Major Women's Sport Leagues In North America
The prominent women's sports leagues in the United States and Canada serve as the pinnacle of women's athletic competition in North America. The United States is home to the vast majority of professional women's leagues. In North America, the top women's leagues feature both team sports and individual athletes. While some leagues have paid professional female athletes, others do not and function at a semi-professional level. The team sports of soccer (also known as association football), basketball, fastpitch softball, ice hockey, ringette, women's gridiron football (full contact), flat track roller derby, and lacrosse are among the top leagues for women in North America. Women's competitions are also popular in individual sports such as tennis, bowling, and golf. Record attendances recorded by women's professional sports leagues have been dominated by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and the now defunct National Pro Fa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Women's Sports
Women and girls have participated in sports, physical fitness, and exercise throughout history. However, the extent of their involvement has varied depending on factors such as country, time, geographical location, and level of economic development (Coakley, 2009; Hargreaves, 1994). The modern era of organized sports, with structured competitions and formalized activities, did not fully emerge for either women or men until the late industrial age (Cahn, 1994). This shift marked a significant change in how sports were structured and practiced, eventually leading to more inclusive opportunities for female participation (Eitzen, 2009). Until roughly 1870, women's activities tended to be informal and recreational in nature, lacked rules codes, and emphasized physical activity rather than competition.Gerber, E.W., Felshin, J., Berlin, P., & Wyrick, W. (Eds.). (1974). The American woman in sport. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Today, women's sports are more sport-specific and have dev ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Women's Professional Soccer
Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 season, with continued plans for future expansion. The WPS was the highest level in the United States soccer pyramid for the women's game. On January 30, 2012, the league announced suspension of the 2012 season, citing several internal organization struggles as the primary cause. Some of these issues included an ongoing legal battle with magicJack owner Dan Borislow and the lack of resources invested into the league. On May 18, 2012, WPS announced the league folded and would not return in 2013. After the WPS folded, the National Women's Soccer League formed in 2013 and took WPS's place as the top professional women's soccer league in the United States. History Planning After the folding of Women's United Soccer Association, which p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943), also known as BJK, is an American former World number 1 ranked female tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. She was a member of the victorious United States Billie Jean King Cup team, United States team in seven Billie Jean King Cup, Federation Cups and nine Wightman Cups. King is an advocate of gender equality and has long been a pioneer for equality and social justice. In 1973, at the age of 29, she famously won the "Battle of the Sexes (tennis), Battle of the Sexes" tennis match against the 55-year-old Bobby Riggs. King was also the founder of the Women's Tennis Association and the Women's Sports Foundation. She was instrumental in persuading cigarette brand Virginia Slims to sponsor women's tennis in the 1970s and went on to serve on the board of their parent company Philip Morris USA, Philip Morris i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mark Walter
Mark Richard Walter (born January 1, 1960) is an American businessman and the chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, a privately held global financial services firm with more than $325 billion in assets under management. Outside investing, Walter is best known for his extensive investments in professional sports. He is the primary owner and chairman of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, which have won two World Series under his leadership. He is also the primary owner of auto racing organization Andretti Global, which operates the Cadillac Formula 1 team, and the Women's National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Sparks. In addition, he owns 20% of the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers and 12.7% of BlueCo, a holding company that controls Premier League club Chelsea and Ligue 1 club RC Strasbourg. He also owns the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) and sits on the boards of his alma maters Creighton University and Northweste ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Canadian Women's Hockey League
The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; ) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's Senior ice hockey, senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league expanded into Alberta (2011) and internationally in the United States (2010) and China (2017) throughout its tenure. The league Collapse of the Canadian Women's Hockey League, discontinued operations on May 1, 2019, after 12 seasons. For most of its existence, the CWHL was registered as an amateur association but was considered the top women's hockey league in North America. The National Women's Hockey League, later re-branded the Premier Hockey Federation, launched in the US in 2015 and was the first women's league to pay salaries. The CWHL began paying players a stipend during its last two seasons before it folded, citing financial difficulties. The collapse of the league resulted in the establishment of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA), a no ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Premier Hockey Federation
