Major Pro Sports Leagues in North America

A guide to the major North American Pro Sports leagues - CFL, MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, NHL, NWSL and WNBA, including League HQs & HOF locations

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The 5 logos of the 5 pro sports leagues in America, including MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, and NHL
MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, and NHL

Leisure Gear & Swag

So many sports. So many teams.

So many $11 plastic cups of beer if you're seeing them all live.

North American Pro Sports Leagues:

Canadian Football League

Founded in '58, the CFL is made up of 9 teams who play an 18 game schedule over the course of 21 weeks. So we're all clear, American-style football is not one of Canada's National Sports.

Team with the Most Titles

The Edmonton Elks with 11 victories. Teams across Canada compete for the Gray Cup.

Season Duration

Once again, an 18 game schedule.

Value of the League

Unsure.

Hall of Fame Leftfielder, Barry Bonds playing for MLB's San Francisco Giants
The all-time home run leader of Major League Baseball, Barry Bonds

Major League Baseball

America's first professional sport, Major League Baseball was formed in 1903. The Original 8 teams centered their names around colors, uniforms and sock varieties, the Devil Rays and Diamondbacks they were not.

Baseball has long been called the Thinking Man's Game, which amazes us considering we aren't sure what anyone is actually "thinking" when a 95mph fastball coming in hot, high and tight. Must be something about playing station-to-station ball, hit and runs, and never swinging at the first pitch when a relief pitcher takes the mound. You know, old man stuff.

Season Duration

MLB plays the most amount of games of any pro sports league by far with a 162 game regular season. In 2019, the average length of a regulation baseball game was 3:05:35. There are 30 teams in the league.

So, with 162 games each, and two teams taking the field (162x15) for each game, there are 2,430 games played per season. Or, the approximate amount of times you feel like the Boston Red Sox are squaring off against the New York Yankees each year.

Jokes aside, that is 7,500+ hours of baseball played per year in the regular season. Or, almost 450,000+ minutes played. That's almost a whole year's worth of time. Strong emphasis on the word "time" in America's Pastime.

Team with the Most Titles

The New York Yankees have won the most championships in Pro Sports History, winning 27 titles over the last 100+ years. That automatically qualifies them for being baseball's top team for World Series Wins.

Value of the League

Major League Baseball is worth an estimated $10+ billion dollars. That's a lot of dough.

Major League Soccer (MLS) is America's premier soccer league
That looks a lot like a trip, right?

Major League Soccer

The league started in the early 90s in America.

Team with the Most Titles

Speaking of dominance, the LA Galaxy have won the MLS championship match 5 out of their 9 visits.

LA Galaxy Title Years: 2002, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014

Value of the League

National Football League

Football takes over Sundays. Completely.

Team with the Most Titles

The Green Bay Packers have the most titles in the NFL with 13 all-time.

Championships in the Super Bowl Era

The New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers are tied for the most Super Bowl victories with 6 wins a piece.

It will take 6 years to win the Super Bowl drinking game though.

Value of the League

The NFL is money. Tons of money. $16 billion or more to be exact.

Steph Curry of the NBA's Golden State Warriors shooting the basketball
Curry is near automatic

National Basketball League

30 teams, all trying to put the ball through the net, whether by dunk, or sick Steph Curry three. The NBA was founded on June 6, 1946.

Season Duration

The NBA regular season spans across the months of December to May. Then the playoffs last another 6 months. The NBA plays all year. There, we said it.

Team with the Most Titles

The Boston Celtics & Los Angeles Lakers have won the most NBA championships in the league's history with 17 titles each.

Value of the League

$8+ billion. Maybe even $9 billion by now.

National Hockey League

Even though hockey players are super talented, sometimes they can forget their basic mathematics. That's how we got to a league that features an uneven amount of teams (31). This guarantees that someone isn't playing every night. We can't decide if the pre-determined night off is great, or, a bit ... short-sighted.

Season Duration

The NHL season is comprised of 82 regular season games. The season starts in October and ends in April. Winter, when hockey should be played.

Team with the Most Titles

The Montreal Canadiens have won the most championships in the National Hockey League's history with 24 titles. This should come as no surprise considering that hockey is one of Canada's Two National Sports.

Wait, that's not how pro sports works?

Value of the League

The National Hockey league is worth around $5 billion dollars. You know, give or take. The quality of the sport makes it feel like it should be worth a lot more, especially in the playoffs. Playoff hockey is the truth.

National Women's Soccer League

12 teams across the United States compete for the right to not only own the NWSL Shield, but to run through the playoffs victoriously.

Team with the Most Titles

FC Kansas City, North Carolina Courage and Portland Thorns FC have each won two titles, which ties them for most in league history.

Value of the League

Unknown.

Women's National Basketball Assocation

Team with the Most Titles

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References & Sources