question: why do sports have "seasons"?
comment: I think of it like tv shows. Some may have two seasons (season premieres) in the same calendar year. So like the NFL where the playoffs stretch into this next year it’s still the end of the 2018 season. Edit. Hockey fits the same mold just a few months later on the calendar it seems.
passages: Season (sports)
  
  In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from April to October. In other team sports, like association football or basketball, it is generally from August or September to May although in some countries - such as Northern Europe or East Asia - the season starts in the spring and finishes in autumn, mainly due to weather conditions encountered during the winter.
   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.
   Section::::Postseason.
   Season (disambiguation)
  
  A season is one of the major divisions of the year.
  
  Season(s) or The Season may also refer to:
  
  Section::::Periods of the year.
  
  BULLET::::- Season (society) or "social season", the portion of the year when the social elite hold events
  
  BULLET::::- Season (sports), the portion of the year when games are played
  
  BULLET::::- Breeding season, a time of year most favorable for wild animal or bird breeding
  
  BULLET::::- Estrus, a period in the estrous cycle of mammals when female seasonal breeders are receptive to mating
   Section::::Other North American leagues.:National Hockey League.:Ukrainian Hockey Championship.
   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.
  
  Section::::Seasons by league.
   Season (society)
  
  The social season, or season, refers to the traditional annual period when it is customary for members of a social elite of society to hold balls, dinner parties and charity events. Until World War I, it was also the appropriate time to be resident in the city rather than in the country in order to attend such events.
   BULLET::::- In the 2003 film "What a Girl Wants", Lord Henry Dashwood invites his new-found daughter Daphne to attend the London Season.
  
  BULLET::::- The 2009 young-adult novel "The Season" by Sarah MacLean portrays a young woman entering her first London Season.
  
  BULLET::::- Vincente Minnelli's "The Reluctant Debutante"
   Section::::Reception.
   BLUNT magazine noted "The Open Season really seem to know what they're doing, and what they're doing is leading a substantial change."
   American football is played almost exclusively in the autumn months; at the high school level, seasons run from late August through early November, with some playoff games and holiday rivalry contests being played as late as Thanksgiving. In many American states, the championship games take place in early December. College football's regular season runs from September through November, while the main professional circuit, the National Football League, plays from September through to early January. Summer sports, such as stock car racing, Major League Soccer, and Major League Baseball, wrap up their seasons in early to late autumn; MLB's championship World Series is known popularly as the "Fall Classic". (Amateur baseball is usually finished by August.) Likewise, professional winter sports, such as professional ice hockey, basketball and most leagues of soccer football in Europe, are in the early stages of their seasons during autumn; American college basketball and college ice hockey play teams outside their athletic conferences during the late autumn before their in-conference schedules begin in winter.
   Silly Season also refers to time periods outside traditional season-long competitive sporting competitions. In team sports such as association football and professional ice hockey, and leagues such as Formula One, NASCAR, the NBA, or the NFL, the final weeks of the season leading into off-time between one season and the next is filled with speculation regarding possible changes involving players, staff, and teams. Regardless of whether the speculation remains just that or indeed bears fruit, the moves and the discussions they generate help build interest in the leagues, their teams, and their upcoming seasons.
   Section::::Competitions.:Season.
  
  Shinty was traditionally played through the winter, based around the tradition of the "Iomain Challainn", where New Year was marked by a game between neighbouring parishes. The summer was left free for seasonal work and friendly tournaments. The Winter season always ran over, however, and many teams would find themselves finishing the previous season only weeks before the next one would start.
   BULLET::::- Christmas and holiday season, an annual festive season surrounding Christmas and New Year's Day
  
  BULLET::::- Growing season, in agriculture, the period of the year when crops can be grown
  
  BULLET::::- Hunting season, times of year when it is legal to hunt specific types of animals
  
  BULLET::::- Liturgical season, in Christian churches, a portion of the liturgical year
  
  BULLET::::- Seasonal food, the time of year when a given type food is at its peak
  
  Section::::Places.
  
  BULLET::::- Seasons, a house in Round Maple, Suffolk, England
  
  Section::::Arts, entertainment, and media.
  
