WThe American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the league has an affiliation agreement with one NHL team. When NHL teams do not have an AHL affiliate, players are assigned to AHL teams affiliated with other NHL teams. Twenty-seven AHL teams are located in the United States and the remaining four are in Canada. The league offices are located in Springfield, Massachusetts, and its current president is Scott Howson.
WThe Arena Lacrosse League (ALL) is a senior men's semi-professional box lacrosse league based in Canada. The league consists of seven teams in Ontario. Teams play a 14-game regular season schedule before league playoffs conclude with the ALL Cup.
WThe Canadian Basketball League (CBL) was a professional basketball minor league based around the Greater Toronto Area of Southern Ontario. The CBL was founded in July 2014 by former NBA coach Butch Carter.
WThe Canadian Championship is an annual soccer tournament contested by premier Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and Canada's berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. It is contested by MLS sides Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and CF Montréal, eight Canadian Premier League sides, and the champions of League1 Ontario and the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec. The tournament is organized by the Canadian Soccer Association and has been broadcast on OneSoccer since 2019.
WThe Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) is a professional men's basketball league. The CEBL was founded in 2017 and began play in 2019 with six teams competing all owned and operated by ownership group Canadian Basketball Ventures.
WThe Canadian Football League is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a city in Canada. They are divided into two divisions: four teams in the East Division and five teams in the West Division.
WThe Canadian Premier League is a professional soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary national soccer league competition. The league consists of eight teams, from five of Canada's ten provinces. The regular league season lasts from April to October, with each team playing 28 games. The season culminates in the CPL Finals. The CPL champion earns a berth in the CONCACAF League, playing against teams from Central America and the Caribbean. All CPL teams also play in the Canadian Championship against Canadian clubs from other leagues. Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions League is available to CPL clubs through either the Canadian Championship or CONCACAF League.
WThe Canadian Soccer League is a semi-professional league for exclusively Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and is the successor league to the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL). It is a Non-FIFA league previously sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA), but now affiliated with the Soccer Federation of Canada (SFC). As of 2020, it consists of five teams all located in Ontario, and is divided into two divisions, the First Division and Second Division. The season runs from May to October, with most games played on the weekend followed by a playoff format to determine the overall champion.
WThe Canadian Women's Hockey League was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league eventually expanded into Alberta, as well as teams in China and the United States throughout its tenure. The league discontinued operations May 1, 2019, after 12 seasons of operations. For most of its existence, it was the highest level women's hockey league in North America while registered as an amateur association. It paid its players a stipend during its last two seasons.
WThe expansion of major sports leagues in the United States and Canada has occurred throughout the twentieth century for all of the major professional sports leagues in those two countries.
WThe Global T20 Canada is a 20-over cricket tournament played in Canada. The first edition of the tournament took place during June and July 2018 with six teams competing. Each team featured four local Canadian cricketers in each squad, along with international players. The inaugural tournament in 2018 took place at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City, Ontario, while the 2019 tournament took place at the CAA Centre in Brampton, Ontario. Bombay Sports Limited are the owners of the league, and also the organizers of the Euro T20 Slam that was set to begin on August 30, 2019.
WLeague1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's and women's soccer league in Ontario, Canada, and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a Division III league in the Canadian soccer league system. The 2021 season will include 20 teams in the men's division and 15 teams in the women's division.
WThe Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey (LNAH) is a low-level professional league based in the Canadian province of Quebec. Teams in the LNAH compete for the Vertdure Cup.
WMajor League Baseball (MLB) is an American professional baseball organization and the oldest of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams play in Major League Baseball: 15 teams in the National League (NL) and 15 in the American League (AL). The NL and AL were formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively. Beginning in 1903, the two leagues cooperated but remained legally separate entities until 2000 when they merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball. The league is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.
WMajor League Rugby is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2021 season it will be contested by twelve teams: eleven from the United States and one from Canada. Officially sanctioned by USA Rugby, which is a member union of Rugby Americas North (RAN), and consequently part of World Rugby, the league was founded in 2017, and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
WThe National Basketball League of Canada is a Canadian professional men's basketball league. The NBL was founded in 2011, when three teams formerly of the Premier Basketball League joined with four new franchises to form the NBL's "Original Seven". The league has changed in size multiple times and currently has eight teams; four located in the Atlantic provinces and four in Ontario. The league's season typically begins in November and ends in April of the following year. The most recent champions are the Moncton Magic, having defeated the St. John's Edge 4–0 in the 2019 NBL Finals.
