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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
September 2, 2014 - North American Soccer League (NASL)


BASEBALL

New York-Penn League: The short-season Class-A NYPL announced the Jamestown (NY) Jammers team will be moving to Morgantown (WV) for the 2015 season. A new stadium is under construction in Morgantown and it will also be home to the West Virginia University baseball team. The Jamestown Jammers entered the league for the 1994 season with the relocation of the Niagara Falls Rapids.

Frontier League: The individual trying to bring a Frontier League team to a proposed new ballpark in the Milwaukee area has signed a deal to operate the Frontier League's Rockford (IL) Aviators franchise for the 2015 season. This has fueled discussion that the Aviators team would eventually be sold and moved to the Milwaukee area once a new ballpark is constructed.

Diamond League: The founder of the independent Atlantic League and organizer of the proposed Diamond League recently visited Atlantic City to discuss the possibility of returning professional baseball to the vacant ballpark. There was no specific mention as to what league would be home to an Atlantic City team, but the city was reported to be under consideration by the Diamond League in the past. The Atlantic City Surf played nine seasons (1998-2006) in the Atlantic League and two seasons (2007-08) in the Can-Am League before folding.

BASKETBALL

Independent Basketball Association: The IBA has posted its 2014-15 Winter Season schedule that will run from September 13 to December 10, 2014. The league will have six full-schedule teams called the Houston Xperience, International Racers (Lithuanian Team), Kankakee County Soldiers, Kenosha Ballers, St. Louis Trotters and Schenectady (NY) Legends in one division, while a "Branding Division" of teams called the Binghamton (NY) Pioneers, Gwinnett (GA) Majic, Kansas City (KS) Kryptonite, Lansing Law, Louisiana Soul, New Jersey G-Force and Toronto 3-D will play a partial schedule. The Houston Xperience was previously associated with the American Basketball Association and the proposed New Era Basketball Association, which failed to start play as planned this summer. The Gwinnett Magic was previously part of the World Basketball Association and the Toronto 3-D was a member of the elite division in the North of the Border Basketball League.

Bikini Basketball Association: The women's BBA has completed a shortened second season with only three teams (Atlanta Storm, Houston Inferno and Illinois Heart) after the Miami Spice team folded without playing a game this season.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football League: The AFL announced the Des Moines-based Iowa Barnstormers franchise is no longer active and the ownership will operate an Iowa Barnstormers team in the 2015 season of the Indoor Football League. A team called the Iowa Barnstormers played six seasons (1995-2000) in the original version of the AFL before relocating to become the New York Dragons. Another Iowa Barnstormers team was a 2001 expansion team in the original AFL's minor league arenafootball2 (af2), but that team lasted only one season. The Iowa Barnstormers returned to play the last two seasons (2008-09) of the af2 and joined the current version of the AFL that was formed for the 2010 season. The AFL has given its San Antonio Talons franchise an additional two weeks to find new ownership. The league operated the San Antonio franchise for the 2014 season and stated the franchise would be folded if new ownership was not found.

Indoor Football League: In addition to adding the Iowa Barnstormers team for the 2015 season, the IFL announced an expansion team called the Wichita Falls (TX) Nighthawks has joined for the 2015 season. A semi-pro outdoor football team called the Wichita Falls Nighthawks was part of the 2014 Gridiron Developmental Football League, but it folded in July 2014 and was purchased in August with the new owner moving the team indoors to the IFL. A team called the Wichita Falls Thunder started the 2004 season in the now-defunct National Indoor Football League, but that team ceased operations with five games left in the season. There were also reports the IFL's Texas Revolution (Allen) will be moving to the new league called Champions Indoor Football that will start play in 2015.

X-League Indoor Football: The X-League announced the Rio Grande Valley Sol (Hidalgo, TX) team will be part of the league's 2015 season. The Rio Grande Sol was a 2014 expansion team in the five-team Lone Star Football League, which recently merged with the Champions Professional Indoor Football League. The other four LSFL teams from the 2014 season joined the new merged league called Champions Indoor Football. The X-League had five teams in 2014 and has now grown to nine teams with the addition of four teams from other 2014 leagues.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The AAA-level AHL announced its 2014-15 season schedule that will again feature 30 teams each affiliated with a National Hockey League team. The Adirondack Phantoms moved from Glens Falls (NY) to a new arena in Allentown (PA) and were renamed the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Abbottsford Heat moved from British Columbia to Glens Falls and were renamed the Adirondack Flames. The AHL realigned some of the teams within five of its six divisions.

Central Hockey League: The AA-level CHL announced its 2014-15 season schedule that will feature only seven teams with the recent departure of the Denver Cutthroats and the Arizona Sundogs (Prescott Valley) for the upcoming season. The Allen (TX) Americans, Brampton (Ontario) Beast, Missouri Mavericks (Independence), Quad City Mallards, Rapid City (SD) Rush, Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder will all be aligned in one Berry Conference.

Southern Professional Hockey League: The A-level SPHL announced its 2014-15 season schedule that will feature eight teams with the departure of the Bloomington (IL) Thunder and Mississippi Surge (Biloxi) after the 2013-14 season. A new team called the Macon (GA) Mayhem plans to join the SPHL for the 2015-16 season and the league hopes to return with a new team in Biloxi in 2015-16..

Federal Hockey League: The FHL lists its new Berlin (NH) team as the Berlin RiverDrivers. The FHL plans to have six teams participating in the upcoming 2014-15 season.

SOCCER

Major Arena Soccer League: The operations of the Rochester Lancers franchise have been restructured and the team will play in the inaugural 2014-15 season of the MASL.

American Soccer League: The new professional ASL started the fall portion of its inaugural 2014-15 season last weekend. The league has eight teams called the AC Crusaders (Egg Harbor/Atlantic City, NJ), Evergreen Diplomats (Hyattsville, MD), Icon FC (Passaic, NJ), Ironbound Soul (Newark, NJ), Philadelphia Fury, Mass United FC (Lynn/Boston), Rhode Island Reds (Cranston) and Western Mass Pioneers (Ludlow/Springfield). Previously announced teams called the New England Force (Stamford, CT) and New Jersey Gladiators (Bergen County) could be future ASL members. Teams will each play 10 games in the fall of 2014 and restart with 10 games in the spring of 2015. The league hopes to obtain sanction at the Division-III level of play.

Major League Soccer: The city of Las Vegas has reached an agreement with a stadium development partnership that plans to build a new 24,000-seat soccer-specific stadium for a potential Las Vegas-based MLS team. The new stadium will not move forward unless the partnership is awarded an MLS expansion team.

North American Soccer League: The NASL commissioner stated the league will add the Jacksonville Armada and a yet-to-be-named team in Oklahoma City for the 2015 season. A proposed team called the Virginia Cavalry (Loudoun County) is expected to join the league, but it has been pushed back to the 2016 season. The return of the Puerto Rico Islanders team, which last played in 2012 and dropped out to restructure its ownership group, is still uncertain.

OTHER

National League Lacrosse: The indoor NLL announced the schedule for its 2015 season that will run from January 2 to May 3, 2015. The league will again have a four-team Western Division and a five-team Eastern Division. The only change from last season will be the yet-to-be-named Connecticut team replacing the relocated Philadelphia Wings in the East Division. The name of the Connecticut-based team will be announced in the near future.

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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North American Soccer League Stories from September 2, 2014


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