Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada facts for kids
The biggest professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada are usually thought of as four main ones: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL). People often call these the "Big Four." Other important leagues include Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Canadian Football League (CFL).
These "Big Four" leagues are the richest professional sports competitions in their sports around the world. They also have huge stadiums or arenas. For example, NFL stadiums can hold up to 100,000 fans, while MLB baseball parks usually fit between 30,000 and 50,000. Indoor sports like the NHL and NBA play in arenas with 18,000 to 20,000 seats.
Unlike many sports leagues in other parts of the world, North American leagues are "closed." This means the same teams stay in the league each season. New teams are usually added by expanding the league, not by teams moving up or down based on how well they play.
Baseball, American football, and ice hockey have had professional leagues for over 100 years. Basketball was invented in 1891, and its first professional league started in the 1920s. Soccer became professional in 1894, with MLS starting in 1996.
The "Big Four" Leagues
These four leagues are the most popular and make the most money in North America.
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Major League Baseball (MLB)
Major League Baseball is the top level of baseball in the United States and Canada. It is the oldest major sports league in America. It started with two leagues, the National League (1876) and the American League (1901). These two leagues began playing the "World Series" in 1903 to decide the champion.
Today, MLB has 30 teams, with 29 in the U.S. and one in Canada. Baseball is often called America's "national pastime." MLB consistently has the largest total number of fans attending games compared to any other sports league in the world.
National Basketball Association (NBA)
The National Basketball Association is considered the best basketball league in the world. It was formed in 1949 when two older leagues merged. The NBA has 30 teams, with 29 in the U.S. and one in Canada.
The NBA is very popular both in North America and internationally. It is one of the most watched sports leagues globally.
National Football League (NFL)
The National Football League is a professional American football league. It started in 1920. The NFL has 32 teams, all located in the United States.
NFL games have the largest number of fans attending each game among professional leagues worldwide. It is also the most popular league in the U.S. for TV ratings and merchandise sales. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, is the most watched yearly event on U.S. television. The NFL is the only "Big Four" league without a team in Canada.
National Hockey League (NHL)
The National Hockey League is known as the best professional ice hockey league in the world. It was actually started in Canada in 1917. The NHL has 32 teams, with 25 in the U.S. and seven in Canada.
The NHL is the most popular sports league in Canada. It is also very popular in the northern and northeastern parts of the U.S. In recent years, the NHL has expanded to cities in the southern and western U.S. to try and gain more fans.
Other Important Professional Leagues
Besides the "Big Four," there are other significant professional sports leagues in North America.
Major League Soccer (MLS)
Major League Soccer is the top men's professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. As of 2025, MLS has 30 teams, with 27 in the U.S. and three in Canada. The league began in 1996 because FIFA required a professional league in the U.S. for the country to host the 1994 World Cup.
MLS has become much more popular, especially after 2007 when it allowed teams to sign famous international players like David Beckham and Lionel Messi. MLS games have high attendance, ranking among the top soccer leagues globally. MLS teams also play in other tournaments, like the Leagues Cup and CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Canadian Football League (CFL)
The Canadian Football League is the highest level of Canadian football. The league was formed in 1956 and has nine teams, all based in Canada. The Grey Cup is the championship trophy awarded every November.
The oldest teams in the CFL, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Toronto Argonauts, started playing in the late 1860s and early 1870s. This makes them some of the oldest professional sports teams still around in North America. The CFL has the fourth-highest average attendance among leagues in the U.S. and Canada.
What Makes These Leagues Major?
Major professional sports leagues are different from other leagues because of their business size, how popular they are, and the high quality of play.
League Information
This table shows some key facts about these major leagues.
| League | Sport | Teams | Year founded |
Last expansion |
Last contraction |
Last relocation |
Revenue US$ (bn) |
Average attendance per game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Football League | American football | 32 | 1920 | 2002 | 1952 | 2020 | $16.9 | 69,555 (2,024) |
| Major League Baseball | Baseball | 30 | 1903 | 1998 | 1902 | 2025 | $10.9 | 29,361 (2,024) |
| National Basketball Association | Basketball | 30 | 1946 | 2004 | 1954 | 2008 | $10.9 | 18,324 (2,024) |
| National Hockey League | Ice hockey | 32 | 1917 | 2021 | 1978 | 2011 | $6.8 | 17,101 (2,023) |
| Major League Soccer | Soccer | 30 | 1993 | 2025 | 2014 | 2006 | $2.0 | 23,234 (2,024) |
| Canadian Football League | Canadian football | 9 | 1958 | 2014 | 2006 | 1995 | $0.2 | 22,393 (2,023) |
Season Schedules
This table shows when each league typically plays its games during the year.