The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), comprising four league-owned teams. Over time, some teams gained independent ownership and the number of teams grew to seven; teams during the league's final season in 2022–23 PHF season, 2022–23 included the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale (PHF), Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, Minnesota Whitecaps, Montreal Force, and Toronto Six. The Isobel Cup was awarded annually to the league playoff champion. The PHF ceased operations on June 29, 2023, after the league and its Intellectual property, intellectual properties were purchased by Mark Walter Group and BJK Enterprises, led by Mark Walter and Billie Jean King, respectively. Both businesses had entered a partnership with the Professional Women's Hockey Players Assoc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marta (footballer)
Marta Vieira da Silva (; born 19 February 1986), known mononymously as Marta, is a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for National Women's Soccer League club Orlando Pride. Regarded by many as the greatest female footballer of all time, she has been named FIFA World Player of the Year six times, five of them being consecutive (from 2006 through 2010) and the latest award coming in 2018. Marta holds the record for being Brazilian Football Confederation, Brazil's top goalscorer with 119 goals. With 17 goals, Marta also holds the record for most goals scored in any World Cup, women’s or men's. Moreover, she was the first footballer of any gender to score at five different World Cups, a feat matched by Christine Sinclair in 2019 and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2022, and also the first footballer, female or male, to score at five consecutive Olympic Games. She was a member of the Brazilian national teams that won ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ottawa Citizen
The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The newspaper's original motto, which has recently been returned to the editorial page, was ''Fair Play and Day-Light''. The paper has been through a number of owners. In 1846, Harris sold the paper to John Bell (journalist), John Gordon Bell and Henry J. Friel. Robert Bell (1821-73), Robert Bell bought the paper in 1849, and sold it to I.B. Taylor in 1861. In 1877, Charles Herbert Mackintosh became the principal owner, and he later sold it to Robert and Lewis Shannon. In 1897, the ''Citizen'' became one of several papers owned by the Southam Newspapers, Southam family. It remained under Southam until the chain was purchased by Conrad Black's Hollinger Inc. in 1996. In 2000, the chain was sold to Canwest, Canwest Global, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hartford Courant
The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is advertised as the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven and east of Waterbury, Connecticut, Waterbury, its headquarters on Broad Street in Hartford, Connecticut was a short walk from the Connecticut State Capitol, state capitol. It reports regional news with a chain of bureaus in smaller cities and a series of local editions. It also operates ''CTNow'', a free local weekly newspaper and website. The ''Courant'' began as a weekly called the ''Connecticut Courant'' on October 29, 1764, becoming daily in 1837. In 1979, it was bought by the Times Mirror Company. In 2000, Times Mirror was acquired by the Tribune Company, which later combined the paper's management and facilities with those of a Tribune-owned Hartford WTIC-TV, television station. The ''Courant'' and other Tribune print properties were ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Professional Women's Hockey League
The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL; , LPHF) is a women's professional ice hockey league in North America. The league comprises eight teams, four each from the United States and Canada. The teams play a Season (sports), regular season to earn one of four places in a Playoffs, postseason tournament that determines the winner of the Walter Cup. The PWHL is wholly owned and operated by the Mark Walter, Mark Walter Group. Differences between the PWHL and other North American professional hockey leagues include a Three points for a win#Ice hockey, 3-2-1-0 points system, terminations of Penalty (ice hockey), penalties following a short-handed goal, best-of-five Overtime (ice hockey)#Shootout, shootouts, and greater restrictions on Checking (ice hockey)#body checking, body checking. The league's matches are broadcast nationally in Canada by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBC and The Sports Network, TSN, their French-language affiliates Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Semi-professional Sports
Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a considerably lower rate than a full-time professional athlete. As a result, semi-professional players frequently have (or seek) full-time employment elsewhere. A semi-pro player or team could also be one that represents a place of employment that only the employees are allowed to play on. In this case, it is considered semi-pro because their employer pays them, but for their regular job, not for playing on the company's team. The semi-professional status is not universal throughout the world and depends on each country's labour code and each sports organization's specific regulations. Origin The San Francisco Olympic Club fielded an American football team in 1890. That year, the Olympic Club was accused by a rival club of enticing athletes to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |