北美四大職業運動
维基百科，自由的百科全书
北美四大職業運動，在一般情況下是指以下四個職業運動聯盟：
- 國家美式足球聯盟 (創立於1920年，2006年止有32支隊伍) - NFL一開始稱作"全美美式足球聯會"(All-America Football Conference)，後於1970年與"美國美式足球聯盟"(American Football League)合併。
這四個聯賽在北美通常稱作四大職業運動聯賽。然而﹐由於國家冰球聯盟在美國南部的受歡迎度並不高﹐因此亦有人撇除國家冰球聯盟而稱其餘三個聯賽為北美三大職業運動聯賽。不過﹐國家冰球聯盟所帶來的市場收入仍比其餘職業運動為高﹔再者﹐在2004年因勞資糾紛停賽後﹐國家冰球聯盟的直接資金收入不跌反升。
在2005年﹐美國有13個城市在四大聯賽中擁有至少一隊球隊﹔而四大聯賽所帶來的受益亦是其他職業運動合共的百倍以上。四大聯賽在文化上也帶來很大的沖擊﹔通常在四大聯賽中成名的球星會成為人們熱門的話題﹐或一些標記等。
In terms of overall league revenue, the NFL, MLB and the NBA rank as the three most lucrative sports leagues in the world (in that order). Based on June 2006 exchange rates the NHL ranks as the world's fifth most lucrative league, slightly behind the FA Premier League in English soccer. It is worth noting, however, that the Premier League has only 20 clubs - depending on exchange rates and what is defined as revenue the Premier League's average per-team revenues are very close to, and could be ranked ahead of the NBA's.
Soccer is very popular in North America, although none of the past attempts to establish a premiere professional league have been extremely successful. The current premiere league, Major League Soccer, has not yet (in spite of its name) achieved major league status in the eyes of North American fans. Some of the top American and Canadian professionals opt to play in Europe rather than for MLS, such as seasoned USA striker Brian McBride. The U.S. men's team has performed respectably in recent international competitions, and has been in the last five World Cup finals. (In 1994, the Americans got an automatic finals bid as the host, but they have qualified for every other Cup finals series since 1990.)
