Misplaced Pages

#896103

109-626: The ABA was conceived at a time stretching from 1960 through the mid-1970s when numerous upstart leagues were challenging, with varying degrees of success, the established major professional sports leagues in the United States. Basketball was seen as particularly vulnerable to a challenge; its major league, the National Basketball Association , was the youngest of the Big Four major leagues, having only played 21 seasons to that point, and

218-465: A $ 150 million expansion fee, a significant increase from the $ 100 million that New York City FC paid to join MLS in 2015. MLS announced plans to expand to 30 teams by 2023, and set the expansion fee for the 28th and 29th teams (ultimately Sacramento Republic FC and St. Louis City SC) at $ 200 million. The 30th team, ultimately unveiled as 2022 entry Charlotte FC, reportedly paid $ 325 million. For comparison,

327-746: A charter member in 1967 as the Houston Mavericks before a shift to the Carolinas in 1969 to play as the Cougars. They were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the ABA that did not survive the league's merger with the National Basketball Association (NBA). They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St. Louis Arena . Under terms of

436-421: A combined metro area of over 2 million), a league business model that relies more heavily on equally distributed television revenue that puts small-market teams at less of a disadvantage, and the loyalty of their Cheesehead fan base, whose fans and their next of kin typically renew their season tickets every year until their issue expires, resulting in a centuries-long waiting list for season tickets. Green Bay

545-591: A few players from the 1973–74 Cougars followed the team to St. Louis, so the Spirits were essentially an expansion team. By that time, St. Louis was six years removed from NBA basketball, having lost the Hawks to Atlanta after the 1967-68 season . The Spirits were a colorful team featuring a number of players, both on and off the court, who were fairly successful in their basketball careers. Among them were Moses Malone , acquired during their second and final season, who went on to

654-470: A financial situation or familial needs, players should be able to leave for professional leagues early. While the NBA and NCAA initially contested the rule, after the courts ruled in favor of Haywood playing in the ABA, the NBA followed suit and relaxed the four year rule to allow players to enter the league if they qualified as a hardship on the basis of “financial condition…family, [or] academic record.” Haywood paved

763-648: A first-division league, with that title going instead to the Canadian Premier League (CPL). However, Canadian teams in the MLS are regarded as Division I teams, and MLS is generally acknowledged as having a higher quality of play than the CPL, significantly more media coverage and economic success, and has teams based in Canada's three largest metropolitan areas, who together have dominated the Canadian Championship ,

872-470: A game in Kansas City due to the lack of a suitable arena. In addition to the four surviving ABA teams, eight current NBA markets have ABA heritage: Utah , Dallas , Houston , Miami , New Orleans , Memphis , Minnesota , and Charlotte all had an ABA team before their current NBA teams. With the ABA cut down to seven teams by the middle of its final season, the league abandoned divisional play. In 1999,

981-535: A long and successful career in the NBA, culminating in enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame . Maurice Lucas spent most of his time in the ABA as a Spirit, then later became an all-star in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers . Other well-known players that played for the team included former Boston Celtics sixth man Don Chaney , future Celtics head coach M. L. Carr , and Ron Boone , who held

1090-703: A metro area of that size being the Buffalo Sabres ). While only one MLB team, the San Diego Padres , is located in a market that has no other major league teams, six NBA teams are located in cities devoid of any additional "Big Four" franchises: the Memphis Grizzlies , Oklahoma City Thunder , Orlando Magic , Portland Trail Blazers , Sacramento Kings , and San Antonio Spurs . Four of these six NBA-only cities also lack an MLS team (Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, San Antonio). The Salt Lake City market, home to

1199-411: A multi-league knockout competition which technically decides the national champions of Canada. This makes Canada unusual in awarding its national soccer championship to the winner of its premier knockout tournament, rather than the winners of its highest-level league competition. MLS is unique among U.S. and Canada's major sports leagues in that the teams take part in multiple separate tournament outside

SECTION 10

#1732844451897

1308-470: A new league calling itself the ABA 2000 was established. The new league uses a similar red, white and blue basketball as the old ABA, but unlike the original ABA, it does not feature players of similar caliber to the NBA, nor does it play games in major arenas or on television as the original ABA did. Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada Major professional sports leagues in

