Season (sports)
Encyclopedia
In an organized sports league
, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball
, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May (although in some countries, especially those in Scandinavia, the season starts in the spring and finishes in the autumn due to the weather conditions encountered during the winter). A year can often be broken up into several distinct sections (sometimes themselves called seasons). These are:
s or friendly matches prior to the start of their regular seasons ("pre-season training" and "pre-season" games). The game results do not count in the season standings of the teams, so they serve conveniently to test player candidates and to practice teamwork under game conditions. They may be used to promote the team effectively both at home and elsewhere. For some teams a pre-season overseas tour may be profitable, even lucrative. For some leagues, overseas games may promote their sport or their league to new audiences.
In some sports there may be a pre-season curtain-raiser or "supercup
" competition—for example, in England
, the previous season's winners of the FA Cup
and Premier League play one another for the Community Shield
before the start of the regular season. Part of the profits from this game are divided up amongst all teams participating in both competitions the year before, to donate to charities and good causes in their local area while the rest is given to national charities and good causes by The FA
itself.
In addition to the regular season league competition, many sports also operate an elimination cup
tournament. A cup tournament can either take the form of a league cup
, where members of a league competition are seeded using their standings from the previous year, or an association cup which is open to teams playing the sport at all levels providing they are affiliated to the National body for that sport. These competitions usually run alongside the regular league competitions, though often there is a small overlap where the cup either begins slightly before or ends slightly after the regular season. It is not uncommon for the cup final to be held the week after the last games of the league.
In such a set-up it is usual for the top division teams to be given a bye into the last few rounds while the smaller teams are randomly drawn against each other in the early rounds. This set-up allows for the possibility of relative minnows and small-town teams to become giant-killers and eliminate one of the big Nationally recognised clubs from the competition.
In North American, and some Australian sports, the cup tournament is held immediately after rather than during the regular season and using the seedings from it. These cup competitions are known as play-offs and in all four major US sports, winning the cup final (Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup) is vastly more important than winning the league.
This may be in part due to the unusual way in which North American sports leagues are scheduled. Rather than every team playing all others twice, teams may play more games against local rivals than teams in other parts of the country. For example, the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers will play the Los Angeles Clippers four times in a regular season, while both will only play the Boston Celtics, who are in the opposite Eastern Conference, twice. In the scheduling system used in the NFL, it is possible for two teams to only meet every three years.
, generally a pre-determined number with better overall records (more wins, fewer losses) during the regular season. There are many variations used to determine the champion, the league's top prize.
time off. Also, various events such as drafts, transfers
and important off-season free agent
signings occur. Generally, most athletes stay in shape during the off-season in preparation for the next season. Certain new rules in the league may be made during this time, and will become enforced during the next regular season.
As most countries which have a league in a particular sport will operate their regular season at roughly the same time as the others, international tournaments may be arranged during the off season.
For example, most European football league club competitions run from July or August to May, subsequently major international competitions such as the FIFA World Cup
and UEFA European Football Championship
are organised to occur in June and July.
Sports league
League is a term commonly used to describe a group of sports teams or individual athletes that compete against each other in a specific sport. At its simplest, it may be a local group of amateur athletes who form teams among themselves and compete on weekends; at its most complex, it can be an...
, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May (although in some countries, especially those in Scandinavia, the season starts in the spring and finishes in the autumn due to the weather conditions encountered during the winter). A year can often be broken up into several distinct sections (sometimes themselves called seasons). These are:
Preseason
Most team sports have a period of training to recover fitness levels, followed by exhibition gameExhibition game
An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition...
s or friendly matches prior to the start of their regular seasons ("pre-season training" and "pre-season" games). The game results do not count in the season standings of the teams, so they serve conveniently to test player candidates and to practice teamwork under game conditions. They may be used to promote the team effectively both at home and elsewhere. For some teams a pre-season overseas tour may be profitable, even lucrative. For some leagues, overseas games may promote their sport or their league to new audiences.
In some sports there may be a pre-season curtain-raiser or "supercup
Super Cup
A Super Cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in football, which often forms the curtain-raiser to a season. Most Super Cups are one-off fixtures between the League Champions and major Cup Winners of the previous season. Sometimes these are two-legged affairs, with a match played at...
" competition—for example, in England
Football in England
Association football is a national sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game...
