I wonder whether other sports require more teamwork to be successful - as the "stars" must be successful to collect serious coin. In the NFL/CFL, if you lose the support of your offensive line, your life as the big-ticket quarterback will be "nasty, brutish and short". Similarly, if you don't work with the pass-catchers, you'll fail to get the stats.

Footy and baseball aren't amenable to teams winning single-handedly. The NBA seems a bit more amenable, as a hot hand can score 50+ points on their own. Hockey in its various forms, lets say, has an adjustment mechanism that teaches cooperation :-).