1417-537: A new partnership with the former ABA teams the Nets, Nuggets, Pacers and Spurs.) On October 8, 2013, ESPN presented a documentary about the team, Free Spirits , as part of its 30 for 30 series. Part of the show contained the fact that the Silnas had been suing the NBA for "hundreds of millions of dollars more" they feel the NBA owes them, presumably for NBA League Pass subscriptions and streaming video (the Silnas dropped

1526-587: A population of more than 1 million host at least one major sports franchise. 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

1635-400: A prescient deal to acquire future television money from the teams that joined the NBA, a 1/7 share from each surviving ABA franchise (or nearly 2% of the entire NBA's TV money), in perpetuity . (The deal allocated 45% for each of the Silnas and 10% for their lawyer Donald Scupak, who brokered the deal. Ozzie died in 2016.) With network TV deals becoming more and more lucrative, the deal has made

1744-520: A slow upward trend for the league. Its level of play is generally recognized as on the second tier of professional football, with the CFL having a slight advantage in player recruitment compared to second-tier American leagues such as the UFL due to the CFL's longer established history. Major professional sports leagues are distinguished from other sports leagues in terms of business and economic factors, popularity of

1853-720: A small part of North Carolina. The largest TV market without a major franchise is the Hartford – New Haven market, covering all of Connecticut except the former Fairfield County ; Hartford's last major league squad, the NHL's Whalers , left in 1997. The NHL 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

1962-463: A team from the league's unsuccessful 1990s-era South 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. Each of the Big Four leagues has at least 30 teams (the NFL has had 32 teams since 2002 and the NHL added its 32nd team in 2021), and each has had at least 29 teams since

2071-559: A team in Vancouver ; the NHL later added teams in Edmonton , Winnipeg and Quebec City (through absorption of WHA franchises), Calgary (via relocation from Atlanta ) and Ottawa (via expansion) to go with the still-extant Toronto and Montreal teams. The distinctive place ice hockey holds in Canadian culture allowed these franchises to compete with teams in larger cities for some time. However,

2180-479: Is a relatively recent situation. Historically, the league was concentrated in the northeast, with no teams south of New York City or west of Chicago from 1935 until 1967. The league expanded its footprint westward in a 1967 expansion but, other than the unsuccessful Atlanta 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

2289-506: Is charged with his seventh or succeeding fouls, the opposing team retains possession and the offended team attempts any free throw. The ABA also went after four of the best referees in the NBA: Earl Strom , John Vanak , Norm Drucker and Joe Gushue , getting them to "jump" leagues by offering them far more in money and benefits. In Earl Strom's memoir Calling the Shots , Strom conveys both

SECTION 20

#1732844451897

2398-524: Is one of two NFL teams, the other being the Jacksonville Jaguars , that are the only major league franchises in their metropolitan area. Both MLB and the NFL have had two prolonged recent exceptions in which the league was absent from one of the U.S.'s ten most populous metropolitan areas; from 1972 to 2004, ninth-place Washington, D.C., had no MLB team , and from 1995 to 2016, second-place Los Angeles had no NFL teams . The NHL's national footprint

2507-528: Is the only "Big Four" league to have been founded in Canada. It was formed in 1917 as a successor to the Canadian National Hockey Association (founded in 1909), taking all but one of the NHA's teams. The NHL partially absorbed the rival World 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

2616-629: Is the only major league that does not have any teams in markets with fewer than 1.75 million people; both it and the NFL have teams in every U.S. market with over 4 million people. The NHL is the major league that least follows the general trend, due to the fact that a disproportionate number of its franchises are in cities with cold winters. The NHL lacks teams in a number of southern metropolitan areas with populations of over 3 million (Houston, Atlanta, San Diego) but has five teams in northern metropolitan areas with fewer than 1.25 million people, all of which are in or adjacent to Canada (the lone American team in

2725-442: Is the top-level men's professional soccer league in the United States. As of the league's 2024 season, MLS has 29 teams, with 26 in the United States and 3 in Canada, with one more U.S. team, San Diego FC , scheduled to start play in 2025. The league began play in 1996, its creation a requirement by FIFA for awarding the United States the right to host the 1994 World Cup . MLS was the first major Division I outdoor soccer league in

