the.com/leagues
the polite fiction that lets losers keep playing next week.
means an organized system of teams competing over a season under shared rules, so chaos gets a schedule and a trophy.
from from old french ligue, a binding alliance between parties, borrowed into english for sports in the 1800s when clubs realized fixtures needed structure or everyone just played manchester united.
oldest leagueenglish football league started 1888, still running
promotion relegationinvented to punish mediocrity, not reward it
fantasy leaguespredate fantasy football by decades, baseball did it first
minor leaguesexist purely to make major leagues feel major
for instance
premier league — 20 clubs, england, since 1992, richest tv deal in football
nba — 30 teams, north america, founded 1946 as the baa
la liga — spain, home to real madrid and barcelona's fixture theater
ipl — india, cricket, launched 2008, now worth billions in eight weeks