In days of yore, there was
baseball's
Federal League; later, the
Continental League, which didn't fly. In
American football, the
American Football League, the
World Football League, and the
United States
Football League. In
basketball, the
American Basketball Association. In
hockey, the
World Hockey Association. Before
free agency, some of these leagues provided a functional equivalent - the NFL/AFL
merger was, in part, a Good
Business Move to avoid that state of affairs. There was also the
United Soccer Association and the
National Professional Soccer League, which merged to become the
North American Soccer League.
One can now add the infamous piece of chump-change loss-leader television programming foisted upon us by the duo of Titan Sports and General Electric -- the XFL. The Mia Hamm Traveling Circus (what's it called? The WUSA?) will eventually rest in this node.