2834-700: Is the wealthiest professional club competition in its sport worldwide, and along with the English Premier League they make up the top five sports leagues by revenue in the world. Each of the Big Four leagues, as well as MLS and the CFL, averages at least 15,000 fans in attendance per game as of 2023 . The NFL has the largest stadiums on average in the world, ranging in capacity from just under 60,000 to almost 100,000 spectators, while MLB ballparks generally hold between 30,000 and 50,000 fans. Venues used primarily by MLS and CFL vary more widely in capacity, from about 20,000 to about 60,000. The two indoor leagues,

2943-536: The American Football League in 1970. It has 32 teams, all located in the United States. As of 2015 , NFL games have the largest per-game attendance among domestic professional leagues in the world, and is the most popular league in the U.S. in terms of television ratings and merchandising. Its championship game, the Super Bowl , is the most watched annual event on U.S. television, with Super Bowl XLIX being

3052-593: The American Soccer League (1921–1933) (ASL) and original North American Soccer League (1968–1984) (NASL). Major League Soccer (MLS) was established in 1996. Major League Baseball is the highest level of play of baseball in the United States and Canada. and the oldest of the major American leagues. It consists of the National League (founded in 1876) and the American League (founded in 1901). With

3161-588: The Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Toronto 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. From 1993 to 1995, the CFL attempted expansion into the United States to cities without NFL teams, but all the clubs folded, while the management structure of the Baltimore Stallions

3270-636: The Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (which dated to 1907) and the Western Interprovincial Football Union (which was founded in 1936), and became independent from the Canadian Rugby Union in 1958. The league now consists of nine teams, all based in Canada. The Grey Cup is awarded annually to the champion every November and is the highest-attended sporting event in the nation. The oldest extant teams,

3379-519: The Las Vegas Raiders in 2020. Each of the current major leagues has franchises placed nationwide, with multiple franchises in each of the United States' four census regions —Northeast, Midwest, South, and West. Major leagues tend to place franchises only in the largest, most populated metropolitan areas. Most major league teams are in metropolitan areas having populations of more than 2 million. All but 12 continental U.S. metropolitan areas with

American Basketball Association - Misplaced Pages Continue

3488-505: The New 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. 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

3597-546: The Ohio League , and the National 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. The Basketball 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

3706-602: The Ohio League , the New York Pro Football League , and the Chicago circuit as a successor to Western 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 the All-America Football Conference in 1949 and merged with

3815-660: The Saskatchewan Roughriders , in a market not served by any other major league (the Hamilton Tiger-Cats , while having their city to themselves, are on the outskirts of both the Niagara Frontier (less than 50 miles from Buffalo) and the extended Greater Toronto Area ). The newest market any of the Big Four leagues has entered is the Las Vegas Valley , which received the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 and

3924-668: The United States Census Bureau as Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), California's Inland Empire is the largest without a major franchise. However, it is part of Greater Los Angeles , a region defined by the US Census as a Combined Statistical Area (CSA), and is thus part of the Los Angeles television market. The largest CSA without a major franchise is the Hampton Roads area of southeastern Virginia, spilling over into

4033-522: The Utah Jazz (as well as MLS team Real Salt Lake ), lacked another major-league team before the quasi-relocation of the Arizona Coyotes after the 2023–24 season. The NFL has one major exception. The Green Bay Packers survive in major league sports' smallest metropolitan area (300,000 population) thanks to unique nonprofit corporate ownership , proximity to the neighboring Milwaukee market (giving

4142-608: The Washington Nationals . The Toronto Blue Jays , who began play in 1977, became the first team outside the United States to win the World Series in 1992 and 1993. Spirits of St. Louis The Spirits of St. Louis were a basketball franchise based in St. Louis that played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1974 to 1976. This was the third and last city of a franchise that had begun as

4251-445: The "Big Four" leagues are televised on the four largest U.S. broadcast TV networks— ABC , CBS , NBC , and Fox . They enjoy strong TV viewer ratings, and their leagues earn significant revenues from these TV contracts. 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

4360-565: The 2023 season. The league's primary media partner is Apple , which paid a reported $ 2.5 billion for exclusive worldwide streaming rights from 2023 to 2032. All league games are streamed on the MLS Season Pass service on Apple TV+ . English and Spanish commentary are available for all matches, and games involving Canadian teams are also available in French. Linear television rights for 2023–2026 are held by Fox Sports in both English and Spanish in

4469-515: The 2035–36 season, will be with ABC/ESPN, NBC, Peacock , and Amazon , and also covers the WNBA 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. 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

