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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
March 31, 2014 - Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)


BASEBALL

Atlantic League: The new president of the independent Atlantic League wants the league to grow from 8 to 12 teams in the future and the main goal is to had three additional teams in Texas to go with its lone Texas-based team called the Sugar Land Skeeters.

Major League Baseball: With MLB's Toronto Blue Jays playing a pair of exhibition games in Montreal this weekend, the return of MLB to Montreal in the future was a topic of discussion. For Montreal to obtain another MLB team, the city would need a new stadium and a current team willing to relocate to Montreal. A feasibility study completed in December 2013 concluded an MLB team in Montreal was financially viable under certain conditions. The former Montreal Expos played in the National League from 1969 to 2004 before moving to Washington (DC).

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association Development League (D-League): Local ownership in Grand Rapids (MI) plans to purchase the Springfield (MA) Armor franchise of the NBA D-League and relocate the team to Grand Rapids for the 2014-15 season. The Grand Rapids team is then expected to become the exclusive "hybrid" affiliate of the NBA's Detroit Pistons with the Pistons running the basketball operations of the D-League team. The Springfield Armor joined the D-League for the 2009-10 season and became the exclusive affiliate of the NBA's New Jersey Nets (now Brooklyn) starting with the 2011-12 season. The agreement with the Nets expires after this season. The NBA's Portland Trail Blazers announced they would end their affiliation with the D-League's Idaho (Boise) Stampede after this season. The Stampede will try to develop a new exclusive affiliation with another NBA team, possibly the Utah Jazz or Denver Nuggets. Of the 17 D-League teams this season, 14 had some sort of one-to-one relationship with an NBA team either through direct ownership or an exclusive "hybrid" affiliation in which the NBA team ran the basketball operations of a D-League team under local ownership.

International Basketball League: The springtime West Coast Basketball League, which has been around since the 2008 season, will operate as a seven-team WCBL Division of the IBL for the upcoming 2014 spring-summer season. The owner of the Santa Barbara Breakers team, which played in the 2007 season of the IBL, left to form the WCBL in the Los Angeles area for the 2008 season.

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced a new Pittsburgh team called the Steel City Yellow Jackets will start play in the 2014-15 season. The ABA has had some prior history in Pittsburgh. A proposed 2002 team called the Pittsburgh Patriots was renamed the Golden Flames, but never played. A team called the Pittsburgh Hardhats was announced for the 2004-05 season, but moved to nearby McKeesport as the Pennsylvania Pit Bulls for that season. A team called the Pittsburgh Xplosion was part of the 2005-06 season and a team called the Pittsburgh Phantoms played in the 2009-10 ABA season.

Independent Basketball Association: The Holland (MI) Dream has been removed from the IBA schedule and the league standings for the current 2014 spring season.

Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacifico (CIBACOPA): The CIBACOPA (Pacific Coast Basketball League), Mexico's second professional basketball league next to the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP), started its 2014 season this weekend. The league increased to ten teams with the return of the Caballeros de Culiacan. The Mineros de Cananea relocated to Caborca (Sonora) and became the Mineros de Caborca. The 2014 season runs from late March to late May 2014.

Mountain State Basketball League: The proposed new MSBL plans to start play in late May 2014 with at least eight teams. Six of the new MSBL teams called the Atlantic Crowns (Atlanta), the Florida-based Fort Pierce Warriors and Martin County Lions, and the West Virginia-based St. Albans Wild, Logan Mustangs and West Virginia Angels were at one time listed as members for the 2014 season of the Central Basketball League. The West Virginia Angels were also briefly a member of the 2014 Premier Basketball League. The other two MSBL teams currently listed are the Blue Spiders (Atlanta area) and Vero Beach (FL) Stampede. The Blue Spiders, along with the Atlantic Crowns, were listed as part of a new Southern Division in the 2014 Eastern Basketball Alliance, but never played an EBA game. A Vero Beach team called the Treasure Coast Stampede was previously announced as a new team for the 2014 season of the American Basketball League.

FOOTBALL

Continental Indoor Football League: The CIFL announced it has suspended the Louisville-based Kentucky Xtreme organization indefinitely. The CIFL will honor the Xtreme's remaining road games on the 2014 schedule. A team called the Chicago Assassins from the semi-pro Imperial Indoor Football League will play a game against the CIFL's Chicago Blitz and a CIFL affiliated team in Kentucky will be used to play a game against the league's Northern Kentucky River Monsters. After playing a couple of CIFL exhibition games in 2012, the Xtreme joined the league for the 2013 season. The team had an 0-5 record in the 2014 season including two forfeited games.

Ultimate Indoor Football League: During the past week, the UIFL announced its 2014 schedule that will feature four teams each playing an eight-game schedule from mid-May to mid-July. The teams will include the returning Corpus Christi Fury and Florida Tarpons (Fort Myers) along with the new Missouri Voodoo (Springfield) and Miami Inferno.

HOCKEY

Southern Professional Hockey League: The Bloomington (IL) Thunder of the SPHL could be out of the league after only one season due to reports the team is behind on arena lease payments. A top-level junior hockey team in the Tier-I United States Hockey League could replace the SPHL team next season and possibly use the same Bloomington Thunder name. The SPHL's Peoria Rivermen team, which was under the same joint ownership as the Thunder and also joined the SPHL for the 2013-14 season, will continue to operate and was reported to be considering a move to the Central Hockey League for the 2014-15 season.

United States Hockey League: In addition to a possible Bloomington (IL) junior hockey team being added to the Tier-I USHL for the 2014-15 season, there have been some questions about the return of the league's Indiana Ice (Indianapolis) for next season. The professional AA-level ECHL will be adding the new Indianapolis Fuel franchise next season and the Indiana Ice could be shut down or relocated.

Federal Hockey League: The Watertown (NY) Privateers might have played their last home game in Watertown. The FHL commissioner took over partial ownership of the Privateers during the season and needs to find new local ownership to run the team next season.

SOCCER

United Soccer Leagues - PRO: The men's USL PRO league has started its 2014 season with 14 teams aligned in a single table format. The league had 13 teams last season, but the Antiqua Barracuda FC, VSI Tampa Bay FC and Phoenix FC Wolves did not return. The league added four new teams called the Oklahoma City Energy, Sacramento Republic FC, Los Angles Galaxy II and the Arizona United SC, which replaced the Wolves in the Phoenix area. Eleven of the league's teams have affiliation agreements with teams from Major League Soccer for the 2014 season.

United Soccer Leagues - Major Indoor Soccer League: The Milwaukee Wave franchise has received its official release from the MISL and is in active negotiations to join the Professional Arena Soccer League. Four other MISL teams-the Baltimore Blast, Missouri Comets (Independence/Kansas City), Rochester (NY) Lancers and Syracuse (NY) Knights-are also negotiating to join the PASL for the 2014-15 season.

OTHER

Pacific Rugby Premiership: The new PRP started its inaugural season in February 2014 and has seven of the top Division-1 rugby clubs in the western United States competing in league-play from early February to early May 2014. Teams include the Belmont Shore Rugby Club (Long Beach, CA), Olympic Club Blues (San Francisco), Denver Barbarians, San Francisco Golden Gate RFC, Old Mission Beach AC (San Diego), Santa Monica Dolphins and Glendale (CO) Raptors. Except for Glendale, all of these teams were at one time part of the nationwide Rugby Super League (RSL), which operated from 1997 through the 2012 season.

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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Continental Indoor Football League Stories from March 31, 2014


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.


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