NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



Arena Football League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
May 13, 2013 - Arena Football League (AFL)


BASEBALL

Pacific Coast League: The Omaha Storm Chasers will play as the Omaha Force on its second annual "What If?" night in August. The Force was one of nine finalists in a name-the-team contest prior to the 2011 season when the team changed from the Omaha Royals to the Storm Chasers.

American Association: The independent AA held an exhibition game this weekend in Joplin (MO) between the Kansas City T-Bones and Wichita Wingnuts to test the market for possible future expansion.

BASKETBALL

Independent Basketball Association-Premier Basketball League: The 17-team merged IBA-PBL has a revamped alignment for its 2013 spring season. Previously aligned into an eight-team Central Division and a nine-team East Division, the league has moved five teams into a new Branding Division of teams playing a shortened schedule. The remaining teams are aligned in six-team Central and East divisions.

American Basketball Association: The ABA has announced another new team called the Fort Lauderdale Gold has been added as a 2013-14 expansion team. The league's Michiana Monarchs team, previously based in South Bend (IN), has moved to Mount Vernon (IL) where the team will be called the King City Monarchs for next season. A previously announced team called the South Houston Assault will be a travel team in the 2013-14 season.

Central Basketball League: The five-team CBL, which is currently playing its inaugural 2013 spring season, plans to add a fall season later this year that will run from September 13 to November 10, 2013. The CBL is looking to add more teams before the fall season and will give teams the option of playing in one or both seasons. The CBL ran into an issue with its Dayton Air Strikers team and released the team from the league earlier this week. The league and team then reached an agreement to reinstate the Air Strikers for the rest of the season and a modified schedule was issued.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football League: The AFL has apparently taken over operations of the Chicago Rush, whose owner was accused of not paying the team's bills. The AFL operated the Chicago franchise last season, while it sought new ownership. One proposed new owner fell through after the 2012 season and the most recent owner signed on only six weeks before the 2013 season started. This forced the team to schedule two June home games in Rockford (IL) due to a lack of available dates at its home arena in Rosemont. The AFL stated the Rush will complete its 2013 schedule despite the ownership issues.

Ultimate Indoor Football League: The Sarasota Thunder, a new UIFL travel-only team for the 2013 season, could not meet league requirements for a game this weekend against the Florida Tarpons so the game was cancelled. The Tarpons announced the cancellation of a game later this month against a non-league opponent. Despite troubles with the 2013 schedule, the Tarpons plan to play next season. The UIFL apparently is committed to adding new markets for 2014 and one UIFL team has claimed the league has two teams from other current leagues with serious intentions of joining the UIFL. The league's Missouri Monsters (St. Charles) announced it will play its final home game later this month against a semi-pro outdoor team called the Gateway Hawks (Wentzville, MO). The Hawks are a member of the Great Midwest Football League.

Legends Football League-United States: The LFL-US, formerly the Lingerie Football League, is expected to announce the return to one of its former cities for the 2014 season. With the proposed addition of a Pittsburgh team in 2014, the league will most likely add another western team, possibly in the former markets of Dallas, Denver or San Diego. The LFL-Europa is trying to get off the ground in 2015 and has targeted the European cities of Dublin (Ireland), Manchester (United Kingdom), Dusseldorf (Germany) and Hamburg (Germany) for its inaugural season. The LFL-Canada started in 2012 and the LFL-Australia plans to start with four teams in 2013.

HOCKEY

North American Hockey League: A group of investors is trying to bring a Tier-II junior-level NAHL team to Lubbock (TX). The city was last home to the professional Lubbock Cotton Kings team in the Central Hockey League (CHL) for the 2006-07 season. The NAHL is was reported to be trying to move its Wenatchee (WA) Wild franchise to Hidalgo (TX), which had the CHL's Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees until that team folded after the 2011-12 season. The Wenatchee Wild plans to switch to the British Columbia Junior Hockey League for the 2013-14 season. The NAHL also announced the Minnesota Wilderness (Cloquet) has purchased the league's dormant St. Louis Bandits membership and will be part of the 2013-14 season. The Wilderness has been part of Canada's Tier-II Superior International Junior Hockey League for the past three seasons, playing the first two of those seasons as the Wisconsin Wilderness. The Wilderness will be the NAHL's third team based in Minnesota.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer: The owner of the Orlando City Lions team, which is currently a member of the United Soccer Leagues PRO league, was dealt a setback in efforts to build a soccer-specific stadium for a proposed MLS franchise when the state legislature rejected state funding for the project at this time. The Lions' owner will continue to search for ways to replace this portion of the project costs. The league's DC United wants the city's assistance with land acquisition and infrastructure issue related to a proposed new soccer-specific stadium in Washington (DC).

United Soccer Leagues - PRO: Sacramento's proposed new USL PRO team will host an exhibition game involving the English Premier League's Norwich City Canaries along with other exhibitions during Sacramento Soccer Day on July 18, 2013. During the event, the ownership group plans to announce the name for the team that will begin play in the 2014 season of the USL PRO.

United Soccer Leagues - W-League: The women's W-League has started its 2013 season with 25 teams aligned into a six-team Central Conference, a seven-team Northeastern Conference, a five-team Southeastern Conference and a seven-team Western Conference. The league had 30 teams last season, but lost 6 teams (Vancouver Whitecaps, Victoria Highlanders, Rochester Ravens FC, FC Jax Destroyers, New Jersey Rangers and Northern Virginia Majestics) and added the new San Francisco-based Bay Area Breeze. Five W-League teams underwent name changes for the 2013 season-the Hamilton Rage to the K-W United FC, the Central South Carolina Cobras to the Carolina Elite Cobras, the VSI Tampa Flames to VSI Tampa Bay FC, the New York Magic to the New York Magic - FA Euro and the DC United Women to the Washington Spirit Reserves, which is affiliated with the Washington Spirit team in the new women's pro National Women's Soccer League starting in 2013.

National Premier Soccer League: The men's NPSL, which is affiliated with the Women's Premier Soccer League, has started its 2013 season with 57 teams aligned into four regions-Midwest, West, Northeast and South. Each region is further aligned into divisions with the South having four divisions and the others having two divisions each. The amateur-level NPSL started play for the 2005 season after evolving from the Men's Premier Soccer League.

OTHER

National League Lacrosse: Three of the four groups bidding to redevelop the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island (NY) are interested in placing an indoor NLL franchise in the facility. The league had a team called the New York Saints based out of the Nassau Coliseum from 1989 to 2003 and the New York Titans played half of their home schedule in that arena during the 2007 season.

Dan Krieger is the creator of the "The Leagueology Almanac 2011-12", which tracks the changes in league alignments, franchise movements and team nicknames in today's sports world. The publication is currently available at www.amazon.com.

Check out the Arena Football League Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Arena Football League message board...

Arena Football League Stories from May 13, 2013


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central