, the previous season's winners of the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
and Premier League play one another for the Community Shield
FA Community Shield
The Football Association Community Shield is English football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium. If the Premier League champions also won the FA Cup then the league runners-up provide the opposition...
before the start of the regular season. Part of the profits from this game are divided up amongst all teams participating in both competitions the year before, to donate to charities and good causes in their local area while the rest is given to national charities and good causes by The FA
The Football Association
The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
itself.
Regular season
In almost every sport the term "regular season" would refer to the sport's league competition. In most countries the league is played in a double round-robin format, where every team plays every other team twice, once at their home venue, and once away at the oppositions venue as visitors. The results over all games are accumulated and when every team has completed its full schedule of games, a winner is declared.In addition to the regular season league competition, many sports also operate an elimination cup
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
tournament. A cup tournament can either take the form of a league cup
League Cup
In association football, a League Cup or Secondary Cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament to be called "League Cup" was held in Scotland in 1946/47 and was entitled the Scottish...
, where members of a league competition are seeded using their standings from the previous year, or an association cup which is open to teams playing the sport at all levels providing they are affiliated to the National body for that sport. These competitions usually run alongside the regular league competitions, though often there is a small overlap where the cup either begins slightly before or ends slightly after the regular season. It is not uncommon for the cup final to be held the week after the last games of the league.
In such a set-up it is usual for the top division teams to be given a bye into the last few rounds while the smaller teams are randomly drawn against each other in the early rounds. This set-up allows for the possibility of relative minnows and small-town teams to become giant-killers and eliminate one of the big Nationally recognised clubs from the competition.
In North American, and some Australian sports, the cup tournament is held immediately after rather than during the regular season and using the seedings from it. These cup competitions are known as play-offs and in all four major US sports, winning the cup final (Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup) is vastly more important than winning the league.
This may be in part due to the unusual way in which North American sports leagues are scheduled. Rather than every team playing all others twice, teams may play more games against local rivals than teams in other parts of the country. For example, the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers will play the Los Angeles Clippers four times in a regular season, while both will only play the Boston Celtics, who are in the opposite Eastern Conference, twice. In the scheduling system used in the NFL, it is possible for two teams to only meet every three years.
Postseason
Many sports leagues have playoffs that occur after the regular season is complete. A subset of the teams enter into a playoff tournamentTournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
, generally a pre-determined number with better overall records (more wins, fewer losses) during the regular season. There are many variations used to determine the champion, the league's top prize.
Off-season
The off-season, vacation time, or close season is the time of year when there is no official competition. Although upper management continues to work, the athletes will take much vacationAnnual leave
Annual leave is paid time off work granted by employers to employees to be used for whatever the employee wishes. Depending on the employer's policies, differing number of days may be offered, and the employee may be required to give a certain amount of advance notice, may have to coordinate with...
time off. Also, various events such as drafts, transfers
Transfer (football)
In professional association football, a transfer is the action taken whenever a player under contract moves between professional clubs. It refers to the transferring of a player's registration from one professional association football club to another. In general, the players can only be...
and important off-season free agent
Free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....
signings occur. Generally, most athletes stay in shape during the off-season in preparation for the next season. Certain new rules in the league may be made during this time, and will become enforced during the next regular season.
As most countries which have a league in a particular sport will operate their regular season at roughly the same time as the others, international tournaments may be arranged during the off season.
For example, most European football league club competitions run from July or August to May, subsequently major international competitions such as the FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
and UEFA European Football Championship
UEFA European Football Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...
are organised to occur in June and July.
Seasons by league
The table represents typical seasons for some leagues by month. Blank or white denotes off-season and pre-season months and solid colors mark the rest of the year. Leagues in the same sport use the same color.- "Q" denotes pre-competition qualifiers
- "S" denotes the start of the regular-season.
- "P" denotes playoff(s)/postseason/knockout stages.
