There’s nothing close to the NFL in terms of what 99.9% of consumers understand to be Pro Football. That’s like saying the NBA has competition from some local basketball league in the Tri State area.
Yes, the NFL is the big league, but it is not the ONLY pro-league, it is not a monopoly.
Most of the small basketball leagues are actually tied to the NBA, they’re the D-league. The small football leagues have no connection to the NFL. And the Arena league and UFL are both national.
That’s a good point, Borges. In my opinion, the only sport where the “major” sports league might have any real competition from other leagues is hockey. Because it requires such a high degree of specialized skill to play, the gap between an NHL player and a minor league player is very small. AHL and ECHL hockey is pretty close to the “real deal,” and college hockey offers a whole different look because it is played under rules that are more similar to international rules than the NHL.