In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May (although in some countries, especially those in Scandinavia and North America, the season starts in the spring and finishes in the autumn due to the weather conditions encountered during the winter). A year can often be broken up into several distinct sections (sometimes themselves called seasons). These are:
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Most team sports have a period of training to recover fitness levels, followed by exhibition games or friendly matches prior to the start of their regular seasons ("pre-season training" and "pre-season" games). The game results do not count in the season standings of the teams, so they serve conveniently to test player candidates and to practice teamwork under game conditions. They may be used to promote the team effectively both at home and elsewhere. For some teams a pre-season overseas tour may be profitable, even lucrative. For some leagues, overseas games may promote their sport or their league to new audiences.
In some sports there may be a pre-season curtain-raiser or "supercup" competition—for example, in England, the previous season's winners of the FA Cup and Premier League play one another for the Community Shield before the start of the regular season. Part of the profits from this game are divided up amongst all teams participating in both competitions the year before, to donate to charities and good causes in their local area while the rest is given to national charities and good causes by The FA itself.
In almost every sport the term "regular season" would refer to the sport's league competition. In most countries the league is played in a double round-robin format, where every team plays every other team twice, once at their home venue, and once away at the oppositions venue as visitors. The results over all games are accumulated and when every team has completed its full schedule of games, a winner is declared.
In addition to the regular season league competition, many sports also operate an elimination cup tournament. A cup tournament can either take the form of a league cup, where members of a league competition are seeded using their standings from the previous year, or an association cup which is open to teams playing the sport at all levels providing they are affiliated to the National body for that sport. These competitions usually run alongside the regular league competitions, though often there is a small overlap where the cup either begins slightly before or ends slightly after the regular season. It is not uncommon for the cup final to be held the week after the last games of the league.
In such a set-up it is usual for the top division teams to be given a bye into the last few rounds while the smaller teams are randomly drawn against each other in the early rounds. This set-up allows for the possibility of relative minnows and small-town teams to become giant-killers and eliminate one of the big Nationally recognised clubs from the competition.
In North American, and some Australian sports, the cup tournament is held immediately after rather than during the regular season and using the seedings from it. These cup competitions are known as play-offs and in all four major US sports, winning the cup final (Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup) is vastly more important than winning the league.
This may be in part due to the unusual way in which North American sports leagues are scheduled. Rather than every team playing all others twice, teams may play more games against local rivals than teams in other parts of the country. For example, the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers will play the Los Angeles Clippers four times in a regular season, while both will only play the Boston Celtics, who are in the opposite Eastern Conference, twice. In the scheduling system used in the NFL, it is possible for two teams to only meet every three years.
Many sports leagues have playoffs that occur after the regular season is complete. A subset of the teams enter into a playoff tournament, generally a pre-determined number with better overall records (more wins, fewer losses) during the regular season. There are many variations used to determine the champion, the league's top prize.
The off-season, vacation time, or close season is the time of year when there is no official competition. Although upper management continues to work, the athletes will take much vacation time off. Also, various events such as drafts, transfers and important off-season free agent signings occur. Generally, most athletes stay in shape during the off-season in preparation for the next season. Certain new rules in the league may be made during this time, and will become enforced during the next regular season.
As most countries which have a league in a particular sport will operate their regular season at roughly the same time as the others, international tournaments may be arranged during the off season.
For example, most European football league club competitions run from July or August to May, subsequently major international competitions such as the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Football Championship are organised to occur in June and July.
The table represents typical seasons for some leagues by month. Blank or white denotes off-season and pre-season months and solid colors mark the rest of the year. Leagues in the same sport use the same color.
| Sport | Duration |
|---|---|
| American football | August to December, playoffs from January to early February. College bowl games from December to January. Indoor football, past professional leagues such as the USFL and XFL, and some amateur leagues play in the February to August season. |
| Association football | Usually August to May in the Northern Hemisphere, and February to November in the Southern Hemisphere. Exceptions are generally for one of two reasons:
See Domestic association football season for details. |
| Australian rules football | March to October |
| Baseball | April to early October, with postseason extending up to early November. |
| Basketball | In most countries, late October to mid-April, with playoffs extending up to mid-June. The three major exceptions to this rule are:
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| Canadian football | July to November |
| Cricket | Year-round. Domestic seasons typically held in the driest period of the year—summer in temperate climates, dry season in tropical climates. |
| Golf | Year-round |
| Ice hockey | Early October to mid-April, with playoffs extending up to early June. |
| Motor racing | Year-round, but generally concentrated from March to October. |
| Rugby league | Late February to October in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. |
| Rugby union | September to late May, sometimes the first weekend in June, in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, Super Rugby (beginning in 2011) starts in February and ends in early July in World Cup years and mid-August in other years. Domestic competitions in New Zealand and South Africa will then overlap slightly with the Super season, starting in July and ending in October or November. |
| Tennis | Year-round |