American Basketball Association - Misplaced Pages Continue

4578-462: The ABA eventually caught on with fans, but the lack of a national television contract and protracted financial losses would spell doom for the ABA as an independent circuit. In 1976, its last year of existence, the ABA pioneered the now-popular slam dunk contest at its all-star game in Denver . The league succeeded in forcing a merger with the NBA in the 1976 offseason. Four ABA teams were absorbed into

4687-636: The ABA–NBA merger, the owners of the Spirits continued to receive a portion of NBA television revenue until 2014, when a revised agreement was reached with the league. The Spirits (who took their name from the Atlantic Ocean-crossing plane flown by Charles Lindbergh ) were the third incarnation of a franchise that began as the Houston Mavericks and later the Carolina Cougars . However, only

4796-706: The Arizona Coyotes. 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. The Houston Texans paid $ 700 million to join the NFL in 2002. By comparison, the Charlotte Bobcats (now the Hornets) paid $ 300 million to join the NBA. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays (originally Devil Rays) paid $ 130 million each to join MLB. The NHL's Seattle Kraken (which started play in 2021), paid $ 650 million to join

4905-674: The Knicks, the Nets were forced to pay $ 4.3M to the Knicks organization. The Nets offered league superstar Julius Erving instead but the Knicks declined. The Nets had to settle for an arena in Piscataway, New Jersey , and, to meet expenses, were forced to sell the contract of Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers . Two other clubs, the Kentucky Colonels and the Spirits of St. Louis , were disbanded upon

5014-674: The Los Angeles-based Chivas USA squad folded in 2014. MLS has had one franchise relocate, the San Jose Earthquakes , which became Houston Dynamo FC in 2006; the Earthquakes returned as an expansion club in 2008, inheriting the pre-relocation history of the original Earthquakes. All seven CFL franchises between Vancouver and Toronto have been in place since the BC Lions were founded in 1954. The league has had problems in

5123-439: The MLS regular and playoff season; the knockout U.S. Open Cup for United States teams and Canadian Championship for Canadian teams, cross-border/regional Leagues Cup and Campeones Cup and the continental CONCACAF Champions Cup and FIFA Club World Cup . The Canadian Football League is the highest level of play in Canadian football . The league was organized in 1956 as a cooperative agreement between two regional leagues,

5232-574: The NBA after being one year removed from their high school graduation. The origin of the Hardship Rule was a result of the NBA prohibiting players from joining the league until they had completed their four years of college eligibility. In 1969, Spencer Haywood left the University of Detroit as a sophomore and signed with the Denver Rockets. The ABA believed that in extenuating circumstances, such as

5341-511: The NBA and the Spirits ownership agreed to phase out future payments in exchange for a one-time payment of $ 500M, making the total value for the deal over $ 800M. The seventh remaining team, the Virginia Squires , received nothing, as they had ceased operations shortly before the merger. The players from the Colonels, Spirits, and Squires were made available to NBA teams through a dispersal draft;

5450-461: The NBA in 1976–77 as a season-long competition for that season only, and on a permanent basis as a standalone event as part of the NBA All-Star Weekend in 1984. Of the original 11 teams, only the Kentucky Colonels and Indiana Pacers remained for all nine seasons without relocating, changing team names, or folding. However, the Denver Larks/Rockets/Nuggets , a team that had been planned for Kansas City, Missouri , moved to Denver without playing

5559-462: The NFL plays a limited number of annual games in stadiums of Germany's Bundesliga , and less often plays games in stadiums of Mexico's Liga MX , Brazil's Brasileirão , and Spain's La Liga . The Big Four leagues currently have 30 to 32 teams each, most of which are concentrated in the most populous metropolitan areas of the United States and Canada. Unlike the promotion and relegation systems used in sports leagues in various other regions around

SECTION 50

#1732844451897

5668-467: 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), CFL and MLS (2), MLB and MLS (1), and NBA and NHL (10). 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, and

5777-412: 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. This $ 625 million annual contract for American rights is in addition to the $ 433 million annual fee Rogers Sportsnet pays for Canadian rights. All four major sports leagues have launched a network of their own— NBA TV in

