Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
October 28, 2013 - Lone Star Football League (LSFL)

BASEBALL

Pacific Coast League: The new El Paso Triple-A PCL team, which operated as the Tucson Padres for the past two seasons, announced the team will be called the El Paso Chihuahuas when its starts play in the 2014 season. The name was chosen to represent the city's spirit and loyal community and to recognize the city's location in the Chihuahuan Desert. Other nickname choices were the Aardvarks, Buckaroos, Desert Gators and Sun Dogs. El Paso returns to affiliated baseball after losing its El Paso Diablos team in the Double-A Texas League to Springfield (MO) after the 2004 season. An independent baseball team called the El Paso Diablos started play in 2005 and was a member of the American Association in 2013.

American Association: With the arrival next season of the new El Paso Chihuahuas team in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, the El Paso Diablos team in the independent AA will shut down operations. The Diablos no longer appear on the AA team list and the league now has 12 teams. After playing the 2005 season in the defunct Central Baseball League, the Diablos moved to the AA when that league was formed for the 2006 season.

Frontier League: The independent Frontier League released its 2014 schedule and the league will have the same 14 teams aligned into 2 divisions. The East will again have the Evansville (IN) Otters, Florence (KY) Freedom, Lake Erie Crushers (Avon, OH), Southern Illinois Miners (Marion), Traverse City (MI) Beach Bums, Washington (PA) Wild Things and the Frontier Greys travel team. The West will include the Gateway Grizzlies (Sauget, IL), Joliet (IL) Slammers, Normal (IL) CornBelters, River City Rascals (O'Fallon, MO), Rockford (IL) RiverHawks, Schaumburg (IL) Boomers and Windy City ThunderBolts (Crestwood, IL).

BASKETBALL

Eastern Basketball Alliance: The EBA, which calls itself the Mid-Atlantic's Premier Minor Basketball League, is trying to add an EBA Southern Division for the 2014 with teams based in the Atlanta area.

American Professional Basketball League: The APBL recently announced its 2013-14 schedule that was to start this weekend. The league has grown from 16 to 20 teams that are aligned into a Northern Conference with five-team Atlantic and Eastern divisions and a Southern Conference with five-team Patriot and Colonial divisions. The league lost the Palmieri Jeans Destroyers and Brooklyn Firebirds from last season, but added six teams called the Maryland Bay Raiders, Portsmouth (VA) Cavaliers, Brooklyn All-Game, Gotham City Revolution, South Jersey Thunder and D.C. Funkhouse. The league's Brooklyn-based Tri-State Energy was renamed The Blazers. The Alexandria (VA) Avengers remained in the league after taking over for the West Virginia Monarchs (Martinsburg) during the 2012-13 season.

Universal Basketball Association: The Cincinnati Slam of the UBA announced it will move operations to Dayton for the 2013-14 season and the team will be renamed the Gem City Slam. The Slam has been part of the UBA for the past two seasons.

Women's United States Basketball Association: The WUSBA, which has been trying to get of the ground over the past few years, now states it will play a 2014 season from June through August with eight participating cities-Boston, Chicago, Denver, Miami, Houston, Seattle, San Diego and Washington (DC). Each city will host competitions at one location involving four WUSBA-sponsored teams and international teams from Asia, Europe, South America and Africa.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football League: It looks as though the Chicago Rush and Utah Blaze (Salt Lake City) will not return for the 2014 season, but the league will remain at 14 teams with the addition of the expansion Los Angeles KISS and the yet-to-be-named expansion team in Portland (OR). As the league develops its new AFL-China league for next year, two exhibition games are scheduled for next month-one in Honolulu (HA) and another in Beijing (China).

Legends Football League - Europa: The women's LFL, which was originally known as the Lingerie Football League, is moving forward with a European league known as the LFL-Europa. League officials are currently touring prospective stadiums and the league could have franchises in Paris, Barcelona, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Dublin and Manchester (United Kingdom) for its proposed start in 2015.

