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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
July 15, 2013 - United League Baseball (ULB)


BASEBALL

United League Baseball: The independent ULB announced that the Alexandria (LA) Aces and the Texas (McAllen) Thunder travel team will not continue playing in the 2013 season and the league will finish with four teams. The ULB added the league-operated Aces for the 2013 season knowing the team's home field was in poor condition. From attendance figures for the first two months of the season, it became obvious fans would not attend games with the field in its current state. The league wants to renovate or replace the current ballpark for a possible return in 2014. Other independent professional teams called the Alexandria Aces had been part of four different leagues since 1994: the Texas-Louisiana League (1994-2001), Central Baseball League (2002-03), United League Baseball (2006-08) and the CBL in 2009. A summer-collegiate team called the Alexandria Aces played the past three seasons (2010-12) in the Texas Collegiate Baseball League. The Thunder started play in 2011 and was basically a road team that played a partial schedule of "home" games for two seasons at the Edinburg Roadrunners' stadium before becoming a full travel team in 2013.

Pacific Association: The independent Pacific Association has suspended its Vallejo (CA) Admirals team due to unpaid bills for salaries and its ballpark lease. The Admirals failed to buy tickets for a scheduled trip to Hawaii to play the league's two Hawaii-based teams. A revised schedule with some additional Admirals home games instead of the Hawaii trip has been cancelled and all players are now considered free agents. The semi-pro East Bay (CA) Lumberjacks team was supposed to travel to Hawaii instead, but apparently that team was made of some Admirals players, some players from the league's Na Koa Ikaika Maui team and other local players in Hawaii. The Lumberjacks were added to the league for the rest of the season.

American Association: The owner of the dormant Edmonton Capitals team, which last played as part of the Golden Baseball League in the 2011 season, wants to bring the team back as part of the AA. The AA has a Canadian team called the Winnipeg Goldeyes and might be interested if one or two other western Canada teams joined with Edmonton. The Capitals' owner could start a second team and was talking with the cities of Saskatoon and Regina. Also, an investor in Fort McMurray (Alberta), about 270 miles north of Edmonton, has been trying to build a ballpark for an independent league team.

New York State League: After stating last week that it would not continue operating the Taos (NM) Blizzard for the rest of the 2013 Pecos League season, the NYSL recently posted plans to return to the New York City area in 2014 where its main field was undergoing renovations in 2012 and 2013. The league will have four teams each playing a forty-game schedule from May 28 to August 1. The NYSL is the official development league for the Can-Am League.

Pecos League: With the New York State League stepping down on July 5 from running the Pecos League's Taos (NM) Blizzard team, the Pecos League has stepped in and will operate the Blizzard for the remainder of the 2013 season. The league says the departure of the NYSL will have no affect on the Blizzard's future and next season the league will operate every team.

Texas Summer League: The independent United League Baseball has announced it will operate the developmental TSL in the Dallas/Fort Worth area from July 15 to August 7, 2013. The pay-to-play league will provide opportunities for players to eventually be part of the ULB or other independent baseball leagues. The ULB operated the four-team Texas Winter League in February 2013.

South Atlantic League (SALLY): The Fredericksburg (VA) city council did not approve the first financing proposal on a new ballpark for the Hagerstown (MD) Suns of the low Class-A SALLY league. The Suns were to have put up funds to acquire land for the ballpark. Further negotiations are expected.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association Development League (D-League): The Reno Bighorns of the NBA D-League have entered into a single affiliation partnership with the NBA's Sacramento Kings for the 2013-14 season. Under this "hybrid affiliation", local ownership runs the day-to-day business operations while the Kings pay for and control the team's basketball operations. NBA teams now have single affiliations with 14 of the 17 D-League teams. Seven D-League teams operate under "hybrid affiliations", six are owned and operated by NBA teams and one has a one-to-one affiliation with an NBA team. The Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Iowa Energy and Bakersfield Jam are the only D-League teams without one-to-one NBA affiliations.