5886-474: The Ottawa Redblacks paid C$ 7 million to join the Canadian Football League. All of the top four major leagues exhibit stability in most of their franchises . No team from the top four leagues has collapsed outright since the 1970s. The last team to contract was the NHL's Cleveland Barons in 1978, when financial pressures forced a merger with the Minnesota North Stars . MLB voted in 2001 to contract from 30 teams to 28 , but ran into opposition and never executed

5995-399: The San Francisco Bay Area until the Athletics move from Oakland to Las Vegas 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

6104-448: The Silnas wealthy, earning them $ 186 million as of 2008, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer , and $ 255 million as of 2012 according to The New York Times . (The NBA nearly succeeded in buying out the Silnas in 1982 by offering $ 5 million over eight years, but negotiations stalled when the siblings demanded $ 8 million over five.) On June 27, 2007, it was extended for another eight years, ensuring another $ 100 million+ windfall for

6213-424: The Silnas. In 2014, the Silnas reached agreement with the NBA to greatly reduce the perpetual payments and take a lump sum of $ 500 million. In the last few years before the lump sum agreement, the Silnas were receiving $ 14.57 million a year, despite being owners of a team that hadn't played a game in over 40 years. (The Silnas will, however, still be receiving a now much smaller portion of the television revenue through

6322-522: The U.S. in 1999 and in Canada in 2001, the NFL Network in 2003, the NHL Network in Canada in 2001 and in the U.S. in 2007, and the MLB 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 and regional sports networks . Some teams (such as

6431-628: The U.S. since the North American Soccer League (NASL) operated from 1968 to 1984. MLS has increased in popularity following the adoption of the Designated Player Rule in 2007, which allowed MLS to sign stars such as David Beckham (from whom the rule took its colloquial name 'the Beckham rule'), Thierry Henry , and Lionel Messi . 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, while 2018 saw Atlanta United FC break multiple single-game attendance records, with crowd figures of over 70,000 among

6540-502: The US, and the English-language TSN and French-language RDS in Canada. 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. The CFL's current television deal with TSN pays the league at least $ 50 million per year until 2026. Its American broadcast contract with CBS Sports Network pays $ 1 million per year for 34 of

6649-419: The United States and Canada traditionally include four leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL). Other prominent leagues include Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Canadian Football League (CFL). MLB, the NBA, the NFL, and the NHL are commonly referred to as the " Big Four ". Each of these

SECTION 60

#1732844451897

6758-410: The World Series and it was 90 years until another World Series was not played, in 1994, due to a work stoppage. The two leagues merged on an organizational level in 2000 with the elimination of separate league offices; they have shared a single 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

6867-428: The addition of Minnesota United FC in 2017 and Inter Miami CF in 2020, along with the departure of the NHL's Arizona 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 six teams in the United States over a three-year period between 1993 and 1995, all in medium-sized markets that lacked an NFL team at

6976-401: The addition of another team in the same market unless the current team's owners consent, to avoid competition for ticket sales and televesion rights. Agreements to share are market are generally obtained in exchange for compensation, residual rights, or both. For example, to obtain the consent of the Baltimore Orioles to place an MLB team in Washington (about 35 miles (56 km) away), a deal

7085-411: 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. These franchise valuations are reflected in periodic analyses of teams' values, as well as by the expansion fees commanded by

7194-452: The contraction plan. Unlike leagues that use a system of promotion and relegation , franchises in these leagues are stable and do not change annually. Relocation of teams is generally uncommon compared to minor leagues. 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

7303-440: The country's very high level of hockey fandom. A 2013 study by Nate 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. The Canadian Football League has teams in all seven current NHL markets, in addition to Hamilton, Ontario , and Regina, Saskatchewan . At least eight of these nine markets have hosted CFL teams every year since

7412-422: The course of the late 2010s. The NHL is the most recent of the Big Four to expand, having added the Las Vegas-based Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 and the Seattle Kraken in 2021. None of the other Big Four leagues have added expansion teams since 2004. In the fifty years between 1903 and 1953, MLB experienced no franchise changes—no new franchises, no franchises ceasing operations, and no franchises moving—marking

7521-495: The defending ABA champion New York Nets in the first round of the playoffs. But the team squandered this good start the following year. Despite inheriting several players (including Malone) from the Utah Stars after that franchise failed in the middle of the season, the Spirits finished well out of playoff contention in 1975–76. Attendance in St. Louis fell through the floor; they were lucky to draw crowds of more than 1,000 people in an 18,000-seat arena, and frequently drew crowds in

