All-american sport. Present simple tense

Lacrosse is played mainly in North America, however, countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia have small lacrosse leagues. It has also expanded into both Europe and Asia, with the latter forming the Asia Pacific Lacrosse Union (APLU) in May 2012.[5] The United States currently has two top-level professional lacrosse leagues in operation, the Premier Lacrosse League, and the National Lacrosse League.
Rugby league[edit]
See also: History of rugby league and Football
Rugby league came into existence due to the very issue of professionalism. Rugby football split into 'union' and 'league' over the issue of payment to player. Rugby league favoured payments and has thus been a professional sport since its beginnings in 1895, when 22 clubs based in northern England split from the more amateur-minded Rugby Football Union. The officially amateur RFU had previously brought charges of professionalism against some clubs for their use of "broken time" payments to compensate players for missing work due to matches or injuries received whilst playing. On August 29, 1895, in a meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, the clubs decided to break away and form the Northern Rugby Union, which later would become the Rugby Football League. The rules of rugby league were gradually changed so that now it and rugby union are distinctly different games, however rugby union has since turned professional as well. On 17 December 1967 the first professional Sunday matches of rugby league were played.
Rugby union[edit]
See also: History of rugby union and Football
Rugby union continued with its amateur ideals past the schism between union and league and throughout much of the 20th century. This position changed in 1995. The threat of big payments from professional rugby league clubs in countries where rugby league had a significant following was becoming too great. A committee conclusion decided that the only way to end this threat, the hypocrisy of Shamateurism and keep control of rugby union was to make the sport professional. On August 26, 1995, the International Rugby Board declared rugby union an "open" game and thus removed all restrictions on payments or benefits to those connected with the game.
Rodeo/bull riding[edit]
Main article: Rodeo
See also: Bull riding, Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, and Professional Bull Riders
The PBR is different from the classic rodeo as it consists of only bull riding. It was founded in 1992 because a group of bull riders decided that their sport should be separated from the classic rodeo and could, as it was easily the most popular event. Riders and bulls are judged on a 50-point scale. Riders are only given a score if they stay on for the mandatory 8 seconds, while bull scores are given regardless of what the rider does.

Summary
The game was invented in the United States in the 1890s, in Springfield, Massachusetts. The first professional basketball leagues emerged in the 1920s in the United States. Prominent among these were the American Basketball League, which formed in 1925, and the National Basketball League, which was launched in 1937 by General Electric, Firestone and Goodyear as a way to improve their national profile. In 1946 the Basketball Association of America was founded by the owners of major sports arenas, particularly the Madison Square Garden. The BAA later merged with the NBL in 1949 to become the National Basketball Association, the preeminent league in the world with 29 teams in the United States and one in Canada. The American Basketball Association, founded in 1967, subsequently joined the NBA in the 1976 ABA-NBA merger.
The second-oldest professional basketball league in the world is the Philippine Basketball Association. The PBA was long considered to be the best league in Asia, but the Chinese Basketball Association has grown tremendously in recent years. The league was born on April 9, 1975, at the Araneta Coliseum, Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines.
Outside of the NBA, the top professional leagues in the world are those of FIBA Europe. According to the official league rankings produced by Euroleague Basketball, the body that conducts the continent-wide Euroleague, the top five national domestic leagues on the continent (from 1 to 5) are those Liga ACB (Spain), the Russian Professional Basketball League, the Greek Basket League, Lega Basket Serie A (Italy), and the Turkish Basketball League.