  Section::::Arts, entertainment, and media.:Films.
  
  BULLET::::- "Season" (film), a 1989 Malayalam feature film
   In the New South Wales Rugby Football League, the ancestor of today’s National Rugby League, seasons were initially between eight (in the event of Kangaroo tours) and sixteen games long, so that a very bad team could go through a season with only losses. As a result of the expansion of the NSWRL from 1947 onwards, the season has been lengthened gradually with a few intermissions. The following NSWRFL teams up to 1966 did not win a single game:
   Many events of the season have traditional expectations with regard to Western dress codes.
   BULLET::::- “Barcelona is playing with Madrid on Tuesday”
  
  BULLET::::- "Russia thrashed the Czech Republic" (the Russia national football team defeated the Czech Republic national football team).
  
  When people talk about "the summer", they very often mean just the summer vacation period (often from six weeks to 2-3 months, depending on the place) and not necessarily the whole summer season.
   Section::::Season changes.
   Open Season
  
  Open Season may refer to:
  
  BULLET::::- Open season (hunting), a hunting term
  
  BULLET::::- An annual enrollment period
  
  Section::::Films.
  
  BULLET::::- "Open Season" (1974 film), a 1974 film starring Peter Fonda and John Phillip Law
  
  BULLET::::- "Open Season", a 1995 comedy film directed by Robert Wuhl
  
  BULLET::::- "Open Season" (franchise), a series of animated films
  
  BULLET::::- "Open Season" (2006 film), a 2006 animated film
  
  BULLET::::- "Open Season 2", a 2008 sequel
  
  BULLET::::- "Open Season 3", a 2010 second sequel
  
  BULLET::::- "", a 2015 third sequel
  
  Section::::Music.
  
  BULLET::::- "Open Season" (British Sea Power album), 2005
   The term "silly season" refers to the period near and after the end of the annual NASCAR season when many teams seek to make changes to prepare for next season.
  
  Section::::Website.
   BULLET::::- "Seasons" (film), a 2015 French film
  
  BULLET::::- "Seasons", an Omnimax film produced by the Science Museum of Minnesota
  
  BULLET::::- "The Season", a sports documentary about a high school football team coached by Mike Pettine
  
  BULLET::::- "The Season", a horror film produced by Dan Fitzsimons
  
  Section::::Arts, entertainment, and media.:Literature.
  
  BULLET::::- "", a 1969 book by William Goldman
  
  BULLET::::- "The Season", a 2009 young-adult novel by Sarah MacLean
  
  Section::::Arts, entertainment, and media.:Music.
  
  BULLET::::- Season (band), an English rock band from Birmingham
  
  Section::::Arts, entertainment, and media.:Music.:Albums.
  
  BULLET::::- "Seasons" (Bing Crosby album), 1977
  
  BULLET::::- "Seasons" (David Murray album), or the title song, 1999
   BULLET::::- "Seasons", a song by Chris Cornell from ""
  
  BULLET::::- "Seasons", a song by Cunninlynguists from "SouthernUnderground"
  
  BULLET::::- "Seasons", a song by DragonForce from "The Power Within"
  
  BULLET::::- "Seasons", a song by Grace Slick from "Dreams"
  
  Section::::Arts, entertainment, and media.:Television.
  
  BULLET::::- Season (North America) or series (UK), a cycle or set of episodes of a television program
  
  Section::::Arts, entertainment, and media.:Video games.
  
  BULLET::::- Season (video gaming), a definite set of special content in a video game
  
  BULLET::::- "", a 2007 expansion pack to the computer game "The Sims 2"
   A year can often be broken up into several distinct sections (sometimes themselves called seasons). These are: a preseason, a series of exhibition games played for training purposes; a regular season, the main period of the league's competition; the postseason, a playoff tournament played against the league's top teams to determine the league's champion; and the offseason, the time when there is no official competition.
  
  Section::::Preseason.
  
  In association football, many clubs tour and then, they have a series of exhibition games for training purposes.
  
  In baseball, many clubs go to spring camp and then, they have spring training.
  
  Section::::Regular season.
   Section::::Three-year-old season.
   Section::::Four-year-old season.
  