7630-406: The earlier ABL. Also, the ABA used a colorful red, white and blue ball, instead of the NBA's traditional orange ball. The ABA also had several "regional" franchises, such as the Virginia Squires and Carolina Cougars , that played "home" games in several cities. In the 1973–74 season, the ABA also adopted the no-disqualification foul rule: instead of fouling out after six infractions, when a player

7739-445: 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

7848-463: The final ABA All-Star Game in 1976. The game was held in Denver, and the owners of the ABA teams wanted to ensure that the event would be entertaining for the sellout crowd of 15,021 people. The ABA and NBA had begun to discuss a possible merger, and the ABA owners wanted to establish the viability and success of their league. The Dunk Contest operated as a means of unique halftime entertainment that displayed

7957-451: The four teams absorbed by the NBA were allowed to choose players from this draft. One of the more significant long-term contributions of the ABA to professional basketball was to tap into markets in the southeast that had been collegiate basketball hotbeds (including North Carolina , Virginia , and Kentucky). The NBA was focused on the urban areas of the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast. At

8066-631: The heady sense of being courted by a rival league with money to burn — and also the depression that set in the next year when he began refereeing in the ABA, with less prominent players performing in inadequate arenas, in front of very small crowds. Nevertheless, the emergence of the ABA boosted the salaries of referees just as it did the salaries of players. However ABA Teams like Nets, Colonels, Pacers, Spurs, Nuggets and Stars, especially in latest seasons, registered higher attendance on average than most of NBA teams at that time (excluding Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, SuperSonics and Bucks). The freewheeling style of

8175-420: The highest team attendances worldwide. With a total attendance of nearly 11 million and an average of over 22,000, MLS has the fifth-largest and third-largest, total and average attendances respectively, among the sports league in U.S. and Canada ( see § Attendance ), had the seventh-highest attendance among global professional soccer leagues. The Canadian Soccer Association does not sanction MLS as

8284-465: The hundreds. At season's end, negotiations were under way to move the franchise to Salt Lake City, Utah as the Utah Rockies . In the summer of 1976, with the ABA at the point of financial collapse, the six surviving franchises (the Virginia Squires went bankrupt immediately after the final season) began negotiating a merger with the NBA , but the senior circuit decided to accept only four teams from

8393-511: The largest TV contracts, and earns roughly $ 9 billion annually from its contracts with Amazon , CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC, and DirecTV for the 2023 through 2033 seasons. MLB earns $ 1.5 billion annually from its contracts for the 2014 through 2021 seasons with ESPN, Fox, and Turner Sports (TBS). 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. The NBA's next TV deal, set to take effect in 2025–26 and run through

8502-422: 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. Major professional sports leagues generally have significantly larger attendance than other sports leagues. The following table shows

8611-404: The league's chief disciplinarian and the number-two man behind commissioner David Stern ) for a number of years. On radio, the team featured Bob Costas as its play-by-play announcer on KMOX . Costas would go on to a highly successful career working for NBC television and radio. After a slow start in their inaugural season, 1974–75, the Spirits reached the playoffs with a late rush, then upset

8720-612: The league's officially listed inception in 1958, and no other Canadian market has ever had a CFL team of its own. A conditional expansion franchise was awarded to the Atlantic Schooners in 1982; it folded before ever playing a game. Another bid for a Schooners franchise by Schooners Sports and Entertainment in the late 2010s also failed. The first Major League Baseball team in Canada was the Montreal Expos , who began play in 1969. In 2005, they moved to Washington, D.C., and became

8829-557: The league, a 30% increase from the $ 500 million paid by the Vegas Golden Knights to join the league in 2017. The Golden Knights' fee was a dramatic increase from the $ 80 million paid by each of the previous two teams to enter the NHL, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild. Two of the six most recently announced Major League Soccer expansion teams, 2019 entrant FC Cincinnati and 2020 arrival Nashville SC , each paid

8938-423: The league, and quality of play. The following table compares the Big Four leagues, plus the CFL and MLS, on certain attributes that collectively attempt to indicate whether the league has "major league" status. The table includes the longevity and stability of the league, as measured by the number of teams in the league, the year founded, the last time the league underwent contraction, expansion, and relocation, and

