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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
November 3, 2014 - Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)


BASEBALL

South Atlantic League (SALLY): The Savannah city council rejected a proposed ballpark site that was recommended by a consultant's report and favored by the owner of the Savannah Sand Gnats from the low Class-A SALLY. The city was more in favor of another city-owned location where a proposed arena is to be built and partially funded by a sales tax. The owner of the Sand Gnats has worked out a deal for a new ballpark to be built in Columbia (SC) and will most likely move the team there if Savannah does not move forward on a new ballpark.

American Association: The ownership of the Amarillo Sox in the independent AA is giving fans the option of renaming the team or keeping it the same. The team hopes to have a list of the top five nickname suggestions in the next ten days.

Prospect League: The Lorain County (OH) Ironmen team from the summer-collegiate Prospect League will change leagues and move to the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League for the 2015 season. The Prospect League announced a new team will be added in Jamestown (NY), which recently lost the Jamestown Jammers to Morgantown (WV) in the affiliated short-season Class-A New York-Penn League.

Major League Baseball: The owner of MLB's American League Tampa Bay Rays is frustrated with not being able to get a new stadium built in the area and has reportedly talked about a possible move of the franchise to Montreal. The Rays had the lowest average number of tickets sold per home game in the 2014 season and there are doubts the area would support the team even with a new stadium. MLB's Montreal Expos were relocated to Washington (DC) for the 2005 season. Montreal would also need a new stadium or a renovated Olympic Stadium to host a team.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball League of Canada: The NBL-Canada started its 2014-15 season with eight teams. All teams from last season, except the Ottawa SkyHawks, have returned for the league's fourth season. The Atlantic Division features the Halifax (Nova Scotia) Rainmen, Island Storm (Charlottetown, PEI), Moncton (New Brunswick) Miracles and Saint John (New Brunswick) Mill Rats. The Ontario-based Central Division has the Brampton A's, London Lightning, Mississauga Power, and Windsor Express.

Tobacco Road Basketball League: The TRBL announced two new teams called the D-Elite Flyers (Auburn, AL) and Georgia Kings (Atlanta) will be part of the upcoming 2014-15 season that starts next week. Both new teams have been added to the TRBL West division.

American Basketball Association: The Syracuse Shockwave will not play as planned in the 2014-15 ABA season and the owner disbanded the team. The Syracuse Shockwave tried but failed to get off the ground as an ABA expansion team in both the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons. The league had a team called the Syracuse Raging Bullz (originally the Bullies) that played six games in the 2007-08 season before dropping out and relocating to Rochester.

FOOTBALL

American Indoor Football: The Baltimore Mariners have been removed from the AIF's 2015 team list that now consists of ten teams. The Mariners were added as an expansion team in 2014, but cancelled its last two home games after failing to meet arena contract obligations.

National Football League: The Los Angeles city council granted Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) an additional six months to find a team for its proposed downtown NFL stadium AEG signed a two-year deal in 2012 to build a stadium next to the downtown Los Angeles convention center, but it was conditioned on AEG obtaining an NFL team to occupy the stadium. Los Angeles has been without an NFL team since the Raiders returned to Oakland and the Rams moved to St. Louis after the 1994 season. The Raiders, Rams, San Diego Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars have been mentioned as possible NFL relocation candidates.

Continental Indoor Football League: The owner of the Dayton Sharks from the 2014 CIFL stated the team has not yet folded, but the team will not move forward unless it receives some sort of support from the city. The CIFL's ownership, which also owns the league's Saginaw Sting, has moved the Sting to the American Indoor Football league for the 2015 season and most of the other CIFL teams either folded or moved to other leagues. The Dayton Sharks joined the CIFL for the 2013 season and replaced the area's former CIFL team (Miami Valley/Dayton Silverbacks) that had been part of the league since 2007.

HOCKEY

National Hockey League: An investor is reported to be in discussion with the NHL about bringing an NHL franchise to Las Vegas by the 2017-18 season. A new 20,000-seat arena broke ground earlier this year and should be ready in 2016. The arena operators are interested in bringing an NHL team to the facility. The NHL has denied rumors about a possible move of the Arizona Coyotes to Las Vegas and stated no expansion is planned at this time.

Federal Hockey League: The FHL's Danbury (CT) Whalers and Danville (IL) Dashers plan to hold a neutral-site regular-season game in Port Huron (MI) on January 31, 2015.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer: The MLS announced the Los Angeles-based Chivas USA franchise, which started play in the 2005 season, has ceased operations. The league had operated the Chivas USA franchise during the 2014 season as it sought new ownership. The MLS then announced a new Los Angeles MLS team, currently known as the Los Angeles Football Club, has been awarded to an ownership group and that team will start play in 2017 in a new soccer-specific stadium to be built in the Los Angeles area. The league operated with 19 teams in 2014, but with the loss of Chivas USA and the addition of two expansion teams called Orlando City FC and New York City FC, the league will operate with 20 teams aligned into ten-team Eastern and Western conferences for the 2015 season. Orlando and New York will be added to the Eastern Conference, while the Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City will be moved to the Western Conference. The league's new Atlanta franchise is expected to join the league with Los Angeles in 2017 to create a 22-team league. The MLS would like to get to 24 teams by the 2020 season. Miami, Minneapolis and Sacramento are considered frontrunners for the next two expansion teams. A Miami franchise was granted on the condition it build a soccer-specific stadium, but it has been having trouble finding a suitable stadium site. The MLS is interested in Minneapolis as another Midwest-based team, but two competing groups have complicated that market. Sacramento representatives met with league officials last week to provide an update on plans for a downtown soccer-specific stadium. The cities of Las Vegas, El Paso and San Antonio have also expressed interest in an MLS expansion team.

North American Soccer League: The owners of the Atlanta Silverbacks team in the Division-II NASL is considering a sale of the team to owners in another market. The Silverbacks owners would then start a new developmental Silverbacks club as part of another league. This new Silverbacks club would not be affiliated with the new Atlanta-based Major League Soccer franchise that plans to start play in 2017. The Silverbacks started play in the NASL for the league's inaugural 2011 season.

National Premier Soccer League: The Fredericksburg Area Soccer Association (FASA) has restructured as Fredericksburg FC and the RVA FC (Richmond, VA), which played its inaugural 2014 season in the NPSL, will move to Fredericksburg (VA) and operate in the 2015 NPSL as the Fredericksburg FC. The Fredericksburg FC also plans to operate a 2015 team in the Women's Premier Soccer League. The FASA previously sponsored a men's team for two seasons (2011-12) in the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League and a women's team for three seasons (2011-13) in the USL W-League.

OTHER

Canadian Lacrosse League: The Ontario-based CLAX announced its 2015 schedule last week and it will feature the same five teams as last season playing an eight-game schedule from early January to mid-March. Teams include the Barrie Blizzard, Durham Turfdogs, Niagara Lock Monsters (St. Catharines), Ohsweken Demons and Southwest Cyclops (Paris). The Cyclops played home games in Hagersville last season. This will be the league's fourth season.

American Ultimate Disc League: The AUDL announced last month that new ownership has taken over the league's Seattle franchise, formerly known as the Seattle Raptors, and will operate the renamed Seattle Cascades team in the 2015 season. The Seattle Raptors were one of five Western Division teams added for the 2014 season.

Dan Krieger is the creator of the Leagues, Teams & Nicknames 2013-14: "The Leagueology Almanac" , 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 November 3, 2014


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