NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
August 5, 2013 - North American Soccer League (NASL)


BASEBALL

Arizona Fall League (AzFL): The AzFL, which is operated by Major League Baseball, announced the six teams for its upcoming 2013 season that starts in October. The East Division will have the Mesa Solar Sox, Salt River Rafters and Scottsdale Scorpions, while the West Division will have the Glendale Desert Dogs, Peoria Javilinas and Surprise Saguaros. The Phoenix Desert Dogs were renamed with the team moving from the Phoenix Municipal Stadium to the Camelback Ranch facility in Glendale. Both the Peoria Javilinas and Surprise Saguaros will play games at Surprise Stadium due to renovations at the Peoria Sports Complex. Each AzFL team is assigned players from five different MLB organizations.

Pacific Association: The independent Pacific Association announced last month the suspension of its Vallejo (CA) Admirals team because it was behind on payroll and added the East Bay Lumberjacks team to keep the league at four teams. The league found new ownership for the Admirals and the team restarted its schedule on July 23. Last week the league announced the season-ending playoff structure that will include all five teams-the California-based Admirals, Lumberjacks, and San Rafael Pacifics and the Hawaii-based Hawaii Stars and Na Koa Ikaika Maui.

BASKETBALL

Central Basketball League: It looks as though the CBL is planning a new Sunshine Division for 2014 and announced an informational meeting will be held in late November in West Palm Beach (FL). The CBL recently completed its inaugural 2013 spring-summer season with four Midwestern teams.

American Professional Basketball League: The APBL announced that a team called the Portsmouth (VA) Cavaliers from the Hampton Roads area will join the league as an expansion team for the 2013-14 season. The Cavaliers played its inaugural 2010-11 season as part of the Eastern Basketball Alliance before moving to the American Basketball Association for the past two seasons (2011-13).

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced an expansion team called the Providence (RI) Anchors has been added as a 2014 expansion team. The ABA has listed a new team called the Michiana Ballaholix, which will be a travel team based out of South Bend (IN) for the 2013-14 season. The ABA's Michiana Monarchs team from last season, also based in South Bend, previously announced a move to Mount Vernon (IL) as the King City Monarchs.

Basketball Alumni Legends League: The BALL, a proposed new "post-college" summertime league to be comprised of players that have exhausted their collegiate eligibility, has been holding a four-game pro basketball series from July 27 to August 5, 2013. The league's D.C Dobermans team was hosting teams from Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and Philadelphia at George Washington University. The BALL was first announced last year and plans to have at least eight teams eventually playing a league-based summertime season. Each team would have rights to the college alumni from certain colleges within its territory.

North American Basketball Development Leagues Association: The proposed new NABDLA, also known as the BDL, has added some teams to four of its five state-based leagues. Indiana has added the Indianapolis Kings; New York has added the Brooklyn Firebirds; Ohio has added the Elyria Titans; and Pennsylvania has added the South Philly Avengers. No new teams were added in West Virginia. The BDL plans to start play with a regular-season running from February to May 2014.

World Basketball Association Exposure League: After recently completing its 2013 season with five teams, the WBA lists two new Atlanta-based teams called the Blaze and Lightning that will join in 2014.

FOOTBALL

Continental Indoor Football League: The CIFL has its current seven teams aligned into a four-team North Division with the Detroit Thunder, Erie Explosion, Port Huron Predators and Saginaw Sting, and a three-team South Division with the Dayton Sharks, Kentucky Xtreme (Louisville) and Northern Kentucky River Monsters (Highland Heights). At least one more CIFL team is expected to be announced for the 2014 season, but the Pikeville-based Kentucky Drillers team that was part of the 2013 season is not expected back. Earlier this year the Roc City Thunder (Rochester, NY) announced plans to join the CIFL, but there has been no official announcement of that team for the 2014 season. The CIFL has denied that a new team called the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Soldiers will be part of the league. A proposed Wilkes-Barre/Scranton expansion team had been announced by American Indoor Football for its 2014 season.

Women's Spring Football League: The WSFL completed its 2013 season last month and reported that a new team called the Texas Resurrection (Benham) will join for the 2014 season. The DFW Xtreme (Dallas/Fort Worth) will return to the WSFL in 2014. The Xtreme was part of the 2012 WSFL, but played the 2013 season as part of the Independent Women's Football League.

HOCKEY

Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey: The Quebec-based lower-level professional LNAH, or North American Hockey League, has added an eighth team called the Valleyfield Braves, based in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, for its upcoming 2013-14 season. The ownership of a Junior-A team called the Valleyfield Braves, which operated in the Quebec Junior AAA League over the past several years, decided to switch to a team in the professional LNAH. The league's Sorel-Tracy HC Carvena team changed its name to the Sorel-Tracy Eperviers (Black Hawks) for the 2013-14 season. The city had a team called the Sorel Eperviers that was a previous member of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

SOCCER

United Soccer Leagues - Major Indoor Soccer League: The Reading-based MISL expansion franchise for 2013-14 officially announced the team will be called the Pennsylvania Roar. The ownership apparently wanted to call the team the Reading Roar, but the league suggested the name change for marketing to a larger fan base. It looks as though the league will remain at seven teams for the 2013-14 with Pennsylvania and the expansion St. Louis Ambush replacing last year's Chicago Soul and Wichita Wings teams.

North American Soccer League: The Division-II NASL started its 2013 Fall Season that will run from early August to early November 2013. This is the first year for the league's split schedule that included seven teams competing in a Spring Season that ended in early July and eight teams competing in the Fall Season after the addition of the expansion New York Cosmos. The Spring Season champion will play the Fall Season champion in the NASL Soccer Bowl on November 9. If the same team wins both seasons, it will play the team with the next best combined record from both seasons.

Major League Soccer: After the MLS adds its 20th team in New York City for the 2015 season, the league recently announced plans to expand to 24 teams by 2020. Former MLS player David Beckham is reportedly trying to place an MLS expansion team in Miami. Other possible expansion markets include Orlando, Detroit, Atlanta, Sacramento and the Twin Cities. The MLS has been forced to provide assistance to its Los Angeles-based Chivas USA team that is dealing with low attendance and ownership issues. The owners of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the Division-III United Soccer Leagues-PRO league have made moving up to the MLS as a long-range goal.

OTHER

World Series of Boxing: The team-based international boxing league called the World Series of Boxing (WSB) has announced the 12 teams that will be split into a six-team Group A and a six-team Group B for its fourth season in 2013-14. The British Lionhearts team will not return, but a recently announced new team called the Cuba Domadores has been added. Group A includes the Algeria Desert Hawks, Argentine Condors, German Eagles, Italia Thunder, Ukraine Otamans and the USA Knockouts. Group B has the Azerbaijan Baku Fires, Astana Arlans Kazakhstan, Cuba Domadores, Hussars Poland, Mexico Guerreros, and Russia Boxing Team. The season will run from mid-November 2013 to early March 2014.

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.

• Discuss this story on the North American Soccer League message board...

North American Soccer League Stories from August 5, 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