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Arena Football League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
November 24, 2014 - Arena Football League (AFL)


BASEBALL

California League: The Bakersfield Blaze of the high Class-A California League will most likely remain in the city through the 2016 season. The Blaze owner was hoping to move the team to Salinas (CA) by the 2016 season, but negotiations fell apart on a proposed new stadium site in Salinas. The owner will continue to look for a stadium site in the Monterey Bay area.

East Coast Baseball League: The proposed new ECBL was reported to be considering Watertown (NY) for a team. A couple of summer-collegiate leagues are also interested in Watertown. The ECBL has announced three teams-the Newburgh (NY) Newts, Niagara Wild (Welland, Ontario) and a yet-to-be-named team in Waterloo (Ontario).

Great West League: A new summer-collegiate baseball league called the Great West League plans to start play in 2016 with teams based in California and Oregon.

South Atlantic League: The mayor of Macon (GA) has presented very preliminary plans for a baseball stadium that could possibly become home to a low Class-A SALLY team. A SALLY team called the Macon Braves last played in the 2002 before moving to Rome (GA) for the 2003 season.

BASKETBALL

Central Development Basketball League: The CDBL has added a team called the Houston Horned Frogs to its Midwest Division for the 2015 season.

East Coast Basketball League: The proposed new spring-summer ECBL, which was formed by five teams that left the Tobacco Road Basketball League after the 2014 season, announced that its 12th and final team for the inaugural 2015 season will be the Gastonia (NC) Crowns. Earlier this month, the Central Development Basketball League announced the Gastonia Crowns as one of its expansion teams, but then a few days later announced the Crowns would not be part of the 2015 CDBL season.

American Basketball Association: The ABA's Central Texas Swarm, originally based in Eagle Pass, has moved across the Mexican border to Piedras Negras and changed its name to the AM-MEX Swarm. The Swarm will serve as a farm team for the Mexicali Soles from Mexico's top national league called the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP). The owner of the California Heatwave (Madera) has shut down the team for 2014-15. The Heatwave started in 2004 with prior stops in Fresno and Sacramento.

Universal Basketball Association: The semi-pro UBA's new North Carolina-based Eastern Conference will have four teams called the Carolina Cougars, Charlotte Fury, Queen City Bulls and Wilkes County Flames for the upcoming season that starts in January 2015. The Eastern Conference teams will play all games at Lincoln Heights Gym in Wilkesboro. Last season's Eastern Conference is now the seven-team Northern Conference with teams in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. The Indianapolis Gamblers, Anderson (IN) Legends, Dayton Air Strikers and Ohio Hidden Gems are new to that conference for 2015. As of now, the six-team Texas-based Western Conference remains the same as does the six-team Georgia-based Southern Conference.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football League: The Pittsburgh Power of the AFL announced the team has ceased operations after four years in the league. The team's minority owners stated they are willing to work with the league to save the team so it can possibly continue in 2015. A team called the Pittsburgh Gladiators played four seasons (1987-90) in the original AFL before moving to Tampa. The AFL had 15 teams last season, but the Des Moines-based Iowa Barnstormers dropped out after the season to move to the Indoor Football League and the future of the league-operated San Antonio Talons team is unclear. The league plans to add the new Las Vegas Outlaws team for the 2015 season.

American Indoor Football: The AIF announced its 2015 regular season schedule will feature eight teams. Of the seven teams from last season, the Cape Fear Heroes (Fayetteville, NC), Cleveland Patriots, Baltimore Mariners and Rochester Raiders are gone, but the Atlanta Sharks, York (PA) Capitals and Maryland Eagles (Laurel), which are last year's Washington Eagles, return. The Cape Fear Heroes moved to the X-League Indoor Football for 2015. New teams include the expansion ASI Panthers (Reading, PA) and Cleveland Saints, along with the Chicago Blitz and Saginaw (MI) Sting from the Continental Indoor Football League. The league hopes a previously announced 2015 expansion team called the Carolina Silverhawks (Winston-Salem, NC) and the Rochester Raiders will rejoin in 2016.

Fall Experimental Football League: The four-team developmental FXFL has officially ended its inaugural 2014 season. The Brooklyn Bolts and Omaha Mammoths are expected to return next year, but the Boston Brawlers and Blacktips travel team, which was originally to located in Miami, are uncertain. The league will target Memphis, Austin, Oklahoma City and somewhere in Florida for other teams in 2015. The league will try to work with operators of minor league baseball stadiums for future teams.

HOCKEY

National Hockey League: The NHL commissioner stated the league has no plans to expand in the near future and even if expansion was considered, it would be two or three years before teams would start play.

Midwest Junior Hockey League: The junior-level MWJHL, which is a member of the Amateur Athletic Union, announced the Berkley (MI) Bruins have ceased operations and the team will not complete the remainder of its 2014-15 schedule. The league has seven remaining teams.

Canadian International Hockey League: After recently losing its four-team South Division and adding a Michigan-based team last week, the Ontario-based junior-level CIHL has lost its St. Charles Spirit team and is down to four remaining teams. The league plans to add various exhibition games throughout Michigan to the remaining schedule. Some of the former CIHL South Division teams have joined the newly formed World United Hockey League.

SOCCER

United Soccer Leagues - Premier Development League: The FC Lehigh Valley United Sonic (LVU Sonic), based in Allentown (PA), has left the National Premier Soccer League to join the men's U-23 PDL for the 2015 season. The LVU Sonic started play in the 2010 season of the NPSL and evolved from a 2008-09 NPSL team called the Pennsylvania Stoners. The PDL also announced a new team called the FC Miami City Champions has joined for the 2015 season.

National Premier Soccer League: The men's elite-level NPSL has added a new team called the Deportivo Coras USA (Riverside, CA) as a 2015 expansion team. The team is affiliated with the Mexican soccer club Deportivo Tepic FC, which is also known as the Coras de Tepic or Coras FC.

United Soccer Leagues - PRO: The Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC of the MLS all announced new USL PRO developmental teams that they will own and operate starting with the 2015 season. Montreal did not have a USL PRO affiliate in 2014, while Toronto was affiliated with the Wilmington (NC) Hammerheads and Vancouver was affiliated with the Charleston (SC) Battery. The Montreal team will be called FC Montreal, Toronto has yet to announce a team name, and the Vancouver team will be the Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2. The USL PRO now has seven teams that will be owned and operated by MLS teams in 2015. Six of those seven teams are 2015 expansion teams that will join additional expansion teams in Austin, Charlotte, Colorado Springs, Louisville, St. Louis and Tulsa.

Major League Soccer: Two groups from Minneapolis and other groups from Sacramento and Las Vegas made presentations to MLS officials this past week as each market tries for one final expansion team that would be the league's 24th team. Future expansion will be discussed at a league meeting next month, but an announcement is not expected until next year.

OTHER

World TeamTennis: The Mylan WTT announced it will return with a 2015 season that will be played in the month of July. The league will again operate with seven teams, but it is looking to expand in the United States and internationally. The original World Team Tennis league played five seasons (1974-78) and the current league has played under various names since restarting in 1981.

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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