- "F" denotes Final(s).
| League | Sport | Countries/Regions | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-League A-League The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company... |
Association football |   |
P | F | S | |||||||||
| A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix was a 'single make' open-wheel auto racing series. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most formula racing series. As such, it was often promoted as the "World Cup of Motorsport"... |
Motor racing | Worldwide | S | |||||||||||
| AFC Champions League AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League is the premier Asian club football competition hosted annually by Asian Football Confederation . The tournament is contested among the top thirty-two clubs from the top 10 Asian leagues, two of which must qualify through the playoffs... |
Association football | Asia | Q | S | P | P | F | |||||||
| AFL Australian Football League The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football... |
Australian rules football Australian rules football Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either... |
|
S | P F | ||||||||||
| ATP & WTA Tours | Tennis Tennis Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all... |
Worldwide | F | S | ||||||||||
| ANZ Championship ANZ Championship The ANZ Championship is the pre-eminent netball league in the world. The competition is held annually between April and July, comprising 69 matches played over 17 weeks. It is contested by ten teams, five from Australia and five from New Zealand... |
Netball Netball Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ... |
|
S | P | F | |||||||||
| CAF Champions League CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League is an annual international club football competition run by the Confederation of African Football . The top club sides from Africa's football leagues are invited to participate in this competition, which is the premier club football competition on the continent and the... |
Association football | Africa | Q | Q | P | F | ||||||||
| Aviva Premiership | Rugby union Rugby union Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand... |
 |
P F | S | ||||||||||
| Bundesliga Fußball-Bundesliga The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga... |
Association football |  |
S | |||||||||||
| Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro de Clubes da Série A , popularly known as the Brasileirão , is a professional football league at the top of the Brazilian football league system held annually since 1959. Contested by twenty clubs, it operates a system of promotion and relegation with the Série B... |
Association football |  |
S | |||||||||||
| CFL Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football.... |
Canadian football Canadian football Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area... |
 |
S | P F | ||||||||||
| CONCACAF Champions League CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League is the annual international club football championship for teams from the CONCACAF region .... |
Association football | North America | P | P | F | Q | S | |||||||
| Copa Libertadores | Association football | South America | S | P | P | F | ||||||||
| Copa Sudamericana Copa Sudamericana The Copa Bridgestone Sudamericana de Clubes , known simply as the Copa Sudamericana , is an annual international club football competition organized by the CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second most prestigious club competition in South American football. CONCACAF clubs were invited between 2004... |
Association football | South America | S | P | P | F | ||||||||
| County Championship County Championship The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales... |
Cricket Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the... |
 |
S | |||||||||||
| European Tour PGA European Tour The PGA European Tour is an organization which operates the three leading men's professional golf tours in Europe: the elite European Tour, the European Seniors Tour and the developmental Challenge Tour. Its headquarters are at Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey, England... The current scheduling, in which the season starts in mid-December of the previous calendar year, took effect in 2010 2010 European Tour The 2010 European Tour is the second edition of the Race to Dubai and the 39th season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972.... . The 2010 season ended in late November, and the 2011 season 2011 European Tour The 2011 European Tour will be the third edition of the Race to Dubai and the 40th season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972.-Schedule:... will end in early December. |
Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes.... |
EuropeThe bulk of the tour's sole-sanctioned events are in Europe, with some in the Persian Gulf Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers... countries. It co-sanctions many other events with tours in Asia, Africa, and Australia. Along with the PGA Tour, the European Tour co-sanctions the major championships Men's major golf championships The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf... and the World Golf Championships World Golf Championships The World Golf Championships are a group of four annual events for male professional golfers created by the International Federation of PGA Tours, with a fifth to be added in 2012... ; one of the majors is held in the UK, one of the WGC events is held in China, and the rest of these events are in the US. A new WGC event in South Africa will be launched in 2012. |
S | |||||||||||
| Formula One Formula One Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which... |
Motor racing | Worldwide | S | |||||||||||
| Heineken Cup Heineken Cup The Heineken Cup is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the six International Rugby Board countries in Europe whose national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland,... |
Rugby union Rugby union Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand... |
Europe | P | F | S | |||||||||
| Indian Premier League Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner... |
Cricket Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the... |
 The 2009 season2009 Indian Premier League The 2009 Indian Premier League season, abbreviated as IPL 2 or the 2009 IPL, was the second season of the Indian Premier League, established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2007. The tournament was hosted by South Africa and was played between 18 April and 24 May 2009... was played in South Africa because of security issues related to the Indian general elections Indian general election, 2009 India held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009. With an electorate of 714 million , it was the largest democratic election in the world to date.By constitutional requirement, elections to the Lok Sabha must be... scheduled for the same time as the league. |
