alternatehistory.com

La Habana
Estadio Fidel Castro
21 november 2006.

In a thrilling final, FC Havana beat the Toronto Senators 5-2 to become Major League Soccer champions for the second time. FC La Habana had a brilliant campaign this year with 24 wins, 10 draws and 8 losses and with the emblematic defeats of DC United and Club Guadalajara. Mateo, do you think they will continue this run next year? Yes I think so John, the team has been preparing for years and is bearing the first fruits and with players like Lucien Marois, the season's top scorer. John Master and Mateo Rodriguez, Fox Sports. transcript taken at the broadcast of the sporting event.

Toronto, Ontario
First Canadian Place
7 october 2017

How many leagues does the United States have? What are the most popular sports in the country? How many teams have each league? How do sports organizations work?
These are typical questions asked daily by sports enthusiasts.

It all begins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when major sports leagues were just beginning to develop.

By the 1870s and 1880s, several sports leagues focused on baseball were founded in various parts of the country, such as the California League, the Cuban League and the Florida League. It wasn't until the 1900s that all the leagues merged to form the Major League Baseball, initially consisting of 16 teams, one or two from each sports league. For a few decades it would be the most popular sport nationally but would face competition from the NFL, MLS and NBA.

From 1910 to 1980, the league would begin to expand to 32 teams today and would be relegated to the Minor League Baseball comprised of the Second Baseball League, the Third Baseball League and the regional baseball leagues.
As baseball expanded, the National Football League was created in 1920 with 12 teams. The NFL would have an expansion similar to MLB ending with 32 teams in 1992. It also has the NFL Second Division.

In the 1940s the current National Basketball Association was founded at first with 16 teams expanding to 32 in 1980, the NBA had established itself in a system of league divisions with the NBA being the top division, following the American Basketball Association second division with 32 teams, the Columbia Basketball Association third category with 64 teams and finally the regional leagues.

It wasn't until the 1950s that Major League Soccer was founded, consisting of several regional sports leagues. It was initially made up of 20 teams expanding to 32 teams in 1980 and established a system of relegation and promotion. It is one of the most popular leagues in the country, along with the NFL.

The National Hockey League was founded in 1922 with 8 teams and currently consists of 32 teams, is the fifth most popular sports league in the country. It also has a promotion and relegation system.
All sports leagues, although they have specific rules, are governed by the Sports Law (known by most people) which has established a set of rules that leagues, teams and radio and television stations must follow.

For example, teams are required to translate their rules into national and local languages. The same applies to radio and TV stations that must show a sports broadcast in the majority languages of each region and must not restrict sports broadcasting to one region for any reason.

In addition, there is an obligation for TV stations that must broadcast a sports event from each league on a weekly basis for the duration of the sports season. This was due to the 1977 controversy that caused protests among fans because no open television station broadcast the NHL final.

There have been attempts to eliminate this law but it has been deemed unconstitutional because it contradicts the Rights of Citizens.
This is the reason for the controversy between FIFA and the USSF over sports broadcasting rights. While the USSF redirects a certain broadcast to one or more open TV channels that request it, FIFA opposes it for various reasons but many have accused FIFA of only being interested in the economic as they do in other countries where only one or two channels are allowed to broadcast a certain event. This controversy is the same as for the Olympic Games.
There are no agreements yet and it is likely to continue for the next few months before the 2018 World Cup.

Milt Bascuñán Lévesque, Toronto Times periodist.