List of professional sports
Encyclopedia
This is a list of professional sports – that is, sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

s (and, more broadly, non-sport game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...

s subject to organized competition) that support one or more systems of professional sports
Professional sports
Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations...

 players, sportspeople by occupation. Such sports also have a vibrant community of amateur players
Amateur sports
Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. Sporting amateurism was a zealously guarded ideal in the 19th century, especially among the upper classes, but faced steady erosion throughout the 20th century with the continuing growth of pro sports...

, from whom the best rise to become professionals.

American and Canadian football

Rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

 in Canada had its origins in the early 1860s, and over time, a unique code of football known as 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...

 developed. Both the Canadian Football League
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....

 (CFL), the sport's top professional league, and Football Canada
Football Canada
Football Canada is the governing body for amateur Canadian football. It is Canada's representative member of the International Federation of American Football , the world's governing body for American football.-History:...

, the governing body for amateur play, trace their roots to 1882 and the founding of the Canadian Rugby Football Union (later reorganized as the Canadian Rugby Union). In 1909, the Grey Cup
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup is both the name of the championship of the Canadian Football League and the name of the trophy awarded to the victorious team. It is Canada's largest annual sports and television event, regularly drawing a Canadian viewing audience of about 3 to 4 million individuals...

 was donated by the then Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...

 Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey
Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey
Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey was a British nobleman and politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the ninth since Canadian Confederation....

, to recognize the top amateur rugby football team in Canada. From the 1930s to the 1950s, the two senior leagues of the CRU (the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union
Canadian Football League East Division
The East Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the East Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.- Pre-1907 :...

 and the Western Interprovincial Football Union
Canadian Football League West Division
The West Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the West Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.-Pre-1936:...

) gradually evolved from amateur to professional leagues, and found they had less and less in common with the amateur leagues, and consequently in 1956 formed a new umbrella organization, the Canadian Football Council. In 1958, the CFC left the CRU altogether and was renamed the Canadian Football League. By this time, teams from the amateur Ontario Rugby Football Union
Ontario Rugby Football Union
The Ontario Rugby Football Union or ORFU was an early amateur Canadian football league with teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ORFU was founded in 1883 and in 1903 became the first major competition to adopt the Burnside Rules, from which the modern Canadian football code would...

 had stopped challenging for the Grey Cup, and ever since, it has been exclusively awarded to CFL teams. Since 1965, university teams
CIS football
Twenty-six universities across Canada compete in football under the auspices of Canadian Interuniversity Sport . The teams are divided into four conferences, drawing from the four regional associations of the CIS: Canada West Universities Athletic Association, Ontario University Athletics, Quebec...

 have competed for the Vanier Cup
Vanier Cup
The Vanier Cup is the name of the championship of Canadian Interuniversity Sport football and the name of the trophy awarded to the victorious team. It is currently played between the winners of the Uteck Bowl and the Mitchell Bowl...

.

Australian rules football

Unlike other sports, Australian Rules football has not resisted becoming a professional sport.

Although the sport began as amateur competition, the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 is an elite professional league and has been for nearly 80 years since its initial formation as the Victorian Football Association and then the Victorian Football League in 1897. The league changed its name to the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 (AFL) in 1990 amid the increasing professionalism and national expansion of the game.

Baseball

Basketball

Invented in the 1890s in Springfield
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...

, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the first professional basketball leagues emerged in the 1920s in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Prominent among these were the American Basketball League
American Basketball League (1925-1955)
The American Basketball League was an early professional basketball league. During six seasons from 1925-26 to 1930-31, the ABL was the first attempt to create a major professional basketball league in the United States...

, which formed in 1925, and the National Basketball League
National Basketball League (United States)
Founded in 1937, the National Basketball League, often abbreviated to NBL, was a professional men's basketball league in the United States. The league would later merge with the Basketball Association of America  to form the National Basketball Association  in 1949.- League history :The...

, which was launched in 1937 by General Electric, Firestone and Goodyear as a way to improve their national profile. In 1946 the Basketball Association of America
Basketball Association of America
The Basketball Association of America was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. The league merged with the National Basketball League in 1949, forming the National Basketball Association ...

 was founded by the owners of major sports arenas, particularly the Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...