S | P | F | |||||||||
| IndyCar Series IndyCar Series The IZOD IndyCar Series is the premier level of American open wheel racing. The current championship, founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, began in 1996 as a competitor to CART known as the Indy Racing League . Citing CART's increasing reliance on expensive machinery and... |
Motor racing |  Two races are held in Canada and one in Brazil. Another race in Japan was discontinued following the 2011 season. |
S | |||||||||||
| KHL Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League is an international professional ice hockey league in Eurasia founded in 2008. As of 2009, it is ranked as the strongest hockey league in Europe.... |
Ice hockey Ice hockey Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take... |
     As of the current 2011–12 season, there are 19 teams in Russia and one each in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Slovakia. Another Russian teamLokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv , also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Yaroslavl. The name of the team is derived from its owner, Russian Railways, the national railroad operator.... temporarily withdrew from the league after a plane crash Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash The Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash occurred at 16:05 MT on Wednesday, 7 September 2011, when a Yak-Service Yakovlev Yak-42, carrying the players and coaching staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team, crashed near the Russian city of Yaroslavl... wiped out the team, but will return for 2012–13. |
P | P F | S | |||||||||
| La Liga La Liga The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system... |
Association football |  |
S | |||||||||||
| Ligue 1 Ligue 1 Ligue 1 , is the French professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division of the French football league system. Ligue 1 is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the other being Ligue 2.... |
Association football |  |
S | |||||||||||
| LPGA Tour LPGA The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from... |
Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes.... |
Most LPGA events are held in the US, but it also sole-sanctions official money events in Thailand, Singapore, Mexico, China, Canada, Malaysia, and Taiwan, as well as an unofficial event in Brazil. It co-sanctions two European tournaments, including one Women's British Open The Women's British Open is a leading event in women's professional golf and the only tournament which is classified as a major championship by both the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour. Since 2007, it has been called the Ricoh Women's British Open, for sponsorship reasons... of its majors Women's major golf championships Women's golf has a set of major championships which parallels that in men's golf, but the women's system is younger and has been less stable than the men's. Many professional stroke play events for women are played over three rounds , but the majors are played over four rounds , which is the... , with the Ladies European Tour Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1979. It is based in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal structure which enables it to focus on maximising returns to its members through prize money,... , and also co-sanctions events with the Korean LPGA LPGA of Korea Tour The LPGA of Korea Tour is a South Korean professional golf tour for women. LPGA stands for Ladies Professional Golf Association; it is the independent LPGA of Korea which runs this tour, not the American LPGA... and Japan LPGA LPGA of Japan Tour The Japan LPGA Tour is a professional golf tour for women organised by the Ladies Professional Golfers' Association of Japan. It is the second richest women's golf tour in the world. The U.S.-based LPGA Tour is the most important women's tour, but the prize money gap has closed markedly since the... in those countries. Starting in 2012, the LPGA will co-sanction an event with the ALPG Tour ALPG Tour The ALPG Tour is a professional golf tour for women which is based in Australia. ALPG stands for "Australian Ladies Professional Golf".The ALPG was founded as the Ladies Professional Golf Association of Australia in 1972, and switched to its current name in 1991. The first events featured twelve... in Australia. |
S | |||||||||||
| MLB Major League Baseball Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League... |
Baseball Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond... |
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S | P F | ||||||||||
| MLL Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse, or MLL, is a professional men's field lacrosse league that is made up of five teams in the United States and one team in Canada.- History :... |
Lacrosse Field lacrosse Field lacrosse, sometimes referred to as the "fastest sport on two feet," is a full contact outdoor men's sport played with ten players on each team. The sport originated among Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were initially codified by Canadian William George Beers in 1867.... |
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S | F | ||||||||||
| MLS Major League Soccer Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada... |
Association football | |
S | P | F | |||||||||
| Grand Prix motorcycle racing Grand Prix motorcycle racing Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix is the premier championship of motorcycle road racing currently divided into three distinct classes: 125cc, Moto2 and MotoGP. The 125cc class uses a two-stroke engine while Moto2 and MotoGP use four-stroke engines. In 2010 the 250cc two-stroke was replaced... |
Motor racing | Worldwide | S | |||||||||||
| NASCAR NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr... |
Motor racing |  The top-level Sprint Cup Series and third-level Camping World Truck Series race only in the US. The second-level Nationwide Series has one race in Canada, and previously had a race in Mexico. NASCAR also operates many regional developmental series in the US and national series in Canada and Mexico. |
S | PNASCAR uses a playoff-style system only in the Sprint Cup Series. The bulk of the Cup Series season is used to determine the 12 drivers who qualify to contend for the season title in a 10-race finale known as the Chase for the Sprint Cup. In all other NASCAR series, the season is contested as a unified whole, with all races counting equally toward determining the series champion. | P | P F | ||||||||
| NBA National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada... |
Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules... |
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P | P | P F | S | ||||||||
| NBL Australasia National Basketball League (Australasia) The National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia.... |
Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules... |
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P | P | F | S | ||||||||
| NFL National Football League The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing... |
American football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by... |
The Buffalo Bills Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League... play one annual regular-season home game Bills Toronto Series The Bills Toronto Series is a five-year deal consisting of a series of National Football League games featuring the Buffalo Bills played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The series began in the 2008 NFL season and will end during the 2012 NFL season... in Toronto National Football League in Toronto The National Football League has long been rumoured to be considering placing one of its franchises in Canada's largest city, Toronto, Ontario.... , and the NFL currently takes one other regular-season game outside the US NFL International Series Beginning with the 2005 season, the National Football League has hosted regular season American football games held outside the United States in a series known as the International Series.-Background:... (London since 2007). |
P | F | S | |||||||||
| UFLThe UFL season originally started in October and ended in late November. As of the 2011 season, it begins in mid-August and ends in late October. | American football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by... |
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S | PF | ||||||||||
| NHL National Hockey League The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States... |
Ice hockey Ice hockey Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take... |
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| NLL National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League is a men's professional indoor lacrosse league in North America. It currently has nine teams; three in Canada and six in the United States. Unlike other lacrosse leagues which play in the summer, the NLL plays its games in the winter and spring. Each year, the playoff... |
Lacrosse Box lacrosse Box lacrosse, also known as indoor lacrosse and sometimes shortened to boxla, LAX or simply box, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in Canada, where it is the most popular version of the game played in contrast to the traditional field lacrosse game... |
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| NRL National Rugby League The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand... |
Rugby league Rugby league Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players... |
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| NCAA basketball College basketball College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III.... |
Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules... |
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| NCAA football College football College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities... |
American football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by... |
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F | S | PThe top-level Division I FBS does not use a playoff, instead using a series of bowl game Bowl game In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating... s beginning in December and culminating in the Bowl Championship Series Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of... in early January. All other NCAA divisions determine their champions on the field in a playoff tournament that starts in November. The playoffs in Divisions II NCAA Division II national football championship The NCAA Division II National Football Championship began in 1973. Prior to 1973, four regional bowl games were played in order to provide postseason action for what was then called the NCAA College Division and a poll determined the final champion.... and III NCAA Division III national football championship The NCAA Division III National Football Championship began in 1973. Before 1973, most of the schools now in Division III competed in the NCAA's former "College Division".... end in December. Since the 2010 season, the Division I FCS playoffs end in January. |
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| NPB | Baseball Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond... |
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| PGA Tour PGA Tour The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America... |
Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes.... |
Almost all of the PGA Tour's sole-sanctioned events are in the US proper, but the tour also has events in Mexico, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Along with the European Tour, the PGA Tour co-sanctions the major championships Men's major golf championships The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf... and the World Golf Championships World Golf Championships The World Golf Championships are a group of four annual events for male professional golfers created by the International Federation of PGA Tours, with a fifth to be added in 2012... ; one of the majors is held in the UK, one of the WGC events is held in China, and the rest of these events are in the US. A new WGC event in South Africa will be launched in 2012. |
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| PBA Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association , is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 10 company-branded franchised teams. It is the first and oldest professional basketball league in Asia and the second oldest in the world after the NBA... |
Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules... |
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| Premier League | Association football | A team from Wales is competing in the current 2011–12 season 2011–12 Premier League The 2011–12 Premier League is the twentieth season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The 2011–12 fixtures were announced on 17 June 2011 at 9:00 BST. The season began on 13 August 2011 and is due to end on 13 May 2012... . |
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| Primera División (Argentina) | Association football |  Like many association football leagues in Latin America, Argentina divides its season into two phasesApertura and Clausura The Apertura and Clausura tournaments are a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional European football season from August to May is divided in two sections per season, each with its own champion. Apertura and Clausura are the Spanish words for... with separate champions in each phase. Champions are determined at the end of league play in each phase. |