9047-493: The leagues. The highest value franchises in the respective leagues tend to be located in the largest markets (e.g., MLB's New York Yankees , NHL's New York Rangers ), whereas the lowest value franchises tend to be in smaller markets (e.g., NFL's Buffalo Bills , NBA's New Orleans Pelicans ). 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

9156-644: The longest such period of stability of any Big Four league. In contrast to the Big Four leagues, MLS has operated on a policy of continuous expansion since 2005. After bottoming out at 10 teams in 2004, it has never gone more than one season without adding one or two expansion teams, with a further expansion team scheduled for 2025 and no indication that the league will cease awarding expansion teams. As of 2023 , MLS nearly tripled in size from its 2005 minimum, with 29 teams. The league has contracted three teams in its history: teams in Miami and Tampa Bay folded in 2002, and

9265-430: The merger occurred, ABA officials said their investment would more than double. The ABA distinguished itself from its older counterpart with a more wide-open, flashy style of offensive play, as well as differences in rules — a 30-second shot clock (as opposed to the NBA's 24-second clock, though the ABA did switch to the 24 second shot clock for the 1975–76 season) and use of a three-point field goal arc , pioneered in

9374-667: The merger of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (NBL) though it later adopted the BAA's founding date in 1946 as its own. Four teams from the rival American Basketball Association joined the NBA with the ABA–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 it

9483-402: The merger, with each getting a buyout: the Colonels received a one-time buyout that owner John Y. Brown, Jr. used to purchase the NBA's Buffalo Braves , while the Spirits owners negotiated a cut of the other ABA teams' television revenues in perpetuity. This deal netted the ownership group of the Spirits over $ 300M over nearly four decades due to a large increase in television revenues. In 2014,

9592-437: The northern and northeastern U.S., the NHL has expanded westward and southward in recent decades to attempt to gain a more national following in the United States, in cities such as Denver , San Jose , Dallas , Miami , Nashville , Salt Lake City , Raleigh , Tampa , Las Vegas , and Seattle with varying success. The NHL has more Canadian teams (seven) than MLB, the NBA, and MLS combined (five). Major League Soccer (MLS)

9701-535: The older league: the New York Nets , Denver Nuggets , Indiana Pacers , and San Antonio Spurs . As part of the merger agreement, the four teams were not permitted to participate in the 1976 NBA draft . The merger was particularly hard on the Nets; the New York Knicks were firmly established in their arena, Madison Square Garden , and would not permit the Nets to share dates there. For drawing audience away from

9810-444: The popularity of the league, as measured by annual revenue and average attendance. The "Big Four" leagues each have revenues that can be many times greater than the payrolls of less popular sports leagues in the two nations. In terms of overall league revenue, the NFL, MLB, and NBA rank as the top three most lucrative sports leagues in the world, with the English Premier League and the NHL ranked at fourth and fifth place. Games of

9919-500: The record for consecutive games played in pro basketball for many years. One of the most colorful players on the team was forward Marvin Barnes , famous for stories about his off-court behavior and lack of understanding of time zones. A couple of off-court personalities from the team became well known as well. One of the coaches in 1975 was former NBA player Rod Thorn , who became the NBA's vice president of basketball operations (in essence,

10028-468: The rival league: the Nets (the last ABA champion), Denver Nuggets , Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs . The NBA placated John Y. Brown , owner of the Kentucky Colonels , by giving him a $ 3.3 million settlement in exchange for shutting his team down. (Brown later used much of that money to buy the Buffalo Braves of the NBA.) The owners of the Spirits, the brothers Ozzie and Daniel Silna , struck

10137-498: The single most-watched program in U.S. television history. The NFL is the only one of the "Big Four" leagues not to have a team in Canada, where the Canadian Football League ( see § Canadian Football League ) is the premier professional league in a similar gridiron football sport of Canadian football . The National Hockey League is widely recognized as the world's premier professional ice hockey league, and

10246-476: The sports' widespread appeal since their inception, continuing today additionally with Fox. In Canada, the NHL has been broadcast on the Canadian 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. The NFL has

10355-590: The stars of the New York Knicks championship teams, moved from his job as vice president and GM of the ABA's New York Nets in 1975 to become the last commissioner of the ABA and facilitate the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. One of the primary contributions of the ABA to modern NBA was the introduction of the Spencer Haywood Hardship Rule , which would later become the framework for the current NBA draft eligibility system that allows players to declare for