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced a new team called the Philadelphia Spirit will be part of the 2013-14 season. Philadelphia was home to the Philly Squires for part of the 2004-05 season when the New Jersey Squires played home games there in the second half of the season. This team became the Philadelphia Fusion and then the Colonials in the 2005-06 season. A proposed 2008-09 team called the Philadelphia Sounds never started, while a team called the Philadelphia Dragon was announced in 2012 as part of a "Pennsylvania Project" to add 19 different Pennsylvania-based ABA teams to the league.

North American Basketball Development Leagues Association: The proposed new NABDLA, also known as the BDL, plans to start play with a regular-season running from February to May 2014. Apparently, there will be various state-based developmental leagues to assist players in gaining exposure from domestic and international pro teams. Currently, the BDL lists five state leagues with various teams-Indiana (Knightstown Huskers), New York (Buffalo Blue Hawks), West Virginia (Morgantown Mayhem), Ohio (Cleveland Lakers, Columbus Storm, and Miami Valley Aces) and Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh Bullets and Washington Warriors). Additional teams are expected to announced in the future.

FOOTBALL

National Football League: With the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars agreeing to play a regular-season game in London in each of the next four years, there has been speculation the Jaguars will eventually relocate to London. The NFL has hosted a regular-season game in London since the 2007 season as part of its International Series and has expressed interest in adding a London-based franchise in the near future.

Xtreme Indoor Football League: The Lakeland (FL) Raiders of the recently announced XIFL have changed their name to the Florida Marine Raiders in an effort to broaden its marketing to Central Florida. The name is based on a United States Marine Corps battalion called the Marine Raiders in World War II. The Raiders started play in the 2012 United Indoor Football League, which became the Ultimate Indoor Football League in 2013. The Raiders and other 2013 Ultimate teams left to join the new XIFL for 2014.

Champions Professional Indoor Football League: The Sedalia-based Mid-Missouri Outlaws of the CPIFL were 0-12 in the league's first season and are not expected to return in 2014. There is speculation the team will return to the semi-pro outdoor Central Plains Football League where it played three seasons (2007-09) before moving to the semi-pro indoor American Professional Football League for two seasons (2011-12). The Central Plains Football League uses 8-player teams on a 50-yard outdoor field.

HOCKEY

National Hockey League: If the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes sale goes through, a proposed name change for the team to the Arizona Coyotes might not happen until the 2014-15 season.

American Hockey League: The AHL has announced its alignment for the 2013-14 season that includes some rearranging of teams in the three Western Conference divisions. With the move of the Midwest Division's Peoria Rivermen to Utica (NY), the Utica Comets were moved to the North Division. The Abbotsford Heat (British Columbia) was moved from the North Division to the renamed West Division, which was called the South Division last year. To replace Peoria in the Midwest Division, the Des Moines-based Iowa Wild, which operated as the Houston Aeros in last season's South Division, was moved to the Midwest Division.

Midwest Junior Hockey League: The MWJHL plans to add a team called the West Michigan Freeze, based in the Grand Rapids suburb of Walker, for the 2013-14 season to replace the suspended Holland River Bandits. The MWJHL is affiliated with the Amateur Athletic Union.

Major League Roller Hockey: The MLRH has announced the addition of two new teams called the So Cal Bulls (Huntington Beach) and the Las Vegas Jokers for the 2013-14 season. The league is also trying to develop a New York State division for the upcoming season.

SOCCER

North American Soccer League: An ownership group in Jacksonville is trying to bring a Division-II NASL team to the city for the 2015 season. The league will be holding a board meeting on expansion later this month where Jacksonville and other potential expansion cities will be making presentations. The NASL will have eight teams for its upcoming 2013 fall season with the addition of the New York Cosmos and it plans to add the Ottawa Fury FC, Indy Seven (Indianapolis) and Virginia Cavalry (Loudoun County) in 2014. Groups in Oklahoma City and Sacramento have also been identified for possible 2015 expansion teams.

Canadian Soccer Association Semi-pro League: The CSA is trying to launch a national Canadian semi-pro soccer league in 2015. The CSA plans to start with three regional leagues in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia as the basis of the national league. The Quebec league will be the current seven-team Premier Ligue de Soccer du Quebec (PLSQ), which is in its second season. An Ontario-based league is expected to start up in 2014 and a British Columbia league is hoped to start in 2015.

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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United League Baseball Stories from July 15, 2013


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