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| Primera División (Mexico) Primera División de México The Primera División Profesional , known simply as the Primera División, is the top level of the Mexican football league system and is administered by the Mexican Football Federation. It was established in 1943 and as of 2011 has 18 clubs. Up to June 2011, it was divided into three groups competing... |
Association football | Like many association football leagues in Latin America, Mexico divides its season into two phases Apertura and Clausura The Apertura and Clausura tournaments are a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional European football season from August to May is divided in two sections per season, each with its own champion. Apertura and Clausura are the Spanish words for... with separate champions in each phase. Unlike most leagues in that sport, the Mexican Primera uses a knockout playoff, involving the top eight teams after league play, to determine its champions. |
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| RaboDirect Pro12 Celtic League (rugby union) The Celtic League is an annual rugby union competition involving professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.... |
Rugby union Rugby union Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand... |
  Italy joined beginning in the 2010–11 season. |
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| Serie A Serie A Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new... |
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| Sheffield Shield | Cricket Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the... |
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| Super League Super League Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from... |
Rugby league Rugby league Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players... |
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| Super Rugby | Rugby union Rugby union Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand... |
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S | PThe playoffs, or "finals" as they are officially called, begin in late June in Rugby World Cup Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987.... years. |
P FDuring World Cup years, the final match is held in July; in other years, the finals will begin in July. | P FIn non-World Cup years, the final match will be held in August. | ||||||||
| Top 14 | Rugby union Rugby union Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand... |
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| Turkish Airlines Euroleague | Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules... |
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| UEFA Champions League UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It... |
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| UEFA Europa League | Association football | Europe | P | P | P | F | Q | Q | S | |||||
| V8 Supercars | Motor racing | Currently, one race is held in New Zealand and one in the United Arab Emirates. In 2013, a race in the USA will be added, and a race may also be added in the Philippines. Longer-term plans call for additional races in Hong Kong, India, Singapore, South Africa, and South Korea. |
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| WNBA Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association... |
Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules... |
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| WRC World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship is a rallying series organised by the FIA, culminating with a champion driver and manufacturer. The driver's world championship and manufacturer's world championship are separate championships, but based on the same point system. The series currently consists of 13... |
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Summary
| Sport | Duration |
|---|---|
| American football | August to December, playoffs from January to early February. College bowl games from December to January. Indoor football, past professional leagues such as the USFL United States Football League The United States Football League was an American football league which was in active operation from 1983 to 1987. It played a spring/summer schedule in its first three seasons and a traditional autumn/winter schedule was set to commence before league operations ceased.The USFL was conceived in... and XFL XFL The XFL was a professional American football league that played for one season in 2001. The league was founded by Vince McMahon, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of WWE... , and some amateur leagues play in the February to August season. |
| Association football | Usually August to May in the Northern Hemisphere, and February to November in the Southern Hemisphere. Exceptions are generally for one of two reasons:
See Domestic association football season Domestic association football season The domestic association football season in countries that association football is played around the world varies in length and time of year contested... for details. |
| Australian rules football | March to October |
| Baseball | April to early October, with postseason extending up to early November. |
| Basketball | In most countries, late October to mid-April, with playoffs extending up to mid-June. The three major exceptions to this rule are:
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| Canadian football | July to November |
| Cricket | Year-round. Domestic seasons typically held in the driest period of the year—summer in temperate climates, dry season in tropical climates. |
| Golf | Year-round |
| Ice hockey | Early October to mid-April, with playoffs extending up to early June. |
| Motor racing | Year-round, but generally concentrated from March to October. |
| Rugby league | Late February to October in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. |
| Rugby union | September to late May, sometimes the first weekend in June, in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, Super Rugby (beginning in 2011) starts in February and ends in early July in World Cup Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987.... years and mid-August in other years. Domestic competitions in New Zealand and South Africa Currie Cup The Currie Cup tournament is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring , featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces... will then overlap slightly with the Super season, starting in July and ending in October or November. |
| Tennis | Year-round |