Sports leagues in North America use a mix of organizational structures. While common in other parts of the world, not all North American countries use the promotion-relegation (Pro-Rel) system for their association football/soccer leagues. Notably, Mexico's league has temporarily suspended its Pro-Rel system but is expected to being reinstated in the coming years. Leagues of other sports generally have a closed league using a franchise system.
Association football (soccer) is the most popular[clarification needed] sport in almost all North, Central American and Caribbean Countries.[1][circular reference] Unqualified, football is generally understood to refer to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears. For example, "football" unqualified primarily refers to American football in the U.S., Canadian football in Canada, and association football in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. The word soccer is used to refer to association football by many people in the U.S. and Canada.
CONCACAF is the continental governing body for association football in North America, and runs two visible tournaments: the Gold Cup and the Champions League[2] The Gold Cup is competed every two years among the men's national teams to determine the regional champion of North America. The Champions League is an annual continental competition for the top football clubs in North America, with the winner advancing to the FIFA Club World Cup.
The men's professional soccer league systems in both the U.S. and Canada instead primarily use the closed, franchise model which primarily always has the same teams playing. Major League Soccer (MLS) represents the highest level, while the second level consists of the USL Championship. Although the MLS has teams in both countries, they are only sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), the governing body of soccer in the United States. For women' professional soccer, the National Women's Soccer League is at the top level, and United Women's Soccer and Women's Premier Soccer League are at the second level. College soccer is played both in the U.S. and Canada, with top players often going on to play professional.
Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century. This game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the national sport of the United States. The sport is currently popular in various other North American countries.
In the U.S. and Canada, Major League Baseball (MLB) is the top professional level of baseball, while Minor League Baseball (MiLB) comprises several levels and multiple component leagues below MLB. MiLB also has teams and component leagues in Mexico, with the Mexican Baseball League (LMB; Liga Mexicana de Béisbol), and in the Dominican Republic, with the Dominican Summer League.[5] The relationship between MLB and MilB is also the closed, franchise model, which has the same teams playing, and where the players are transferred between levels. Though not associated with MLB, the independent Mexican Pacific League (LMP; Liga Mexicana del Pacífico) is perhaps the top league in Mexico (winter league), comparable to the LMB (summer league).
Canadian Dr. James Naismith is credited with creating the game of basketball in 1891.[6] While working as a physical education professor and instructor at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School[7] (YMCA) (today, Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S., he primarily created the game as a way to could keep his gym class active indoors on a rainy day.[6] The sport quickly spread throughout the U.S. and Canada, with Naismith becoming instrumental in establishing college basketball.
Today, the National Basketball Association (NBA), with teams in the U.S. and one in Canada, is widely considered to be the highest level of professional basketball in the world, and NBA players are the world's best paid athletes by average annual salary per player.[8][9] The NBA operates a minor league basketball organization, the NBA Development League, to help develop players. However, like the relationship between college football and the NFL, college basketball acts as the primary suppliers of players to the NBA.
College basketball (particularly regarding NCAA Division I men's college basketball), technically considered an amateur sport, is as prominent in the U.S. as some of the major professional sports leagues around the world. College basketball draws average viewership of 10.7 million per game for its annual "March Madness" tournament.[10] By and large, most future NBA players come from these collegiate basketball programs, serving as the feeder system to the NBA.
The National Football League (NFL) is the highest professional level of American football in the world,[14] with teams across the United States. College football in the U.S. is primarily organized by the NCAA. The NCAA further divides its Division I football teams into the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Football Championship Subdivision. The Football Bowl Subdivision has the largest and most competitive schools, and is noted for its system of postseason bowl games.
USA Football is the governing body for amateur American football in the U.S., and is a member of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF), the international governing body of American football associations. Several other North American counties are a part of IFAF Americas, the federation of IFAF members in the Americas.
Football Canada is the governing body for amateur Canadian football. Although it primarily focuses on the Canadian form of the game, it is also a member of the International Federation of American Football.
Conversely, Cricket in Canada is a minor sport, which is unusual among the former Dominions of the British Empire. Cricket Canada, the governing body of the sport in Canada, has organized several domestic inter-provincial cricket competitions such as the CIBC National Cricket League and the TJT National Cricket League.
Cricket in the United States has not been historically popular in the States, as Baseball, another summertime bat and ball sport, is favored as U.S. pastime.[19] And secondly, when the International Cricket Council was formed in 1909 as cricket's international governing body, it was open only to Commonwealth nations and thereby excluded the U.S. from participating in the sport at the highest level.[20] There have also been several attempts to form professional cricket leagues, but some like the American Premier League never got off the ground, and others like Pro Cricket only lasted for one year. However, USA Cricket, the governing body of the sport in the U.S., is currently administering Minor League Cricket, the highest level of T20 cricket played in the country.
Individual sports
Boxing
While Boxing is a global sport, North America has a strong and lengthy history of dominance in the sport. The U.S. and Mexico have produced the 1st and 2nd most world champions in boxing history, while Puerto Rico, Panama, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic have produced the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th most world champions per capita in boxing history, respectively (as of January 2021).[21] At the amateur level Boxing in Cuba remains popular, with about 19,000 boxers hailing from that country.[22] It is also a major sport in Mexico, having produced over 179 professional world champions.[23]Boxing in Canada has been practiced in that country since before the Canadian Confederation in 1867. As for the United States, it became the center of professional boxing in the early 20th century.[24]
^Jozsa, Frank P. (2004). Sports Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues. Ashgate Publishing. p. 270. ISBN978-0-7546-4185-8. Since 1922, [the NFL] has been the top professional sports league in the world with respect to American football
^Pettavino, Paula J. (2003) ”Boxing” in Encyclopedia Of Cuba. Eds. Luis Martinez-Fernandez, D.H. Figueredo, Louis Perez, and luis Gonzalez. Volume 2. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 536.
