Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
July 7, 2014 - Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)

BASEBALL

Eastern League: Plans to build a new stadium in downtown Hartford (CT) for the relocated New Britain Rock Cats of the Double-A Eastern League are facing opposition. The city has moved ahead in requesting proposals for redeveloping the proposed stadium area.

Florida State League: A proposed deal to build a new ballpark at Rollins College in Winter Park (FL) for the relocated Brevard County Manatees of the high Class-A FSL has fallen through due to local opposition. The Manatees, who are currently based in the Viera/Melbourne area about 60 miles to the southeast of Winter Park, and the city of Winter Park are looking at other potential stadium sites.

Major League Baseball: Shortly after the MLB commissioner granted the American League Oakland A's permission to immediately seek a new home outside of Oakland, the city of Oakland and the A's came to an agreement on a ten-year stadium lease.

United League Baseball: The San Angelo Colts of the independent ULB have filed for bankruptcy protection to prevent foreclosure on their home stadium. The team's owner stated the bankruptcy will have no effect on operations and the team is not folding.

East Coast Baseball League: The new professional independent ECBL is trying to organize with possible teams in Ontario (Canada), New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. The league wants three divisions of four teams each.

BASKETBALL

East Coast Basketball League: With the announcement of the Tobacco Road Basketball League (TRBL) moving to a fall-winter (November to April) season for 2014-15, four TRBL teams called the PrimeTime Players (Fort Mill, SC), Carolina Gladiators (Lumberton, NC), South Carolina Allstars (Greenville) and Queen City Express (Charlotte, NC) have left to form the new ECBL that will start play in April 2015. The new ECBL plans to announce another four established teams in the near future and will add two other teams to start with ten teams for its inaugural spring season. For its first two seasons of 2012 and 2013 the TRBL season ran from early April to early June, while the 2014 season ran from mid-January to mid-June. The TRBL hoped the move to a fall-winter season would attract more league-wide sponsorships.

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced the Detroit Hoops will return in 2014-15 after playing one game last season and sitting out the rest of the 2013-14 season. The Detroit Hoops played five prior seasons (2008-13) in the league. The ABA previously announced the Detroit-based Coast II Coast All Stars team will be a full-schedule team in 2014-15 after playing as a travel team last season.

Women's Blue Chip Basketball League: The owner of the St. Louis Surge in the semi-pro WBCBL has long-range plans to eventually have the team join the Women's National Basketball Association. The team is in its fifth season in the WBCBL and third season under its current ownership.

FOOTBALL

Legends Football League - Europa: The LFL, formerly known as the Lingerie Football League, is planning to start the LFL-Europa in 2015 with four European-based teams in England, France, Germany and Ireland.

Ultimate Indoor Football League: The UIFL will complete the remainder of its 2014 season with only three teams as the Springfield-based Missouri Voodoo has stopped playing. The league's Corpus Christi Fury reported last week it had to cancel a game against the Missouri Voodoo, which was unable to meet league obligations and did not have enough players to complete the season. The Voodoo had an 0-5 record and the team's three remaining games will be considered as forfeits.

Champions Professional Indoor Football League: The owner of the CPIFL's Wichita Wild has put the team up for sale and it will close its doors next week until new ownership is found. The owner noted the yearly financial struggle of operating the team and decided to concentrate on other businesses. The Wichita Wild started play in 2007 as an independent team, joined United Indoor Football (UIF) for the 2008 season and played four seasons (2009-12) as part of the Indoor Football League prior to moving to the CPIFL for the 2013 season.

Indoor Football League: The IFL commissioner would like the league to add 2 teams and expand to 12 teams for the 2015 season. The league played the 2014 season with nine teams and previously announced the expansion Billings (MT) Wolves team will start play in 2015. The owner of the IFL's Bemidji (MN) Axemen, and also owner of the league's Cedar Rapids Titans, is looking to sell all or part of the team to local ownership. The Axemen recently completed their first season in the IFL.

HOCKEY

North Atlantic Professional Hockey League: The proposed new NAPHL, which planned to start its inaugural 2014-15 season this fall, has decided to postpone its start until the 2015-16 season. The league had announced only two teams-the Blackshire Black Bears (North Adams, MA) and a yet-to-be-named team in Massena (NY)

Federal Hockey League: With the North Atlantic Professional Hockey League postponing the start of league play until the 2015-16 season, the FHL decided not to add one of the NAPHL's proposed teams called the Berkshire Black Bears (North Adams, MA) as a 2014-15 expansion team. The FHL had previously expressed interest in a North Adams expansion team, but the league was currently concerned about the financial stability of the Black Bears ownership group. The FHL plans to play its 2014-15 season with five teams.

Great Lakes Junior-A Inline Hockey League: The GLI recently completed its 2014 season with the Buffalo Storm and four southern Ontario teams called the Brampton Warriors, Halton Coyotes, Kitchener-Waterloo (KW) Rage and Mississauga Rattlers. The league had four teams last season and added the new Halton Coyotes team based in Oakville for 2014. A team called the Oakville Coyotes played four previous seasons (2002-05) in the league. The GLI consists of elite-level inline hockey players ages 17 to 21.

SOCCER

Western Indoor Soccer League: The proposed elite-level men's WISL, which plans to have teams in the Northwest area of the United States, is organizing for a start in November 2014. So far, the league has announced five teams based in the state of Washington that include the Tacoma Stars, Wenatchee Fire, WSA Rapids (Bellingham), Arlington Aviators and a new team in Snohomish County. Three of these teams-the Arlington Aviators, Wenatchee Fire and WSA Rapids-were part of the 2013-14 season of the Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL-Premier), which has served as the official developmental league to the Professional Arena Soccer League over the past several seasons. Teams called the Tacoma Galaxy and Snohomish County Skyhawks were also part of the PASL-Premier in 2013-14. Another 2013-14 PASL-Premier indoor team called the South Sound Shock (Tacoma) will stock the WISL's new Tacoma Stars and continue to operate as an outdoor team called the South Sound Shock in the men's elite-level Evergreen Premier League of Washington.

Major Arena Soccer League: The MASL, which was created by the merger of the Major Indoor Soccer League and the Professional Arena Soccer League after the 2013-14 season, announced a new team called the Seattle Impact FC has joined the league. The owner of the Impact previously announced a new MASL team called the Tacoma Stars would be based out of the ShoWare Center in Kent (WA) for the 2014-15 season, but apparently did not own the rights to the Tacoma Stars name. A new elite-level men's indoor soccer team called the Tacoma Stars will play at the Tacoma Soccer Center as part of the new Western Indoor Soccer League for the 2014-15 season.

OTHER

American Ultimate Disc League: The AUDL, a 15-team professional Ultimate Frisbee league, announced it will add a team in Pittsburgh for its fourth season in 2015. In addition, the league plans to add a new Southeast Division of teams in 2015 with Jacksonville (FL) as one of those teams. The league is also looking to add teams in Dallas, Austin, San Diego and Los Angeles for the 2016 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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