Lone Star Football League: The Laredo Rattlesnakes of the indoor LSFL ceased operations a couple of weeks ago, but the league was hoping to find a new owner in time for the 2014 season. The Rattlesnakes' owner put the franchise up for sale after the 2013 season, but had not found a buyer. The league had five teams last year and if the Rattlesnakes do not return, the league will have six teams with the addition of the new Odessa-based West Texas Wildcatters and the new Rio Grand Valley Sol based in McAllen (TX).

National Football League: The NFL will increase its regular-season games in London (England) to three starting next season, but it does not have a timetable as to when it would add a London-based NFL franchise. The league also wants to return a franchise to the Los Angeles market.

HOCKEY

Southern Professional Hockey League: The minor professional SPHL started its 2013-14 season this weekend with ten teams aligned into one table. Of the nine teams from last season, the Augusta (GA) RiverHawks did not return, but the league added two new Illinois-based teams called the Peoria Rivermen and the Bloomington Thunder. Peoria lost its American Hockey League team called the Rivermen to Utica (NY) after the 2012-13 season, so a new SPHL team was created. Some executives associated with the Bloomington Blaze of the 2012-13 Central Hockey League purchased the team and decided to move it the SPHL for the 2013-14 season. The team was renamed the Thunder after its move to the SPHL.

Ligue de Hockey Nord Americaine: The minor pro-level Quebec-based LNAH, or the North American Hockey League, started its 2013-14 season earlier this month. The league increased to eight teams with the addition of the Valleyfield Braves, while two teams changed their names. The Sorel-Tracy HC Carvena became the Sorel-Tracy Eperviers (Black Hawks), while the Trois-Rivieres Caron & Guay became the Trois-Rivieres Viking.

National Ringette League: The women's NRL started its 2013-14 season earlier this month with 13 teams. Gone from last season are the BC Thunder (British Columbia), Prairie Fire (Winnipeg) and Quebec City Cyclones. The league has a two-team Western Conference and an Eastern Conference with a five-team White Division and a six-team Red Division. Ringette is a team sport similar to ice hockey in equipment and playing surface. Players use straight sticks to control and pass a rubber ring. The game is centered more around skating and passing rather than puck handling and involves catching or "stabbing" the ring. It is played primarily by women in the United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland and France. The NRL is in its tenth season.

SOCCER

American Professional Soccer: A new league known as the APS is trying to form for the 2014 season with teams to be based in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Maryland. Chicago is scheduled to join in 2015.

United Soccer Leagues - Super 20 League: The USL will integrate the operations its two men's amateur leagues-the Premier Development League (PDL) and the Super-20 League-for the 2014 season. The men's PDL is for amateur players under the age of 23, while the Super-20 League is for elite players between the ages of 17 and 20. A similar USL women's elite league, now called the W-20 league, was aligned with the USL W-League for the 2013 season. The Super-20 League is expected to have more than 50 teams in 2014. Last year, the league had 52 teams in 9 regional divisions with 12 PDL affiliates, 2 USL PRO affiliates and 2 affiliates of Major League Soccer organizations.

Major League Soccer: Orange County (FL) officials approved funds for a new downtown soccer stadium in Orlando that is expected to become home to an MLS expansion franchise. The owner of the Orlando City SC Lions team in the United Soccer Leagues PRO league plans to enter into negotiations with the MLS to bring a franchise to Orlando, possibly in time for the 2015 season. It is hoped that stadium construction will start in the spring of 2014 after acquisition of the land parcels has been completed.

OTHER

American Ultimate Disc League: The professional AUDL announced it will expand to the West Coast for its third season in 2014 with teams planned for San Jose, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Vancouver (British Columbia). The AUDL's competitor, Major League Ultimate, started its first season last year and had a four-team Western Division that included teams in San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver. The AUDL will also add a new team called the Montreal Royal to its Eastern Division and plans to increase from 12 to 18 teams. The 2014 season will have a seven-team Eastern Division, a six-team Midwestern Division and a five-team Western Division. The AUDL also granted franchises to groups in Jacksonville, Charlotte, Austin and Boston, but they will not start in 2014. The league wants to have 34 to 36 teams by 2017.

National Lacrosse League: The nine-team indoor NLL officially announced its realignment for the upcoming 2014 season with the Minnesota Swarm moving from the Western Division to the Eastern Division.

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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