- R means regular-season games.
- P means playoff games.
- F means the final championship games.
| League | # Games | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NFL | 17 | R P | F | - | - | - | - | - | - | R | R | R | R |
| MLB | 162 | - | - | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | P F | F | - |
| NBA | 82 | R | R | R | R P | P | P F | - | - | - | R | R | R |
| NHL | 82 | R | R | R | R P | P | P F | - | - | - | R | R | R |
| MLS | 34 | - | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R P | P | F |
| CFL | 18 | - | - | - | - | - | R | R | R | R | R | P F | - |
Money and TV Deals
These leagues make a lot of money, especially from TV deals.
| League | Revenues (bn) | TV revenue | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| NFL | $16.9 | $9.1bn | |
| MLB | $10.7 | $2.1bn | |
| NBA | $8.8 | $2.6bn | |
| NHL | $5.1 | $625m | |
| MLS | $2.0 | $250m | |
| CFL | $0.2 | $50m |
Games from the "Big Four" leagues are shown on major U.S. TV networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. They get high TV ratings and earn a lot of money from these contracts. The NFL has the biggest TV contracts, earning about $9 billion each year.
Fan Attendance
Major professional sports leagues usually have many more fans attending games than other sports leagues.
| League | Teams | Total attendance | Total games | Average attendance |
Games per team |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | 30 | 71,348,366 | 2,430 | 29,361 (2024) | 162 | |
| NHL | 32 | 22,436,532 | 1,312 | 17,101 (2023) | 82 | |
| NBA | 30 | 22,538,518 | 1,230 | 18,324 (2024) | 82 | |
| NFL | 32 | 18,911,116 | 272 | 69,526 (2023) | 17 | |
| MLS | 29 | 11,454,205 | 493 | 23,234 (2024) | 34 | |
| CFL | 9 | 1,813,837 | 81 | 22,393 (2023) | 18 |
Team Values
Teams in these major leagues are worth a lot of money. This is because the leagues make so much money.
| League | Median value | High value | Low value | Expansion fee record |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NFL | $2.76bn | $5.5bn | $1.9bn | $700m | |
| NBA | $1.56bn | $4.0bn | $1.2bn | $300m | |
| MLB | $1.54bn | $4.6bn | $1.0bn | $130m | |
| NHL | $895m | $2.12bn | $465m | $650m | |
| MLS | $557m | $900m | $390m | $500m | |
| CFL | $7m |
When a new team joins a league, it has to pay a large fee. For example, the Houston Texans paid $700 million to join the NFL in 2002. The newest MLS team, San Diego FC, paid $500 million in 2023.
Team Stability
| League | Last expansion (size) |
Last contraction |
Last relocation |
|---|---|---|---|
| NFL | 2002 (31→32) | 1952 | 2020 |
| MLB | 1998 (28→30) | 1903 | 2025 |
| NBA | 2004 (29→30) | 1954 | 2008 |
| NHL | 2021 (31→32) | 1978 | 2011 |
| MLS | 2025 (29→30) | 2014 | 2006 |
| CFL | 2014 (8→9) | 2006 | 1995 |
Teams in the "Big Four" leagues are very stable. No team from these leagues has completely stopped playing since the 1970s. Unlike leagues where teams can move up or down, these teams stay at the top level.
Sometimes, teams move to a new city, but this is not very common. The NFL has had the most team moves recently. The NHL is the most recent "Big Four" league to add new teams, with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, the Seattle Kraken in 2021, and the Utah Mammoth in 2024.
MLS has been adding new teams almost every year since 2005. It has grown from 10 teams in 2004 to 30 teams in 2025.
Team Locations
Each of the "Big Four" leagues has at least 30 teams. MLS also reached 30 teams in 2025. The CFL has nine teams.
Most major league teams are in large cities with many people. This helps them sell more tickets and get better TV deals. For example, the New York and Los Angeles areas each have multiple teams in these leagues.