WThe National Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league in North America, currently comprising 31 teams: 24 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season.
WThe National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the NLL currently has thirteen teams: eight in the United States and five in Canada. The NLL ranks third in average attendance for pro indoor sports worldwide, behind only the NHL and NBA. Unlike other box lacrosse leagues which play in the summer, the NLL plays its games in the winter and spring, from December to June. Each year, the playoff teams battle for the National Lacrosse League Cup. The NLL has averaged between 8,900 and 10,700 spectators per game each year since 2004.
WThe National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four teams, and has since grown to six teams: the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, Minnesota Whitecaps, and the Toronto Six. The league is the first women's professional hockey league to pay its players.
WThe North American Floorball League (NAFL) is a semi professional floorball league in North America, consisting of four teams across the United States. The league was founded in June 2020, and is set to begin play in the summer of 2021. The NAFL is the first elite level floorball league in North America, taking place in what is typically the offseason of most upper tier floorball leagues worldwide so as to draw the best possible talent without conflicting with club schedules.
WThe North American League was an independent baseball league that began play in the 2011 season. The league consisted of a merger of three independent leagues, the Northern League of Illinois, United League Baseball of Texas, and the Golden Baseball League based in the Western United States and Western Canada and was a last-ditch effort to save the teams in said league. The league's chairman of the board was Dave Kaval, former CEO of Diamond Sports and Entertainment, league president was Brian MacInnes and main board member was James C. Peters.
WThe Pillow Fight League (PFL) was a Toronto-based semi-professional sports league centred on public pillow fights. The tongue in cheek women's sport was hosted in a fighting arena, much like a boxing or wrestling match. The League was founded by PFL Commissioner Stacey P. Case, and Honorary PFL Commissioner Craig Daniels in February 2004. The formal league launched at a Canadian goth bar called The Vatikan in downtown Toronto. Events were hosted in both Montreal, Quebec and New York City, but the primary seat of the League remained in Toronto, Ontario.
WPremier Lacrosse League (PLL) is an American professional field lacrosse league. The league's inaugural season debuted on June 1, 2019, and included a 14-week tour-based schedule taking place in 12 major-market cities. The league was founded by the American professional lacrosse player Paul Rabil and his brother Mike Rabil. Investors include The Chernin Group, The Raine Group and Joe Tsai.
WThe Première Ligue de soccer du Québec (PLSQ) is a semi-professional soccer league created in 2012 and organized by the Quebec Soccer Federation, which operates at the third tier of the Canadian soccer pyramid. The Canadian Soccer Association relies on provincial soccer organizations to sanction regional leagues at the tier 3 level. The men's division is below the Canadian Premier League (CPL), and equal to League1 Ontario (L1O). The PLSQ women's division is behind the U.S.-based National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The league's commissioner is Kambiz Ebadi.
WMajor League Quidditch (MLQ) is a semipro quidditch league based in the United States and Canada. The league is composed of 15 teams—13 in the U.S. and 2 in Canada. The MLQ season runs from June to August, with each team playing nine games in the regular season. The playoffs includes the top 12 teams competing in the MLQ Championship in late August, culminating in the championship series. The winning team is awarded the Benepe Cup.
WThe Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football League, the governing body for the sport in England, and consists of 14 teams, with promotion to the Super League and relegation to the third-tier competition, League 1. The current champions are Toronto Wolfpack. The league announced a two-year sponsorship deal with the bookmaking company Betfred ahead of the 2018 season.
WLeague 1 is a professional rugby league competition based in the United Kingdom. The competition also features clubs from Wales, and previously included clubs from Canada and France. It is the Rugby Football League's (RFL) third-tier competition, below the Championship, with which it has promotion and relegation.
WThe Super League (SL) is the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The league currently has twelve teams: eleven from England and one from France.
WUSL League One (USL1) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada that began its inaugural season in 2019. United Soccer League announced the formation of the league on April 2, 2017, with the temporary name USL Division III. The league is targeting cities with a population of 150,000 to one million, mostly in cities currently without a professional team.