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General Structure of Leagues for Team Sports

This is an excerpt from Governance in Sport-2nd Edition by Bonnie Tiell.

By Bonnie Tiell

Team sports are often structured as leagues. Common in the United States and Australia, a closed league system is one in which the identity and number of teams remain the same each year unless there is an expansion. All major and minor professional teams in America operate as a closed system. Select leagues internationally also operate as a closed system, such as the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization in Japan, the Indian Super League, and several football (soccer) leagues in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Canada (Outlook Web Bureau [India], 2019). In fact, some closed leagues, such as Japan’s Nippon league, MLS, and the NHL, are affiliated with a professional minor league that competes in smaller markets. Other professional leagues may have an affiliated or independent development league, such as the NBA’s G League.

Conversely, an open league system practices promotion and relegation, where the identities of teams in the league can change each year based on their performance. Unlike in the United States, national sport leagues (e.g., basketball, soccer) in Europe and other countries incorporate a tiered system of relegation and promotion whereby leagues are interconnected. Many national leagues in Europe (e.g, Spanish, Dutch) are organized by tiers, with one or more professional leagues followed by semiprofessional and amateur leagues. According to FIFA, 23,588 professional male and female players transferred teams in 2023, representing almost 32 percent of all the transfers that occurred between federations (i.e., clubs in different countries) (Revilla & Cons, 2024). Globally in 2022, professional soccer associations accounted for 20,209 international transfers, of which 2,843 required fees totaling $6.5 billion, representing a 33.5 percent increase over the fees paid in the previous year (Hall, 2023). In the women’s professional game worldwide, there were 1,555 international transfers recorded by 119 associations (Hall, 2023).

In relegation and promotion, at the end of each season, teams with the best records are promoted to a higher division or tier of a league above them, and last place teams are demoted to the next tier, division, or league below them. In Germany, for example, the top professional national soccer leagues are Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. The national-level amateur system begins with two tiers of Regionalliga leagues, followed by the Oberliga and Verbandliga leagues (How to Germany, n.d.). Due to relegation and promotion, at the end of the season, the teams with the best record in the top Regionalliga league advance to the Bundesliga 2 professional tier, while the last place teams in the Bundesliga 2 league move down to the amateur Regionalliga 1 league. Annually restructuring leagues through an open system of relegation and promotion is intended to create a greater competitive balance. Thus, most countries around the world operate under an open system in soccer and, occasionally, in other sports such as professional basketball in Germany and rugby in England.

Player Associations

Professional players’ associations have a quasi-governing role for athletes, although the presiding authority for players is each athlete’s team and league. Players’ associations are common in America, Europe, and Australia. Unlike most sport governing organizations, authority is delegated to team representatives who are elected by their peers. Players’ associations exist in North America for the NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, MLS, NWSL, and the National Lacrosse League.

The defunct Brotherhood of American Base Ball Players, established in the United States in 1885, was the earliest form of a players’ association for MLB, followed in 1907 by the European Professional Footballers’ Association (FIFPro), which still serves the Premier League, English football leagues, and the Football Association (FA) Women’s Super League (Professional Footballers’ Association, 2023). Examples of players’ associations in other countries include Professional Footballers Australia, the Rugby Union Players’ Association in Australia, the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association, and the Spanish Players’ Union associated with the EuroLeague (basketball).

Players are employees of the teams and leagues for which they play, but their respective labor unions have a governance role in the case of a work stoppage (e.g., strike by the players or a lockout by league owners). Under the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. §§ 151-169, 2012) in the United States, which applies to private employers, section 7 grants workers three rights:

1. to join and assist (or not) labor unions,
2. to collectively bargain through representatives of their own choosing, and
3. to engage in concerted activities (e.g., strikes).

This legislation paved the way for players to collectively bargain for higher salaries, a higher portion of league revenue, and looser restrictions on free agency with the league owners.

The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a contract that results from negotiating terms of labor. This governing document must include the rate and method of pay and the terms and conditions of employment, health and safety, and benefits. These agreements, typically covering a five-year span, also include numerous regulations for areas such as drafts, postseason play, revenue sharing, and personal conduct. The CBA is the controlling document between the players, the league, and the teams. All players play under the CBA; when teams negotiate with individual players, they can generally only negotiate years and money (salary and bonuses).

While primarily serving in an advisory role representing the players’ interests and settling grievances or disputes with a team or league, the union’s governing authority over players gives it the power to demand a strike in the face of failed labor negotiations. The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), for example, had eight work stoppages (strikes or lockouts) from 1972 to 1994, plus its ninth in 2021 when the season was delayed a week over luxury tax issues (Wayrich, 2022)

The players’ associations act as any workers’ union in being responsible for protecting the rights of the players. When a player has a dispute with a team or the league, the players’ association represents the player. For example, when the New England Patriots’ Tom Brady and the NFL went to court over his Deflategate suspension after the quarterback was accused of knowingly playing with deflated footballs, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) was the named party, not Tom Brady. With the players, the association negotiates the CBA. The players’ association also is responsible for certifying agents and financial advisors.

Players must pay an initiation fee and dues or core fees to their respective players, associations, or unions. The players’ associations have the authority to mandate a suspension without pay if payment is not received according to the stipulations indicated in the NBA and National Basketball Players Association collective bargaining agreement (2017, p. 331).

The NFLPA publishes an annual report card grading the 32 franchises on 11 criteria ranging from the locker room to treatment of families. The 2023-2024 report graded five criteria of the Washington Commanders with F or F− even after the sale of the team and replacement of Dan Snyder with a new owner, Josh Harris, who earned a B on the grade card (NFLPA, 2024).

On behalf of players, the executive director and legal counsel negotiate a CBA with the league owners. The association also serves as the supreme authority for certifying agents and financial advisors. The players control the union, and an executive director runs the day-to-day operations.

More Excerpts From Governance in Sport-2nd Edition

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