Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
October 7, 2013 - Arena Football League (AFL)

BASEBALL

Pacific Coast League: The owner of Major League Baseball's Houston Astros is working with a developer on plans for a Triple-A ballpark in The Woodlands area of suburban Houston that could become home to a PCL team affiliated with the Astros. The earliest a ballpark could be ready is 2016 or 2017. The Astros would have to purchase a Triple-A team and move it to the Houston area. The PCL's New Orleans Zephyrs team has been mentioned as a possible candidate for relocation. Both the Atlantic Baseball League and the American Association independent leagues had been looking at The Woodlands for possible expansion.

Atlantic Baseball League: The independent ABL announced its 2014 schedule this past week and the Virginia-based Loudoun Hounds expansion team was not included. The Hounds' new stadium in Ashburn is not expected to be completed until the third quarter of 2014. The ABL will have the same eight teams and the same alignment as this past season.

Can-Am League: After the city of Ottawa decided to pursue an independent Can-Am League team for 2015, the league commissioner stated it also had a ballpark in development in Pennsylvania. There was speculation this statement could be in reference to a ballpark proposed by the city of Phoenixville in the Philadelphia area.

Southern League: The city of Biloxi (MS) will vote next week on whether to finance construction of a minor league baseball stadium that could become home to a Double-A Southern League team.

Northwoods League: The summer-collegiate Northwoods League will grow to 18 teams in 2014 and announced the Eau Claire (WI) Express will be moved from the South Division to create a nine-team North Division in 2014. The league's two yet-to-be-named expansion teams in Kenosha (WI) and Kalamazoo (MI) will added to create a nine-team South Division.

BASKETBALL

Tobacco Road Basketball League: The TRBL announced four new teams for its third season in 2014. These teams include the Neuse River Basketball Club (Smithfield, NC), Palmetto Flight (Spartanburg, SC), South Carolina All-Stars (Greenville) and Bull City Legacy (Durham, NC). The Neuse River team will most likely replace the JC Nighthawks (Johnson County, NC) travel team from the 2013 season. A previous Spartanburg-based team called the Hub City Lakers was announced as a full-schedule team for the 2013 season, but it never played and became a 2014 provisional team. The South Carolina All-Stars and Bull City Legacy each played one TRBL game during the 2013 season.

Central Basketball League: The CBL announced some additional new teams called the Buffalo 716ers, Lake City Kingdom Riders (Lake Charles, LA), Gulf Coast Gladiators (Largo/Tampa, FL) and Los Angeles Hoopz have been added for the 2014 season. The Buffalo 716ers were originally announced as a 2013-14 American Basketball Association (ABA) expansion team and then stated the team was moving to the Independent Basketball Association. The Lake City Kingdom Riders team was also originally announced as a 2013-14 ABA expansion team. The Gulf Coast Gladiators were originally announced as the Southwest Florida Spartans, another proposed 2013-14 ABA team that would play in the fall-winter ABA and then participate in the CBL starting in April 2014.

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced a team called the Spyders of Georgia will start play in 2014. A previous ABA team called the College Park (GA) Spyders was announced for the 2009-10 season and again for the 2010-11 season, but never started play.

Independent Basketball Association: The IBA has announced the schedule for its 2013-14 Winter Season that will run from October 19, 2013 through January 12, 2014. The Winter Season will feature eight teams: the Battle Creek (MI) Flight, Kankakee County (IL) Soldiers, Kenosha (WI) Ballers, Lake County (IL) Stars, Lansing (MI) Capitals, Rockford (IL) Riverdawgs, St. Louis Trotters and Windy City (Chicago) Blazers. Lansing is scheduled for only four road games, while the rest of the teams are scheduled for 16 games. Lake County will play all of its games on the road.