The Green Bay Packers are a special case in the NFL. They are in the smallest city for a major league team (about 300,000 people). They survive because of their unique ownership and very loyal fans.
| League | Largest urban area without team |
Smallest urban area with team |
|---|---|---|
| NFL | San Diego / Orlando (3.1m each)‡ | Green Bay (0.3m) |
| MLB | Montreal (3.8m) | Milwaukee (1.3m) |
| NBA | Seattle (4.0m) | New Orleans (0.9m) |
| NHL | Houston (6.7m) | Winnipeg (0.8m) |
| MLS | Phoenix (4.6m) | Nashville (1.2m) |
| CFL | Quebec City (0.8m)‡ | Regina (0.2m) |
| ‡The NFL and CFL only have teams in the U.S. and Canada, respectively; this list does not count Canadian markets for the NFL nor U.S. markets for the CFL. For the full list, see here. |
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Teams in Canada
The NHL is the most popular professional sports league in Canada. It started there in 1917. The NHL has teams in many Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal.
The Canadian Football League also has teams in all these NHL cities, plus Hamilton and Regina.
MLB has one team in Canada, the Toronto Blue Jays, who won the World Series in 1992 and 1993. The NBA also has one team, the Toronto Raptors, who joined the league in 1995. MLS has teams in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal.
The NFL is the only major league without a team based in Canada. However, the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions play very close to the Canadian border.
Player Development
All major North American sports leagues use a "draft" system to assign new players to teams. Teams with worse records usually get to pick earlier in the draft.
- Most MLB players start in the minor league system.
- NBA players mostly come from college and high school basketball, or from overseas leagues.
- The NFL gets almost all its players from college football. It does not have a formal minor league system.
- NHL players often come from junior hockey leagues in Canada or from college hockey. They also have minor league affiliates in the American Hockey League.
- MLS teams get players from their own youth academies, college drafts, and international players. They also have a reserve league called MLS Next Pro.
- The CFL drafts Canadian players from university/college football and junior leagues. They also sign players who don't make it in the NFL.
Player Salaries
Players in these major leagues earn very high salaries.
| League | Average salary | Team salary cap |
|---|---|---|
| MLB | $4.36 mil | $210 mil* |
| NFL | $2.7 mil | $198.2 mil + $40 million per team in player benefits |
| NBA | $7.7 mil | $109.14 mil |
| NHL | $2.78 mil | $81.5 mil |
| MLS | $0.596 mil | $13.38 mil |
| CFL | $0.113 mil | $5.70 mil |
NBA players have the highest average salaries, but their teams have smaller rosters. The NFL has the highest total team payroll, but its rosters are much larger, so individual players might earn less on average than in other "Big Four" leagues.
MLB is unique because it does not have a salary cap, which means teams can spend as much as they want on player salaries. This can lead to big differences in how much teams spend.
MLS has lower average salaries than the "Big Four," but it introduced a "Designated Player Rule" in 2007. This allows teams to pay higher wages for star players, like David Beckham.
History and Growth of Major Leagues
Professional sports leagues grew a lot between the American Civil War and World War II. Most teams were in the northeastern U.S. because train travel was the main way to get around.
After World War II, as travel became easier, teams started moving to the West Coast and the fast-growing "Sunbelt" areas in the South. For example, the NFL's Los Angeles Rams moved from Cleveland in 1946. Baseball teams like the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants moved to California in 1958.
Playing Games Overseas
The "Big Four" leagues also play games in other countries to gain more fans and make more money.
- The NBA plays regular season games in Japan, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and France.
- The NFL has its "International Series," playing regular season games in London, Mexico, Germany, Spain, and Brazil.
- MLB plays regular season games in Mexico, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, and South Korea.
- The NHL plays regular season games in the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Finland, and Czechia.
Working Together
Even though these leagues compete, they sometimes work together. Some owners even own teams in different leagues. They also support each other in legal matters.
Many NBA and NHL teams share arenas. In the past, MLB and NFL teams often shared stadiums too. Today, new stadiums are often built next to each other, sharing parking and other facilities. MLS teams sometimes use NFL or CFL stadiums, and in some cases, share them permanently. For example, Seattle Sounders FC shares Lumen Field with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.
The NHL has also held outdoor games, like the Winter Classic, in NFL, CFL, and MLB stadiums.
Sometimes, teams in different sports even share the same nickname, like the New York Giants in both baseball and football in the past.
In 1997, the NFL even loaned $3 million to the CFL when the CFL was having financial problems.
Sports Equinox
A "sports equinox" happens when all four "Big Four" leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL) play games on the same day. This usually happens in October or early November. As of 2024, this has happened 31 times. MLS has also started scheduling playoff games on these days.
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