10464-492: The style and excitement that the ABA players brought to the game. The dunk contest was held at halftime of the All-Star game and the contestants were Artis Gilmore , George Gervin , David Thompson , Larry Kenon , and Julius Erving . The winner of the contest received $ 1,000 and a stereo system. Julius Erving went on to win the competition by completing the now famous free throw line dunk. The Slam Dunk Contest would make its way to

10573-702: The teams in Winnipeg and Quebec City were eventually moved to larger media markets in the U.S. The NHL returned to Winnipeg in 2011 with the Atlanta Thrashers relocating to become the current version of the Winnipeg Jets . Excluding the CFL, the NHL is the only major league to have teams in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg or Ottawa, all markets with populations of less than 1.25 million, smaller than any U.S. NHL market except Buffalo. However, those Canadian cities benefit from

10682-457: The time, it showed no interest in placing a team south of Washington, D.C., other than the Atlanta metropolitan area where the NBA's Hawks franchise relocated from St. Louis in 1968. NBA great George Mikan was the first commissioner of the ABA, where he introduced both the 3-point line and the league's trademark red, white, and blue basketball. Mikan resigned in 1969. Dave DeBusschere , one of

10791-444: The time. Of the seven markets those teams occupied, three (Baltimore, San Antonio and Sacramento) had other major league franchises at the time, and two later received a major team (Memphis and Las Vegas). The league also played occasional 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

10900-524: The two markets east of Toronto; both Montreal and Ottawa have each seen two CFL teams fail since the 1980s, although both cities have active teams as of the 2014 season. The cities are now represented by the Alouettes and Redblacks , respectively. Among existing teams, none has ever formally relocated from one city to another; the Alouettes, however, inherited a management structure from the Baltimore Stallions ,

11009-423: The way for other players to enter the ABA before they had completed their collegiate careers such as George McGinnis and Julius Erving. Today, the "one-and-done" rule in the NBA can be traced back to the ABA's decision to allow players to leave college early and pursue a professional career before they had completed their collegiate careers. The ABA pioneered the advent of the now popular NBA slam dunk contest at

11118-429: The western United States than the other major leagues. Whereas the NBA's teams tend to be somewhat more evenly distributed across the United States, MLS's presence in areas of the southern United States has historically been sparse; after MLS folded its two Florida-based teams after the 2001 season, it did not re-enter the South until Orlando City SC joined the league in 2015, with Atlanta United FC following in 2017. With

11227-501: The world, North American sports leagues are closed 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 the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players ,

11336-537: The year 2000. Major League Soccer has 29 teams; it adopted a policy of continuous expansion at a rate of one to two new franchises a year since 2005,and was set to reach its long-range target of 30 teams in 2023 before the Sacramento expansion bid collapsed. A 30th team in San Diego is set to join in 2025. The CFL has nine franchises. All of the top four major leagues grant territorial exclusivity to their owners, precluding

11445-417: Was moved to a relaunched Montreal Alouettes franchise. By 2009 the CFL was the second-most-popular league in Canada, after the NHL. A 2023 study shows that interest in the CFL had dropped over the previous 10 years. 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 , the CFL's average attendance number was 22,795, continuing

11554-524: Was still fending off contemporary challenging leagues (it had been less than five years since the American Basketball League (ABL) shut down). According to one of the owners of the Indiana Pacers , its goal was to force a merger with the more established league. Potential investors were told that they could get an ABA team for half of what it cost to get an NBA expansion team at the time. When

11663-549: Was struck under the terms of which television and radio broadcast rights to Nationals games are handled by the Orioles franchise. As of 2022 , 49 metropolitan areas (42 in the U.S., seven 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,

11772-402: Was the first professional team sport in the U.S. MLB consistently draws the largest total attendance of any sports league in the world. Josh Martin of Bleacher Report described the National Basketball Association as "the best basketball league in the world" in a 2012 power ranking of international leagues, and it is the youngest of the major American leagues. It was founded in 1949 with

11881-520: Was the most popular league out of the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB worldwide in desktop web traffic. While the NBA is the most viewed basketball league in Canada, Canada Basketball recognizes the Canadian Elite Basketball League as the country's first-division professional league. The National Football League is a professional American football league and was founded in 1920 as a combination of various teams from regional leagues such as

#896103