Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
February 17, 2014 - Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL)
BASEBALL
Southern League: The Biloxi (MS) city council voted in favor of issuing bonds to finance a new stadium that will become home to the relocated Huntsville Stars of the Double-A Southern League. The new stadium is expected to open for the 2015 season.
Atlantic League: The Virginia Beach (VA) city council approved a land lease with a group that plans to build a 5,000-seat privately financed ballpark for an Atlantic League team. The new ballpark is expected to be ready for the 2015 season.
Frontier League: The Frontier League's travel team known as the Frontier Greys will again play all of its 2014 games on the road, but the league is looking at Highland (IL) to serve as the team's spring training location and a possible home to its players when the Greys play the three teams in the St. Louis area-the River City Rascals (O'Fallon, MO), Gateway Grizzlies (Sauget, IL) and Southern Illinois Miners (Marion). The team played as the Road Warriors travel team when the London (Ontario) Rippers folded late in the 2012 season and was renamed the Greys as a 2013 travel team.
Pacific Coast League: The new El Paso Chihuahuas of the Triple-A PCL will play its initial four-game homestand at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson because their new stadium in El Paso will not be done until April 28, 2014. The Tucson Padres moved to El Paso after the 2013 season, but the team's owner had worked a deal to use the stadium in Tucson if the El Paso stadium was not completed in time.
BASKETBALL
Central Basketball League: The CBL announced it will now have 15 teams for its 2014 season instead of the 18 teams announced last week. Gone from the list of 2014 teams are the Carolina Warhawks, Columbus Life and Indiana Legends. For now, the 15 teams are aligned into a ten-team Eastern Conference and a five-team Western Conference. Eventually, the league wants to grow to 35 teams.
Premier Basketball League: The Grand Rapids Cyclones, at one time a proposed American Basketball Association expansion team, are listed as a 2015 PBL expansion team. The Cyclones plan to play five to six home games in 2014 against some PBL teams and then play a full PBL schedule in 2015.
Liga Nacional Baloncesto Profesional-Femenil: The LNBPF, a new Mexican women's basketball league sponsored by the country's top men's pro basketball league known as the LNBP, announced it will start play next month. The league has confirmed 11 teams, but it could grow to 12 teams by the start of the season. The 11 teams include the Aguilas de Tabasco, Angeles de Queretaro, Felinas de Leon, Fresas de Irapuato, Fusion Club del Distrito Federal, Halconcitas de Xalapa, Mexcaltecas de Tepic, Mieleras de Guanajuato, Petroleras de Minatitlan, Pumas de la UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) and Rieleras de Aquascalientes.
FOOTBALL
Professional Indoor Football League: The city of Albany (GA) has terminated its lease agreement with the PIFL's Albany Panthers team. The PIFL is working with the Panthers and the city of Albany to try to keep the team in the league for the 2014 season that starts next month.
Ultimate Indoor Football League: The UIFL announced its fourth team for the 2014 season will be the Missouri Voodoo based in Springfield. Previously known as the SouthWest Missouri Voodoo, the team played the past two outdoor spring seasons (2012-13) as part of the semi-pro eight-man Central Plains Football League. In 2013, the Voodoo took over the Media Com Ice Park arena, which had been home to the Springfield WolfPack of the indoor American Professional Football League, with plans to convert to an indoor team. The WolfPack folded during the 2012 season of the APFL.
Canadian Football League: The CFL announced its 2014 season schedule that will feature the addition of the expansion Ottawa REDBLACKS team to the East Division. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers were moved to the West Division after spending the past eight seasons in the East Division.
Arena Football League: The nickname chosen for the AFL's new Portland Thunder team was not the winning choice in a name-the-team contest. Apparently, the names "Growlers" and "Sasquatch" were first and second, but ownership decided to go with the "Thunder". A team called the Portland Thunder played in the 1975 season of the defunct World Football League.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The AHL president stated that the league will try to find a replacement for the St. John's IceCaps (Newfoundland) team, which is owned by the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League and recently announced a proposed move to a new arena to be built in Thunder Bay (Ontario). The IceCaps are in their third season in the league and are expected to move after the 2014-15 season. St. John's had a previous AHL team called the St. John's Maple Leafs that left after the 2004-05 season and was replaced by a major-junior team called the St. John's Fog Devils that lasted only three seasons (2005-08) in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
ECHL: The ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers have come to an agreement with the Plaza hotel in downtown Las Vegas to build a 3,500-seat ice hockey facility that will become home to the Wranglers starting with the 2014-15 season. The Wranglers' lease at its current arena was not renewed for next season.
SOCCER
Major League Soccer: The proposed new Miami-based MLS expansion team was reported to be considering the Miami Vice and the Miami Current as a couple of possible names for the team. There was also a possible third undisclosed name tied to a corporate sponsor.
National Premier Soccer League: The new Fort Worth team in the men's elite-level NPSL announced it will be called the Fort Worth Vaqueros (Cowboys) when it starts play in the 2014 season.
OTHER
Major League Ultimate: The MLU professional ultimate disc league announced the schedule for its second season that will run from April 12 to June 21, 2014. The league will have the same eight teams as last season with the Boston Whitecaps, New York Rumble, Philadelphia Spinners and Washington DC Current in the Eastern Division, and the Portland Stags, San Francisco Dogfish, Seattle Rainmakers and Vancouver Nighthawks in the Western 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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Professional Indoor Football League Stories from February 17, 2014
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
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.
