In sports, a dynasty is a team or individual that dominates their sport or league for an extended length of time. Some leagues usually maintain official lists of dynasties, often as part of a hall of fame, but in many cases, whether a team or individual has achieved a dynasty is subjective. This can result in frequent topic of debate among sports fans due to lack of consensus and agreement in the many different variables and criteria that fans may use to define a sports dynasty. Merriam-Webster describes a dynasty as a "sports franchise which has a prolonged run of successful seasons". Within the same sport, or even the same league, dynasties may be concurrent with each other. This is a list of teams that have been called a dynasty after periods of success. In sports, a dynasty denotes a team or individual that dominated their sport or league for an extended period. The use of the term to characterize such prolonged success emerged in the early 20th century. The determination of whether a team or individual has achieved a dynasty is subjective. This results in debate among sports fans due to a lack of consensus and agreement on the different variables and criteria that could be used to define a dynasty.

Association football

Club

American Major League Soccer

Argentine Primera División

Belarus Highest League

Canadian Premier League

English First Division and Premier League

French Ligue 1

German Bundesliga

Greek Super League

Italian Football Championship and Serie A league

Spanish La Liga

Collegiate

Baseball

Major League Baseball

Negro leagues

The following are dynasties from Negro league baseball leagues in the United States.

Basketball

Professional

American Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

Women's National Basketball Association

Collegiate

NCAA Division I Men

NCAA Division I Women

Canadian university basketball

Cross country and track

Cricket

International

Handball

Club

Gridiron football

American football

National Football League

American Football League

All-America Football Conference

NCAA Football

Football Bowl Subdivision (Formerly I-A)

The problems inherent in identifying sports dynasties are exacerbated in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, where the national champion is determined, at least in part, by poll rather than through a tournament. These polls, however, are largely based on win–loss records, thereby relying on minimal subjectivity. When fans of a sport cannot agree on which team within a league or other organization should be considered as holding that organization's championship, discussing whether a team has become a dynasty is more difficult. Because of these problems, teams that consistently win their conference championship and are frequently in contention for national championships are termed dynasties more often than a similarly performing team in another sport or division might.

Football Championship Division

Division II

Division III

NAIA Football

Canadian football

Grey Cup

Vanier Cup

Indoor American football

Horseshoes

Horse racing

Ice hockey

Club

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League and the Hockey Hall of Fame officially recognize nine dynasty teams:

International

Men's Ice Hockey World Championships

Olympics

Figure skating

Lacrosse

Collegiate

NCAA men's

NCAA women's

Motorsports

Formula 1

NASCAR

Rugby league

NRL

International

Rugby union

Clubs

Swimming

Collegiate

High school

Tennis

Team competitions

Volleyball

Wrestling

Dynasties in question

Most disputes about dynasties relate to teams that dominated within a conference or division, but either failed to win championships or infrequently won championships. This is exacerbated in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A), where the national champion is determined, at least in part, by poll rather than through a tournament.