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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
June 10, 2013 - X-League (X-League)


BASEBALL

American Association: With an affiliated Triple-A Pacific Coast League franchise moving to El Paso next season, the independent El Paso Diablos of the American Association are not expected to return in 2014 and are trying to terminate their stadium lease agreement that runs through 2016. The Diablos' ownership is trying to sell and relocate the franchise. The El Paso Diablos started play in the 2005 Central Baseball League and became part of the American Association for the 2006 season.

Northern League: The owner of the proposed new Elkhart County (IN) Miracle plans to build a new stadium for the baseball team that will be part of the revived independent Northern League in 2014. The owner had tried to build a stadium back in 2010 for a proposed summer-collegiate team in the Northwoods League. The most recent version of the Northern League started back in 1993 and last played with eight teams during the 2010 season before becoming part of the North American League (NAL).

Atlantic Baseball League: The founder of the ABL and owner of the league's Long Island Ducks plans to announce in the near future a new independent developmental baseball league that could include teams in Worcester (MA), Sussex County (NJ) and Atlantic City (NJ). The league would start play in 2014, but might not be associated with the ABL.

Pacific Association: The four-team independent Pacific Association is trying to work out a lease agreement for a team to be based in Santa Maria (CA).

Eastern League: Although plans fell through to bring a Double-A Eastern League team to Ottawa for the 2014 season, the city will try again for 2015 and could lower its sights to a relocated Class-A team. Northwoods League: The city of Kalamazoo (MI) has approved a lease with the summer-collegiate Northwoods League for a team to start play in 2014. The city last hosted the Kalamazoo Kings independent pro team in the 2010 season of the Frontier League.

BASKETBALL

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced its new 2013-14 expansion team based in Riverside (CA) will be called the Inland Empire Invaders. The league had a previous team called the Riverside Rage/Riverside Rainmakers that played in the 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2011-12 seasons.

World Basketball Association Exposure League: The WBA has posted a revised 2013 schedule that now includes only five teams called the Upstate Heat (Anderson, SC), Conyers (GA) Court Kings, Atlanta Gamers, Georgia Majic and Rome (GA) Gladiators.

Beautiful Ballers League: The new women's semi-pro BBL, which started its inaugural season last weekend, apparently is having some issues with two of its teams. The league reported the Atlanta Peaches will be replaced by a team called the Georgia Peaches and the New Orleans Spirit will be replaced by a team called the New Orleans Darlings.

Ligue Basketball Quebec: The semi-pro LBQ is nearing the end of its 2013 season that runs from early April to mid-June. The league had five teams called the Revolution (Laurentides), Seigneurs (Laval), Monteregie (Longueil), Page-Dynamo (Montreal) and Jaguars (Riviere-des-Plaines) in its first season last year. All teams returned for 2013 and the league added a sixth team called Le Royal de Quebec.

FOOTBALL

Canadian Football League: The ownership of the new Ottawa-based CFL franchise announced the team will be called the Ottawa RedBlacks when it starts play in the 2014 season. The city's most recent CFL team called the Ottawa Renegades that lasted only four seasons (2002-05).

Xtreme Indoor Football League: The Lakeland (FL) Raiders team, which played as part of the Ultimate Indoor Football League during its recent 2013 season, has left the UIFL to join the new XIFL. The Raiders become the XIFL's fifth team and the new league plans to add at least three more teams before it starts play in 2014. The Raiders started play in 2012 as part of the United Indoor Football League.

HOCKEY

Central Hockey League: The CHL's Allen (TX) Americans and Rapid City (SD) Rush franchises apparently attempted a move to the ECHL for the 2013-14 season, but the CHL took them to court to keep them in the league. The league's Bloomington Blaze previously announced a move to the Southern Professional Hockey League, while the Texas Brahmas team has apparently ceased operations. The CHL plans to add two new teams called the Brampton (Ontario) Beast and St. Charles (MO) Chill for the 2013-14 season that should keep the league at ten teams.

North American Hockey League: The junior-level Tier-II NAHL has announced its 2013-14 alignment that will feature 24 teams in 4 regional divisions. Of the 24 teams from last season, the Jamestown (NY) Ironmen and Kalamazoo Junior K-Wings were granted inactive status for 2013-14. The league added the expansion Minnesota Magicians (Richfield) team and the Minnesota Wilderness (Cloquet) team from Canada's Superior International Junior Hockey League. The league's Wenatchee (WA) Wild moved to Hidalgo (TX) as the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, while the Fresno Monsters moved to Wenatchee to become a new version of the Wenatchee Wild.

Eastern Hockey League: The new 18-team EHL junior hockey league has been announced for the 2013-14 season. The league plans to be the top junior hockey league on the East Coast and will try to mirror the standards of USA Hockey's Tier-II standards. Currently, the North American Hockey League is the only Tier-II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey. Most of the new EHL teams come from last season's Tier-III Atlantic Junior Hockey League and Tier-III Eastern Junior Hockey League.

United States Premier Hockey League: The new junior-level USPHL has added the Tier-III Eastern Elite Junior Hockey League and the Tier-III Empire Junior Hockey League to its organization for the 2013-14 season. The EEJHL operated as the Eastern Junior Hockey League-South prior to leaving its affiliation with the EJHL and changing its name after the 2012-13 season. The USPHL will have its top Premier Junior Division, the USPHL Elite Division and the USPHL Empire Division. The USPHL will also have lower-level 16U and 18U Midget levels in 2013-14.

SOCCER

Professional Arena Soccer League: The Anaheim Bolts of the PASL (PASL-Pro) announced the team has suspended operations for the upcoming 2013-14 season. After playing two seasons in the Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL-Premier), the Bolts moved up with a team in the PASL-Pro for the past two seasons. A local Wichita businessman plans to bring a PASL-Pro team to the city for the 2013-14 season. This could also include an outdoor team in the United Soccer Leagues (USL) Premier Development League in 2014 or 2015. The city was home to the Wichita Wings of the USL's Major Indoor Soccer League for the past two seasons, but that team has been put up for sale and will most likely not play in 2013-14.

Premier Arena Soccer League: The summer indoor seasons of the men's and women's PASL-Premier leagues started last month. The women's league, which only plays a summer season, has six California-based teams. The men's league, which plays both a summer and winter season, has six Texas-based teams in the South Central Division and six California-based teams in the Pacific Division for the 2013 summer season.

Women's Premier Soccer League: The WPSL has started its 2013 season and has 72 teams aligned into 12 regional divisions. Some of the new teams for 2013 include AC Seattle, Alabama FC (Birmingham), Boston Breakers College, Storm Elk Grove (CA), Lions Swarm (Maryland), Tualatin Hills United SC (Portland, OR), Tri-City Celtics (Albany), Tucson Soccer Academy, Westside Timbers (Portland, OR), Yankee Ladies FC (Connecticut) and Pinellas County United SC (Florida).

OTHER

National Pro Fastpitch: The women's NPF has started its 2013 season with four teams called the Akron Racers, Chicago Bandits, NY/NJ Comets and USSSA Florida Pride (Kissimmee). The Racers, Bandits and Pride return from last season, while the Comets, based in Bridgewater (NJ), were granted rights to players from the 2012 team known as the Carolina Diamonds, whose franchise was terminated at the conclusion of the 2012 season. The NPF schedule runs from early June to mid-August.

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.

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X-League Stories from June 10, 2013


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