. The BAA later merged with the NBL in 1949 to become the National Basketball Association
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...

, the preeminent league in the world with 29 teams in the United States and one in Canada. The American Basketball Association
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...

, founded in 1967, subsequently joined the NBA in the 1976 ABA-NBA merger
ABA-NBA merger
The ABA–NBA merger was the merger of the American Basketball Association with the National Basketball Association, which after multiple attempts over several years finally occurred in 1976.- Origins of ABA-NBA competition :...

.

The second-oldest professional basketball league in the world is the Philippine Basketball Association
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...

, from the archipelago of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. The PBA was long considered to be the best league in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, but the Chinese Basketball Association
Chinese Basketball Association
The Chinese Basketball Association , often abbreviated to the CBA, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in China.The league is commonly known as the CBA, and this acronym is often used even in Chinese...

 has grown tremendously in recent years. The league was born on April 9, 1975 at the Araneta Coliseum
Araneta Coliseum
The Smart Araneta Coliseum, known as The Big Dome is an indoor multi-purpose sports arena located in the Cubao area of Quezon City, Philippines...

, Cubao, Quezon City
Quezon City
Quezon City is the former capital and the most populous city in the Philippines. Located on the island of Luzon, Quezon City is one of the cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila, the National Capital Region. The city was named after Manuel L...

, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

.

Outside of the NBA, the top professional leagues in the world are found in Europe
FIBA Europe
FIBA Europe is a zone within the International Basketball Federation which includes all 49 national European basketball federations.-Division A:-Division B: -Division C:...

. According to the official league rankings
ULEB League Rankings
The ULEB League Rankings are the rankings for each of the different European regional and domestic basketball leagues of the countries that participate in Europe's international continental professional basketball competitions that are held under the ULEB zone umbrella, such as the Euroleague and...

 produced by ULEB
ULEB
ULEB was founded in 1991, with the aim to help in the cooperation and development of European professional club basketball leagues...

, the body that conducts the continent-wide Euroleague, the top five leagues on the continent (from 1 to 5) are those of Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia, and France
Ligue Nationale de Basketball
The Ligue National de Basket is the top men's French professional basketball league. There are two divisions: French Pro A League and French Pro B League .-Pro A:...

.

European basketball is also characterized by its long established and well-developed transnational club competitions, most notably the Euroleague, which features top clubs from as many as 18 different domestic leagues. Two other continental club competitions, the Eurocup and EuroChallenge
EuroChallenge
The EuroChallenge is the 3rd tier level transnational men's professional club basketball competition in Europe. It is organized and run by FIBA Europe...

, are also conducted annually. Europe also has transnational regional leagues, such as the Adriatic League (former Yugoslavia, also with one Israeli team) and Baltic Basketball League
Baltic Basketball League
Baltic Basketball League is a Baltic states basketball league founded in 2004.Currently, the league is divided into two: the Elite division and the Challenge Cup division. The 10 strongest Baltic basketball clubs participate in the Elite division. The rest of the teams compete in the Challenge Cup...

 (originally the Baltics, now also Sweden).

Bowling

Notable figures in professional bowling would include Walter Ray Williams, Jr., Chris Barnes and Rafael "Paeng" Nepomuceno.

Cricket

Cricket at the highest level has developed into a fully professional international sport from which leading players can earn a large income. However professionalism has a long history in English cricket. The first professionals had appeared by the first half of the eighteenth century, when heavy gambling on the game encouraged wealthy patrons to draft the best players into their teams. They would often offer these players full-time employment as gardeners or gamekeepers on their estates. In the second half of the century, the famous Hambledon Club paid its players match fees.

In the middle of the nineteenth century William Clarke's All-England Eleven was a highly successful all-professional venture which did much to popularise the game. The earliest overseas tours were also all-professional affairs.

