major North American professional sports leagues

Major professional sports league, or simply major league, is the term used in North America to refer to the highest professional division in any team sport. The term "major league" was probably first used in reference to the top flight of professional American baseball. The designation of major league is as opposed to minor league, which are lower division and/or developmental leagues below the major league in the national sport-tier hierarchy; and amateur leagues, in which the athletes receive no salary. The designation as to whether a league is a major or minor league is made by the national or international governing body for that sport, not by the popular perception of that sport (e.g., TV ratings or number of articles in the daily newspaper). In any country or region, the top major leagues generally will have the best athletes, the largest-capacity stadiums, the largest and most active fan bases, the most lucrative television contracts, and, therefore, the largest revenues and player salaries. In North America, the top major leagues are generally accepted to be: the NFL, MLB, the NBA, and the NHL. Prominent major leagues outside the "Big Four" are Major League Soccer (MLS), the Canadian Football League (CFL), the National Lacrosse League (NLL), Major League Lacrosse (MLL), the WNBA and the Arena Football League (AFL); in Mexico, the Primera Division of the FMF holds dominant sway over that country's sporting landscape.
See more at Wikipedia.org...