North American Basketball Development Leagues Association: The proposed new NABDLA, which plans to start play in February 2014 with several state-based developmental leagues, has made some adjustments to its teams. The New York State League has added teams called the Brooklyn Astros, New York Eagles and New York Lightning. The Indiana League has added the Indiana Legends. The Ohio League has replaced the Cleveland Lakers and Columbus Storm with the Cleveland Coyotes and Columbus Avengers, while the Miami Valley Aces team is gone. The West Virginia League with the Morgantown Mayhem is gone and replaced by the Virginia League with the Newport News Nighthawks team. The goal of the organization is to assist players in gaining exposure from domestic and international pro teams.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football League: The AFL announced a new team based in Portland (OR) will be part of the 2014 season. The new Portland ownership group was approved to purchase a majority of the league's dormant Milwaukee Mustangs franchise and relocate it to Portland as an expansion team with new players and no ties to the former Mustangs. The Milwaukee franchise joined the new AFL for its first season in 2010 as the Milwaukee Iron, which had been a 2009 expansion team in the final season of the arenafootball2 minor indoor league. The Iron became the Milwaukee Mustangs in 2011 after taking the name of a team that played in the original AFL from 1994 to 2001. The renamed Mustangs played two seasons (2011-12) in the new AFL and received permission to sit out the 2013 season to look for new investors. A previous indoor football team called the Portland Forest Dragons played three seasons (1997-99) in the original AFL. That team came about when the Memphis Pharaohs relocated and became the Portland Forest Dragons for the 1997 season. The Forest Dragons then moved to Oklahoma City as the Oklahoma Wranglers for the 2000 season.

National Spring Football League: The professional developmental NSFL still plans to start play in 2014 with 12 teams, but is working on future expansion into Chicago, Dallas and Salt Lake City. Proposed teams names for those markets are the Chicago Blast, Dallas Twisters and Utah Argos.

Legends Football League - Canada: The LFL, formerly known as the Lingerie Football League, has decided to cancel the 2013 season of the four-team LFL-Canada. Early last month, the league announced it had shortened its regular season from four games to only two games per team. A short time later, one of the teams cited league disorganization and refused to play the shortened season, so the league's second season was cancelled. The BC Angels (Abbotsford, British Columbia), Regina Rage and Saskatoon Sirens were scheduled to return from last season, while the new Calgary Fillies team was to replace the Toronto Triumph for the 2013 season. The LFL-Canada plans to return in 2014.

Legends Football League - Europa: The LFL, formerly known as the Lingerie Football League, will be touring the United Kingdom, Ireland and France next month as it starts to build the structure for LFL-Europa and its debut in 2015. Germany and Spain are also under consideration for LFL-Europa teams. The LFL also has the LFL-USA, LFL-Canada and the new LFL-Australia, which will start its first season in December 2013.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The 30-team AHL, which is the top development league for the 30 teams in the National Hockey League, started its 2013-14 season this past week. The league had two team changes as the Houston Aeros moved to Des Moines as the Iowa Wild and the Peoria Rivermen became the Utica (NY) Comets as part of an affiliation change from the St. Louis Blues to the Vancouver Canucks. The league alignment changed with the Abbotsford Heat moving to the renamed West Division, Iowa being placed in the Midwest Division and Utica being placed in the North Division.

SOCCER

Premier Arena Soccer League: The PASL-Premier, which is the official developmental league of the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL), has added two new teams called the Skyline Eagles of Grand Junction (CO) and the Chicago Inferno for the 2013-14 season. The Chicago Inferno has operated an outdoor team for the past two seasons as part of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League.

North American Soccer League: The ownership group trying to bring an NASL franchise to Oklahoma City in 2015 is also starting to work on an NASL team for Tulsa. Although the Tulsa effort is in the early stages, a proposed team would most likely be called the Tulsa Roughnecks. This was the name of the city's soccer team that played seven seasons (1978-84) as part of the original NASL, which was the top-level pro soccer league at that time.

Dan Krieger is the creator of the "The Leagueology Almanac 2012-13", 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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