Since I can remember, professional sports have always been a huge deal in my life. As soon as I could understand the word “touchdown“, I made sure to scream it the loudest at every game!
One of my many talentless-talents is overthinking. But, with overthinking comes a lot of obscure, curious questions.
As a sat down in an attempt to brainstorm blog ideas, the BIG question popped into my head:
What was the first ever league?
The answer: baseball.
Where baseball might not have been the first sport to ever exist, its players and coaches created the first ever sports league called the “National League“, the older of the two leagues in the Major League Baseball.
The National League initiated to replace its predecessor, the “National Association of Professional Base Ball Players” in an attempt restart with a clean slate with reform in rules and club organization.
Although baseball is known as the “first” professional sports league to ever exist, the four most popular national sports followed very shortly after, coining the term “Big Four”.
The “Big Four” consists of the Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL).
The Big Four leagues currently hold 30–32 teams each, most of which are concentrated in populous metropolitan areas of the U.S. and Canada.
Sports fans across North America fuel the “Big Four” sports industries; big league industries also contribute a considerable amount to the economy of a nation.
To conclude, I’m happy I asked this question. The history of pop culture and sports intertwined to one, answering my question and putting the way modern-day sports are practiced into perspective.
Hannah's Hangout 