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A division in sports consists of a group of teams which compete against one another for a divisional title.

It is often part of a league system, which is a set of divisions, in which teams can move between differently ranked divisions. Divisions are then organised in such a way that teams or players in any given division are comparably adept at their chosen sport, so that matches are more even, and therefore more exciting. Often this is achieved by ensuring that the victors of one division are promoted to some "higher" division upon achieving their divisional title, while the worst teams in the division are relegated. Variations on this idea exist in the form of playoffs.

Sometimes divisions are based on geography instead of competitive success—for instance, Major League Baseball's American and National Leagues have East, West, and Central divisions. In some sports, the geographical divisions are quite loosely related to actual geography; this is sometimes a source of controversy, as in the National Football League, where the Dallas Cowboys—despite being farther west than the St. Louis Rams of the NFC West—reside in the NFC East due to longstanding rivalries with NFC clubs in the northeastern U.S. In the late 1990s, the NFC West contained only one team west of the Rocky Mountains and included two teams from states the bordered the Atlantic Ocean.

The term "league" is also sometimes used to describe an individual division within a league.

[edit] See also

• List of professional sports leagues
• Group tournaments