and theCanadian Football League's preseaon are highly structured three– or two–game series of games, respectively, in which teams are afforded a larger roster limit and play games that do not count toward their records; they are used to evaluate and prepare talent for the upcoming regular season. Incollege football, particularly that played at theFBS level, a true preseason is not played but many teams play a "spring game" which is an internal team practice structured like a game.
In the highest levels of professionaltennis, the preseason (November–December) consists of extensive period of training on and off the court (gym/fitness work as well as working on tennis-specific skills like for example improving the accuracy of serve).
In sport, the term "regular season" or "home-and-away season"[2] refers to the sport'sleague competition. The regular season is usually similar to agroup tournament format: teams are divided into groups, conferences and/or divisions, and each club plays a set number of games against a set number of opponents. In most countries the league is played in a double round-robin format, where every team plays every other team twice, once at their home venue, and once away at the opposition's venue as visitors. The results over all games are accumulated and when every team has completed its full schedule of games, a winner is declared.
In North America, the scheduling is different. Rather than every team playing all others twice, teams usually play more games against local rivals than teams in other parts of the country. For example, theNBA'sLos Angeles Lakers will play theLos Angeles Clippers (a team within their division, a subdivision of the conference) four times in a regular season, while both will only play theToronto Raptors, who are in the oppositeEastern Conference, twice. Part of this is due to the vast geographic distances between some teams in North America—measured in a straight line, Los Angeles is 3,494 kilometres from Toronto, for instance—and a desire to limit travel expenses. In the scheduling system used in theNFL, it is possible for two teams to only meet every four years, and to only have 2 common opponents in a season.Major League Baseball has the most uneven schedules of all the four major North American sports. In MLB, the conferences are called leagues instead, but have exactly the same effect asconferences (as with allNorth American major leagues, leagues, conferences, and division are not based on skill, but instead geography, history, and rivalries). Prior to scheduling changes in 2023, teams played 19 games against each of the teams in their own division each year but only played 20 games total against all of the teams in the other league. Because each of the inter-league match-ups was part of a 3-game series or a 2-game series, teams played no games at all against most teams from the other league. They played 6 of the 15 teams in the other league, a historically high number (until 1997,interleague play was limited to exhibition matches and the postseasonWorld Series, and thus MLB teams did not play the other league's teams at all). In 2023, teams played all interleague teams in a single season for the first time; teams now play a 3-game series against all teams, except their designated interleague rival with 4 games, totalling to 46 games (later increased to 48 games and a 6-game series with their interleague rival for the forthcoming 2025 season).
In Australia, the two largest football leagues, theAFL (Australian rules football) andNRL (rugby league), both grew out of competitions held within a single city (respectively Melbourne and Sydney) and only began expanding to the rest of the country when inexpensive air travel made a national league possible. These leagues use a singletable instead of being split into divisions. The term "home and away season" is sometimes used instead of regular season.
Many football leagues in Latin America have a very different system. Because most Latin American countries never had a football cup competition, they instead split their season into two parts, typically known as theApertura and Clausura (Spanish for "opening" and "closing"). Most countries that use this system, Argentina being one notable example, crown separate league champions for each part of the season, using only league play. A few others, such as Uruguay, crown one champion at the end of a playoff involving top teams from each half of the season. Mexico operates its Apertura and Clausura as separate competitions that both end in playoffs. Brazil has a different system, the season starts with the state championships in January (every Brazilian state has its own championship), these state championships ends in April. TheCampeonato Brasileiro Série A itself starts in May and ends in early December, and is played in a double round-robin format in the same way as the European championships.
A system similar to the Apertura and Clausura developed independently inPhilippine professional basketball, with formerly two, now three tournaments (called "conferences") in one season, with each conference divided into an "elimination round" (the single round-robin group stage) and the playoffs in the North American sense. Winning the playoffs is the ultimate goal of every team for every conference; while there is no season championship,winning all conferences within a single season is rare and has only happened five times since 1975, with the two most recent examples occurring in1996 and2013–14. The qualifying round and playoffs setup has permeated down to the local level and in most team sports, although seasons are not divided into conferences.
Many sports leagues have playoffs or "finals" that occur after the regular season is complete. A subset of the teams enter into a playofftournament, usually aknockout tournament, generally a pre-determined number with better overall records (more wins, fewer losses) during the regular season. There are many variations used to determine the champion, the league's top prize. In many of these leagues, winning the league's top prize at the conclusion of the postseason is more important than winning the regular season. This includes themajor professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada (MLB's World Series, theNBA Finals, theNFL's Super Bowl, theNHL's Stanley Cup Finals, theMLS Cup, and theCFL's Grey Cup), and the major Australian sports (BBL Grand Final,NBL Grand Final,A-League Grand Final,AFL Grand Final andNRL Grand Final).
