of American sports Professional sports For the most part, unlike sports in Europe and other parts of the world, there is no system of promotion and relegation in American professional sports. Major sports leagues operate as associations of franchises. The same 30–32 teams play in the league each year unless they move to another city or the league chooses to expand with new franchises. All American sports leagues use the same type of schedule. After the regular season, the 10–16 teams with the best records enter a playoff tournament leading to a championship series or game. American sports, except for soccer and women's basketball, have no equivalent to the cup competitions that run concurrently with leagues in European sports. In soccer, the most established cup competitions, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup for men's teams throughout all levels, and the NWSL Challenge Cup for teams in that league, draw considerably less attention than the regular season. The Leagues Cup, previously an invitational event involving a small number of teams from MLS and Mexico's top level of Liga MX, is expanding in 2023 to include all teams from the two leagues; its status relative to the MLS regular season remains to be seen. In basketball, the WNBA launched the Commissioner's Cup in the 2021 season, but the qualification process for the one-off Cup final, held at midseason, is based on a subset of regular-season games for all teams. Also, the only top-level U.S. professional teams that play teams from other organizations in meaningful games are those in MLS. Since the 2012 season, all U.S.-based MLS teams have automatically qualified for the U.S. Open Cup, in which they compete against teams from lower-level U.S. leagues. In addition, several U.S.-based MLS teams qualify to play clubs from countries outside the U.S. and Canada in the CONCACAF Champions League. NBA teams have played European teams in preseason exhibitions on a semi-regular basis, and recent MLS All-Star Games have pitted top players from the league against major European soccer teams, such as members of the Premier League. International competition is not as important in American sports as it is in the sporting culture of most other countries, although Olympic ice hockey and basketball tournaments do generate attention. The first international baseball tournament with top-level players, the World Baseball Classic, also generated some positive reviews after its inaugural tournament in 2006. The major professional sports leagues