In the early 21st century cricket is as lucrative as some other sports, and domestic cricketers typically earn several times the average salary in their country. Regular members of the English cricket team earn several hundred thousand pounds
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

 a year. However, the highest paid cricketers in the world are the star members of the Australian cricket team or the Indian cricket team who make most of their income from endorsement contracts.

Cue sports

  • Three-cushion billiards
    Three-cushion billiards
    Three-cushion billiards is a form of carom billiards, and one of the most popular and challenging cue sports in the world.The object of the game is to the off both and contact the at least 3...

  • English billiards
    English billiards
    English billiards, called simply billiards in many former British colonies and in Great Britain where it originated, is a hybrid form of carom and pocket billiards played on a billiard table. Billiards is less well known as "the English game", "the all-in game" and "the common game".The game is for...

  • Pool
  • Snooker
    Snooker
    Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...


Darts

Professional darts players perform in the Professional Darts Corporation
Professional Darts Corporation
The Professional Darts Corporation is a professional darts organization, established in the United Kingdom during 1992, when a group of leading professional players split from the British Darts Organisation to form what was initially called the World Darts Council...

 or the World Darts Federation
World Darts Federation
The World Darts Federation Is a sport governing body and tournament organiser for the game of darts. It was formed in 1976, by representatives of fifteen nations. Membership is open to the official National organizing body for Darts in all nations...

.

Ice hockey

It is played with two teams, while 5 skaters and 1 goalie are allowed on the ice at a time. In NHL rules, the periods are 20 minutes long. There are three periods.

The 64-member governing body is the International Ice Hockey Federation, (IIHF). Ice hockey has been played at the Winter Olympics since 1924, and was in the 1920 Summer Olympics. North America's National Hockey League
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...

 is the strongest professional ice hockey league, drawing top ice hockey players from around the globe. The NHL rules are slightly different from those used in Olympic hockey.

Ice hockey sticks are long L-shaped sticks made of wood, graphite, or composites with a blade at the bottom that can lie flat on the playing surface when the stick is held upright and can curve either way as to help a left- or right-handed player gain an advantage.

There are early representations and reports of hockey-type games being played on ice in the Netherlands, and reports from Canada from the beginning of the nineteenth century, but the modern game was initially organized by students at McGill University, Montreal in 1875 and, by two years later, codified the first set of ice hockey rules and organized the first teams.

Rugby league

Rugby league came into existence due to the very issue of professionalism. Rugby football split into 'union' and 'league' over the issue of payment to player. Rugby league favoured payments and has thus been a professional sport since its beginnings in 1895, when 22 clubs based in northern England split from the more amateur-minded Rugby Football Union
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...

. The officially amateur RFU had previously brought charges of professionalism against some clubs for their use of "broken time" payments to compensate players for missing work due to matches or injuries received whilst playing. On August 29, 1895 in a meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield
George Hotel, Huddersfield
The George Hotel, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, situated in the centre of the city, is a Grade II listed building famous as the birthplace of rugby league football....

, the clubs decided to break away and form the Northern Rugby Union, which later would become the Rugby Football League
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...

. The rules of rugby league were gradually changed so that now it and rugby union are distinctly different games, however rugby union has since turned professional as well. On 17 December 1967 the first professional Sunday matches of rugby league were played.

Rugby union

Rugby union continued with its amateur ideals past the schism between union and league and throughout much of the 20th century. This position changed in 1995. The threat of big payments from professional rugby league clubs in countries where rugby league had a significant following was becoming too great. A committee conclusion decided that the only way to end this threat, the hypocrisy of Shamateurism and keep control of rugby union was to make the sport professional. On August 26, 1995 the International Rugby Board declared rugby union an "open" game and thus removed all restrictions on payments or benefits to those connected with the game.

Tennis

Rodeo/Bull Riding

The PBR is different than the classic rodeo as it consists of only bull riding. It was founded in 1992 because a group of bull riders decided that their sport should be separated from the classic rodeo and could, as it was easily the most popular event. Riders and bulls are judged on a 50 point scale. Riders are only given a score if they stay on for the mandatory 8 seconds, while bull scores are given regardless of what the rider does.

See also

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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