Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
June 16, 2014 - Canadian American League (Can-Am)

BASEBALL

Atlantic League: The proposed Atlantic League expansion team called the Virginia Beach (VA) Neptunes announced its team logo and plans to start play in the 2015 season. Plans for a new 5,000-seat stadium for the Neptunes are in the final stages and groundbreaking is expected in the next few months.

South Atlantic League (SALLY): The city of Columbia (SC) is moving forward on the development of a new baseball stadium that could become home to a team in the low Class-A SALLY, possibly the relocated Savannah Sand Gnats, or a team from the high Class-A Carolina League. The city wants stadium construction to begin this fall.

Can-Am League: The Can-Am League plans to make an official announcement next week concerning a new Ottawa team to be added for the 2015 season. The league is down to only four teams playing this season as a division of the American Association and hopes to grow to six teams by next season. A possible sixth team could be owned by the Niagara Professional Baseball Group, which states it has been granted conditional approval for a Can-Am expansion team in Welland (Ontario) and is currently hosting a name-the-team contest. A professional team called the Welland Pirates was part of the short-season Class-A New York/Penn League from 1989 to 1994.

Pacific Coast League: The Omaha Storm Chasers of the Triple-A PCL were renamed the Omaha Commanders for a game last weekend as part of a "What If?" promotion. Commanders was one of nine nickname finalists when the Omaha Royals were renamed the Storm Chasers prior to the 2011 season. Similar promotions were held with the Omahogs nickname in 2012 and the Force nickname in 2013.

Texas League: As part of a "what could have been" promotion, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals of the Double-A Texas League were renamed the Thunder Chickens, which was the second-place nickname in a contest to name the team when it moved from Wichita to Springdale for the 2008 season.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association Development League (D-League): The Idaho Stampede (Boise) of the NBA D-League has entered into a single affiliation with the NBA's Utah Jazz starting with the 2014-15 season. The two teams will operate under a D-League "hybrid" affiliation in which the Stampede remains under local ownership with the Jazz running the basketball operations. The Stampede operated under a similar "hybrid" affiliation with the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers for the past two seasons (2012-14). Of the 18 D-League teams, only the Fort Wayne Mad Ants do not have some sort of one-to-one affiliation with an NBA team. The NBA has 30 teams, 17 of which now have one-to-one D-League affiliations.

National Basketball Association: The Oakland-based Golden State Warriors recently purchased land in the San Francisco area where they plan to build a new arena that should be ready for the 2018-19 season. The team is seeking input from fans about a possible renaming of the team to the San Francisco Warriors. The NBA's Philadelphia Warriors relocated to become the San Francisco Warriors for the 1962-63 season. The franchise moved to its current home in Oakland to become the Golden State Warriors for the 1971-72 season.

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced the Detroit-based Coast II Coast All-Stars, a 2013-14 ABA travel team, will be a full-schedule ABA team in the 2014-15 season.

FOOTBALL

Champions Professional Indoor Football League: The Lincoln (NE) Haymakers of the CPIFL might not return for a third season in 2015 due to poor attendance and the possible demolition of its home arena. The Kansas City (MO) Renegades team, which played in the league's inaugural 2013 season before dropping out, is reported to be talking with the arena in Independence (MO) for a possible return in 2015.

Legends Football League-USA: The United States-based version of the women's indoor LFL, formerly the Lingerie Football League, announced it will add a team called the Washington (DC) Warriorettes to the Eastern Conference for the 2015 season. The team was originally to be called the Redskinettes, but changed its name due to the controversy over the nickname of the National Football League's Washington

Redskins team.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The AHL president confirmed there is a framework for a plan to relocate at least five of its teams to the West Coast to be closer to their western-based National Hockey League parent clubs. The league has not mentioned which NHL teams would be involved, but current eastern AHL teams with western NHL affiliations include Adirondack (Calgary), Lake Erie (Colorado), Manchester (Los Angeles), Norfolk (Anaheim), Oklahoma City (Edmonton), Portland (Phoenix), Worcester (San Jose) and Utica (Vancouver). The addition of new western AHL locations could happen by the 2015-16 season.

Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League: USA Hockey has approved the new Tier-III RMJHL to start play for the 2015-16 season. Five Colorado-based teams called the Aspen Leafs, Colorado Rampage (Monument), Colorado Thunderbirds (Littleton), Grand Junction Coyotes and Pikes Peak Miners (Colorado Springs) have been announced with a sixth team needed before the league starts play.

Canadian International Hockey League: The proposed CIHL, which is sanctioned by the United Hockey Union under the Amateur Athletic Union, has announced four new Ontario-based teams called the Milton Battle Arts Cobras, Colborne Cramahe Hawks, St. Charles Spirit and Barrie Area HTI Stars. These teams will join the Ontario-based Espanola Rivermen team, whose owner left the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League after the 2013-14 season to form the CIHL. The league plans to announce more teams in the near future.

SOCCER

United Soccer Leagues - PRO League: The Austin Aztex team, which is currently playing in its third season as part of the USL Premier Development League, will move up to join the Division-III USL PRO league for the 2015 season. A previous Austin Aztex team joined the former Division-II USL First Division, played in the 2010 Division-II Pro League operated by the United States Soccer Federation, and then was sold and relocated to become the Division-III Orlando City FC in the USL PRO league for 2011.

Major League Soccer: Officials with the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League recently met with MLS officials to discuss configuring their new football stadium, which will open in 2016, for an MLS expansion team in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The owner of the Minnesota United FC in the North American Soccer League is trying to build a separate soccer-specific stadium for a possible MLS expansion franchise in the area. The city of Miami rejected another proposed soccer stadium site for a Miami-based MLS expansion franchise that needs a stadium deal before final approval by the league. A group announced plans last month to build a new soccer-specific stadium in downtown Las Vegas for a possible MLS franchise.

National Premier Soccer League: Ownerships of two NPSL teams, the Detroit City FC Le Rouge and the Tulsa Athletics, have plans to move their teams up to a professional level in the near future. Detroit City FC wants to move up to the Division-III United Soccer Leagues PRO league and eventually to Major League Soccer, while the Tulsa Athletics are considering a move up to the Division-II North American Soccer League. A new team called the Tulsa Roughnecks already plans to start play in 2015 as part of the USL PRO league.

Premier Arena Soccer League: The PASL-Premier indoor soccer league started its 2014 summer season last month and currently lists a six-team Pacific Division, a four-team Central Division and a seven-team Southwestern Division. The PASL-Premier will continue to serve as the official developmental league to the pro-level Major Arena Soccer League (MASL), which evolved from the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL) after the 2013-14 season. Several pro-level teams in the PASL, and now the MASL, operate reserve teams in the PASL-Premier. The PASL-Premier plays both a fall/winter season and a summer 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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