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Southern League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
July 28, 2014 - Southern League (SL1)


BASEBALL

Southern League: With the Double-A Southern League's Huntsville (AL) Stars relocating to Biloxi (MS) next year, a local investor in Huntsville wants to try to bring a different Southern League team to Huntsville to replace the Stars. The sale and relocation of the Stars was due to an outdated ballpark, which would most likely need to be replaced before another team would consider Huntsville. A group in Panama City (FL) is again discussing possible construction of a minor league baseball stadium that could become home to a relocated Southern League team or a low Class-A South Atlantic League team.

South Atlantic League (SALLY): The owner of the Savannah Sand Gnats in the low Class-A SALLY was reported to have filed a relocation application with Minor League Baseball to move the team to Columbia (SC) where a new ballpark is expected to open in 2016. It is uncertain whether the city of Savannah will move forward on its own new ballpark plans to attract another affiliated team.

New York-Penn League: Construction is moving forward on the new ballpark in Morgantown (WV) on the campus of West Virginia University that could also become home to a relocated short-season NYPL team. The ballpark is expected to be completed in time for the 2015 college baseball season. There have been no recent updates as to if and when a NYPL team will move to Morgantown.

BASKETBALL

Tobacco Road Basketball League: The TRBL has some new teams called the Robeson County (NC) Showstoppers, Certified Winston-Salem (NC) and Burlington (NC) Knights (originally Legends) on its proposed team list for the 2014-15 season. The league's Carolina Gladiators (Lumberton, NC), which left to join the new East Coast Basketball League, are also located in Robeson County. The Triangle Stealth, which played two games in 2014 as a sanctioned TRBL opponent, is now called the Raleigh Stealth. The Triad Heat, which played one game in 2014 as a sanctioned TRBL opponent, is now called the High Point (NC) Heat.

New Era Basketball Association: The proposed new NEBA, which was to start play this month with six teams called the Atlanta Live, Houston Xperience, Washington (DC) Nation, New York United, Las Vegas Show and Los Angeles Revolution, has apparently disbanded before playing any games.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football League: The AFL announced that if new ownership is not found for the league-operated San Antonio Talons franchise by August 23, 2014, the league will fold the franchise. The league was forced to take control of the Talons prior to the 2014 season due to unpaid debts of the team's ownership. The Tulsa Talons played all ten seasons (2000-09) in the arenafootball2 (af2), which was the original AFL's minor indoor football league until the AFL folded after the 2008 season. The af2 folded after the 2009 season and the new reorganized version of the AFL started play in 2010 with the Tulsa Talons as a member for two seasons (2010-11) prior to moving to San Antonio for the 2012 season.

A11 Football League: Earlier this year, the proposed outdoor spring-summer professional A11FL, which was to feature a new patented A-11 Offense featuring interchangeable players at every position, cancelled two proposed showcase games that were planned for the summer of 2014. The league is now working on financing a new re-branded Professional Spring Football League that would feature National Football League rules.

HOCKEY

Central Hockey League: The CHL is down to nine teams going into the 2014-15 season with the folding of the St. Charles (MO) Chill after only one season. The league says it is considering future expansion in Illinois, Kansas and Wyoming.

Canadian Independent Junior Hockey League: The new pay-to-play CIJHL is now an officially sanctioned member of the United Hockey Union, which is under the umbrella of the Amateur Athletic Union. The AAU/UHU already includes three U.S.-based leagues called the Midwest Junior Hockey League, the Northern States Hockey League and the Western States Hockey League, plus another new Canadian league called the Canadian International Hockey League.

SOCCER

Major Arena Soccer League: The San Diego Sockers of the new MASL, which was created through a merger of the Major Indoor Soccer League and the Professional Arena Soccer League after the 2013-14 season, announced an affiliation agreement with the Phoenix-based Arizona Impact for the 2014-15 season. The Impact and San Diego's affiliated Sockers Reserve team are both members of the Premier Arena Soccer League, which serves as the developmental league for the MASL. Oxford City FC (England), which operates a successful futsal team along with other soccer teams, has acquired the MASL's Texas Strikers team that will continue to play in Beaumont (TX) but under a new name for the 2014-15 season. In April 2014, the Professional Arena Soccer League had granted Oxford City FC the rights to operate future PASL teams in Sioux Falls (SD) and South Florida.

Major League Soccer: After the proposed Miami-based MLS franchise failed twice in attempts to land a soccer-specific stadium site in the Miami area, Broward County (FL), just to the north of Miami, will try to find a suitable site for the MLS stadium.

United Soccer Leagues - PRO: The Charlotte-based Queen City Soccer Club has apparently sent a purchase agreement to the USL PRO league to take over the league's Charlotte Eagles franchise. The Queen City Soccer Club plans to have a team under a new name as part of the 2015 USL PRO season.

United Soccer Leagues - Premier Development League: Teams called the Calgary Foothills and Muskegon Risers plan to be members of the PDL in 2015. The Calgary Foothills under-23 soccer team is playing some exhibition games this summer. The PDL announced in May 2014 that it will extend its U-23 league calendar with a "PDL+" fall season starting in 2015. The "PDL+" will allow recent college graduates and elite academy players an opportunity to continue playing past the traditional spring-summer PDL season, which ends in July and consists primarily of collegiate players who maintain their college eligibility while playing as amateurs in the PDL.

Evergreen Premier League: The WestSound FC (Silverdale, WA), which had a men's elite-level soccer team competing in the inaugural 2014 season of the Washington-based EPL, merged with the FC Crush and the new merged club will be called the Kitsap Alliance FC.

OTHER

National Indoor Field Lacrosse: The proposed new NIFL, which plans to be the first professional indoor field lacrosse league, now states its inaugural season will be a 2015-16 season. The NIFL had announced the Buffalo Xtreme and three Ontario-based teams called the Niagara Riptides, St. Catharines Wolfpack and Welland River Rats would start play this fall in a 2014-15 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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Southern League Stories from July 28, 2014


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