Professional football in Canada
Only one professional football league has a permanent presence in Canada: the Canadian Football League (CFL), an organization founded in 1958 to accommodate the ongoing trend of professionalism in the Canadian football ranks since the 1940s. The CFL, like most amateur Canadian football leagues, plays on a larger field using a rulebook with several significant rule differences compared to the game as it is played in the United States. The league is composed of two divisions and nine teams in most of the largest Canadian markets, with at least one team in each province between British Columbia (BC Lions) and Quebec (Montreal Alouettes) inclusive. The only presence in Atlantic Canada is a semi-regular series of games in Moncton (Touchdown Atlantic) and a smattering of earlier preseason contests. The CFL operates a two-week preseason beginning in June, an 18-game season from July to October, and a six-team playoff tournament, culminating in the Grey Cup on the fourth weekend of November.
Sports in North America
The men's professional soccer league systems in both the U.S. and Canada instead primarily use the closed, franchise model which primarily always has the same teams playing. Major League Soccer (MLS) represents the highest level, while the second level consists of the North American Soccer League (NASL) and the United Soccer League (USL). Although MLS, NASL, and USL all have teams in both countries, they are only sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), the governing body of soccer in the United States. The Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body in Canada, instead sanctions two third-level all-Canadian leagues at the third level: League1 Ontario and Première Ligue de soccer du Québec. There are no USSF sanctioned leagues at the third level. For women' professional soccer, the National Women's Soccer League is at the top level, and National Women's Soccer League and Women's Premier Soccer League are at the second level. College soccer is played both in the U.S. and Canada, with top players often going on to play professional.