At its simplest, it may be a local group of amateur athletes who form teams among themselves and compete periodically, at its most complex, it can be an international professional league making large amounts of money and involving dozens of teams and thousands of players.[vague][relevant?]
[1] In many cases, organizations that function as leagues are described using a different term, such as association, conference, division, leaderboard, or series.
In many of these closed-model leagues in Canada and the United States, they are divided into subdivisions on historical or geographical lines.
All sports leagues operate under a structured format designed to facilitate organized competition among teams or individual athletes.
This structure typically involves a predetermined schedule, commonly referred to as a season, where participants face each other in a nonrandom, systematic order.
Each competition or match within the season contributes to a broader framework of results, which are meticulously recorded and analyzed.
These results play a crucial role in ranking the participants, ultimately leading to the selection or determination of an overall champion.
The championship process may involve additional stages, such as playoffs or finals, depending on the league's specific rules and format.
This structured approach not only ensures fairness and consistency but also fosters a sense of progression and anticipation, as fans and participants alike follow the season's developments and track the performance of their favorite teams or athletes.
A small amount of league organization may be imposed on these non-league sports by way of a series or tournament tying several individual events together, such as the Triple Crown.
In Europe, the term "cup competition" is used to describe single elimination or knock-out tournaments, where the pairing of teams in each round is determined by a "draw" (see for example, the FA Cup in England), to distinguish it from league competition, in which every club in the league or division plays the other teams a pre-determined number of times in a season, usually on a home and away basis.
In the simplest cases, such as boxing, the rankings mean little and the major competition is to crown a champion in a title fight.
Also, national championships in some college sports are determined by a ranking or playoff system that is independent of the individual conferences.
One potential drawback of this simple double round-robin format is that the number of teams in the league determines the schedule.
In Europe, "cup" competitions are more common, with all teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that takes place during and parallel with the regular season.