European leagues have also started holding playoffs after a double round-robin "regular season". TheFootball League started itspromotion playoffs in 1987, with the third up to the sixth-ranked teams participating for the final promotion berth (the two top teams are automatically promoted). Elsewhere, relegation playoffs are also held to determine which teams would be relegated to the lower leagues. One prominent top-level football league, theEredivisie of the Netherlands, uses two different playoffs—one for relegation purposes, and the other to determine one of the league's entrants in the following season'sUEFA Europa League. InSuperleague Greece, which currently has two places in theUEFA Champions League and three in the Europa League, the teams that finish second through fifth in the regular season enter a home-and-away "playoff" mini-league. Since one Europa League place is reserved for the country's cup winner, only three of the four teams are guaranteed a place in the next season's European competitions (unless both the cup winner and runner-up are already qualified for Europe by other means). The playoff determines the country's second Champions League participant, and the points at which the two or three Europa League entrants join that competition. Conversely, some leagues like thePremier League do not hold a postseason, and therefore these leagues' champions and relegation are instead based on the regular season records.
Although rugby union did not become professional until 1995, that sport has a long history of playoffs, primarily in France and the Southern Hemisphere. The French national championship, now known asTop 14, staged a championship final in its first season of 1892, first used more than one round of playoffs in 1893, and has continuously operated a playoff system (except during the two World Wars) since 1899. South Africa'sCurrie Cup has determined its champions by playoffs since 1968, and New Zealand'sNational Provincial Championship, the top level of which is now known as theMitre 10 Cup, has used playoffs since its creation in 1976. Argentina'sNacional de Clubes has determined its champion by playoffs since its inception in 1993. Currently, two separate competitions feed into the Nacional, theTorneo de la URBA (for Buenos Aires clubs, held since 1899) andTorneo del Interior (for the rest of the country); both use playoffs to determine their champions.Super Rugby, involving regional franchises from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa and national franchises in Argentina and Japan, has used playoffs to determine its champions since its creation as Super 12 in 1996.
By contrast, other European countries were slow to adopt playoffs in rugby union. TheEnglish Premiership only began playoffs in1999–2000, and did not use them to determine the league champion until2002–03. The Celtic League, now known asPro14, resisted a playoff system even longer; its champions were determined solely by league play from its inception in2001–02 until playoffs began in2009–10.
When the UEFA Champions League reformatted in 1993, it added a "knockout stage" involving four teams that finished at the top two places in their respective groups. Like North American sports leagues, this setup prevented some participants from facing each other, necessitating a two-round knockout stage to determine the champions. It has since been expanded to the 4-round knockout stage today. TheCopa Libertadores has applied a knockout stage since the 1988 tournament, expanding to the current four-round format next season. All intercontinental club football competitions now feature a knockout stage.
The off-season, vacation time, or close season is the time of year when there is no official competition. During this time, events such asdrafts,transfers and off-seasonfree agent signings may occur. Generally, athletes continue training to some extent during the off-season in preparation for the next season.
As most countries which have a league in a particular sport will operate their regular season at roughly the same time as the others, international tournaments may be arranged during the off season. For example, most European football league club competitions run from July or August to May, and so major international competitions such as theFIFA World Cup andUEFA European Football Championship are organised to occur in June and July.
The table represents typical seasons for some leagues 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.
| Sport | Duration |
|---|---|
| American football | Originally football was played only in the fall, but for many years the season has extended from late summer through early to mid-winter.
|
| Association football | Usually August to May in the Northern Hemisphere, and February to November in the Southern Hemisphere. Exceptions are generally for one of two reasons:
(SeeDomestic association football season for details.) |
| Australian rules football | March to late August, with finals series extending up to late September or early October. |
| Baseball | Northern hemisphere summer leagues: March or April to early October, with playoffs extending up to early November. Northern hemisphere winter leagues: as the Australian Baseball League runs from November to early February, with playoffs extending up to late February. |
| Basketball | In most countries, late October to mid-April, with playoffs extending up to mid-June. The three major exceptions to this rule are:
|
| Canadian football | July to late October, with playoffs extending into November. |
| Cricket | Year-round. Domestic seasons typically held in the driest period of the year—summer in temperate climates, dry season in tropical climates. |
| Golf | Year-round |
| Ice hockey | Early October to mid-April, with playoffs extending up to early June. The three major exceptions to this rule are:
|
| Motor racing | Year-round, but generally concentrated from March to October. NASCAR runs from mid-February to late September, with playoffs extending up to late November. |
| Pesäpallo | The regular season begins on the first weekend of April. It is split at the 24-game mark, with the final regular season games taking place during the second week of August. The playoffs commence in the third week of August, and the finals are scheduled for the first week or second week of September. |
| Rugby league | Late February to October in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. |
| Rugby union | September to late May, sometimes the first weekend in June, in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, Super Rugby starts in February and ends in early July inWorld Cup years and mid-August in other years. Domestic competitions inNew Zealand andSouth Africa overlap slightly with the Super Rugby season, starting in July and ending in October or November. InAustralia, the domestic competition does not overlap at all with Super Rugby, instead beginning in August and ending in early November. |
| Swimming | Year-round |
| Tennis | Year-round |
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