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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
July 22, 2013 - North American Soccer League (NASL)


BASEBALL

Pioneer League: Earlier this month the Idaho Falls Chukars of the rookie-level Pioneer League were renamed the Idaho Falls Russets for one game in recognition of the city's team that started play in the 1940 season of the Pioneer League. The city has been a league member since then under other team names.

Texas Summer League: The new developmental pay-to-play TSL, which is being operated by the independent United League Baseball, has started its three-week season that runs from July 17 to August 6. Two teams called the Aces and Thunder are playing all games at LaGrave Field, home of the ULB's Fort Worth Cats. The first posted schedule had two teams called the Stars and Prairie Dogs, but the league apparently decided to switch to the nicknames from the Alexandria Aces and Texas (McAllen) Thunder, two ULB teams that were dropped by the league about a week ago. The ULB is planning a return for its similar developmental Texas Winter League in 2014. The TWL played its past season in February 2013.

South Atlantic League (SALLY): The Kannapolis (NC) Intimidators of the low Class-A SALLY took the field last weekend as the Piedmont Boll Weevils as part of a "Turn Back the Clock" promotion. The team originally relocated from Spartanburg (SC) to Kannapolis as the Piedmont Phillies in 1995 and became the Boll Weevils from 1996 to 2000. The league's Lakewood (NJ) BlueClaws will be called the BruuuuceClaws for a game next weekend in honor of rock legend Bruce Springsteen.

Freedom Professional Baseball League: The Phoenix Prospectors of the four-team FPBL have been unable to use its proposed home at Phoenix Municipal Stadium for the 2013 season. The Prospectors have been playing all road games with its home games scheduled at other stadiums as doubleheaders or single games.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association: The NBA owners have voted to allow the Charlotte Bobcats to become the Charlotte Hornets after the upcoming 2013-14 season. The Hornets nickname became available after the New Orleans Hornets recently changed their name to the New Orleans Pelicans for the 2013-14 season. The Charlotte Hornets were a 1988-89 expansion team that relocated to become the New Orleans Hornets for the 2002-03 season. The Charlotte Bobcats were an expansion team added for the 2004-05 season.

National Basketball Association Development League (D-League): The 17-team NBA D-League announced NBA affiliations for its three teams (Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Iowa Energy and Bakersfield Jam) that do not have one-to-one affiliations with NBA teams. Since 14 of the 30 NBA teams have single affiliations with D-League teams, 16 NBA teams will place players on 3 D-League teams. Fort Wayne will have six NBA affiliates, while Iowa and Bakersfield will have five NBA affiliates for the 2013-14 season.

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced a new Detroit-based team called the Coast II Coast All-Stars has been added as one of the league's travel teams for the 2013-14 season. The league also announced the Buffalo Warriors team will be part of the Northeast Division in the 2013-14 season. The Warriors were part of the 2011-12 Atlantic Coast Pro Basketball League. Last year, the ABA announced the Buffalo 716ers as a 2013-14 expansion team, but that team has moved to the Independent Basketball Association. The league had previous Buffalo teams called the Rapids (2005-06) and Silverbacks (2006-07). The league's Columbus-based Georgia Bearcats are now listed as the Columbus Life Bearcats and the new Fort Lauderdale Gold is now listed as the South Florida Gold.

Universal Basketball Association: The minor-league UBA has announced a team called the Louisville Diesel will be part of the 2013-14 season. The team will most likely be added to the Eastern Conference, which had four Ohio-based teams last season. The UBA had a team called the Louisville Swish in its 2011-12 season.

FOOTBALL

Lone Star Football League: The Texas-based indoor LSFL plans to expand for its third season in 2014. Owners of a new franchise based in Odessa have signed a letter of intent to join the league next season and all five teams from last season will return. Potential owners of two other teams are in the process of completing applications to join for 2014. The LSFL had an Odessa-based team called the West Texas Roughnecks in its inaugural 2012 season, but the owner put the team up for sale after the season. The Roughnecks had been around since 2004 playing as the Odessa Roughnecks through the 2009 season.

Indoor Football League: The owner of the IFL's Tri-City Fever has decided to bring the team back for a 2014 season even though the team has lost money each of the past four seasons. The Tri-Cities include Pasco, Kennewick and Richland in southeastern Washington. The league's Green Bay Blizzard has been contacted by potential investors to buy the team. New ownership would still have to work out an arena lease. A deadline of September 1, 2013 has been set for completion of a sale to be part of the 2014 season.

Professional Indoor Football League: The PIFL is exploring potential expansion sites for the 2014 season and has received interest from groups in Wilkes-Barre (PA), Hampton Roads (VA), Trenton (NJ), Nashville (TN) and Chattanooga (TN), along with venues in Alabama and Florida. The league had seven teams mostly in southern locations in 2013 and could split into northern and southern conferences depending on what teams actually join for 2014. The PIFL just completed its second season.

Legends Football League - United States: The women's full-contact LFL-US, formerly known as the Lingerie Football League, has announced tryouts for a proposed 2014 expansion team called the Denver Dream. The league had a team called the Denver Dream for its 2009-10 season, but the team suspended operations after only one season.

HOCKEY

North American Hockey League: The junior-level Tier-II NAHL has announced its 2013-14 schedule that will feature 24 teams aligned into Central, Midwest, North and South 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.

SOCCER

United Soccer Leagues - PRO: The new Sacramento-based Division-III USL PRO franchise that will start play in 2014 has announced the team will be called the Sacramento Republic FC. The city of Sacramento has long range plans to build a stadium for a top-level Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise. The suburban Sacramento area of Elk Grove was also considering construction of a soccer-specific stadium for either an MLS team or a Division-II team in the North American Soccer League. The league's under-funded Antigua Barracuda club has received funding from the government for the third time this season to help complete its 2013 schedule. The owner of the league's recently announced 2014 Oklahoma City franchise announced plans to build a 7,000-seat stadium that could be expanded to 20,000 for a possible MLS franchise.

Evergreen Premier League: The new EPL plans to start play in May 2014 as an amateur adult men's league with teams based in the state of Washington. The league will feature lower costs than other similar men's leagues like the United Soccer Leagues-Premier Development League, the National Premier Soccer League and Pacific Coast Soccer League.

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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North American Soccer League Stories from July 22, 2013


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