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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
January 26, 2015 - North American Soccer League (NASL)


BASEBALL

East Coast Baseball League: The city council in Watertown (NY) approved a one-year lease of the city's baseball field to the new Watertown Bucks team in the ECBL. The proposed ECBL plans to start its inaugural season in May 2015 with at least four teams. The town of Old Orchard Beach (ME) has authorized a local individual to enter into an agreement with the ECBL for use of the town's ballpark.

United League Baseball: The owner of the independent ULB stated the league and some of its members have faced some challenges this off-season, but the league has not yet officially cancelled its 2015 season.

California Winter League: The three-week CWL has started its 2015 season with ten teams called the Alberta Grizzly, British Columbia Bombers, Canada A's, Coachella Valley Snowbirds, Midwest Haymakers, Oregon Lumberjacks, Palm Springs Chill, Palm Springs Power, Toronto Rush and Washington Bluesox. The season runs from January 22 to February 10 and all games are played at on one complex in Palm Springs. The CWL is an instructional showcase league that allows various independent leagues a way to evaluate and sign players for the upcoming summer season. In November 2014, the CWL signed a two-year agreement to become the official winter league of the independent Frontier League that will reserve at least 31 CWL slots for Frontier League players. The CWL is in its sixth season of play.

Prospect League: The new Jamestown (NY) team in the summer-collegiate Prospect League will be called the Jamestown Jammers when its starts play in 2015. This was the name of the city's Jamestown Jammers team that was a longtime member of the short-season Class-A New York-Penn League until moving to Morgantown (WV) to become the West Virginia Black Bears for the 2015 season.

Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League: The PGCBL announced it will add a new team in Victor (NY) for the 2015 season. The team will compete in the league's West Division.

BASKETBALL

Eastern Basketball Alliance: The EBA started its 2015 season last weekend. The league currently lists a six-team Northern Division, a five-team Southern Division and one travel team. New teams include the Columbia (MD) All-Stars, Schuylkill (PA) Firedogs, South Jersey Knights and Western Maryland Elite in the North Division and the Carolina Warhawks, Fayetteville (NC) Express Showcase and Jacksonville (FL) Royals in the South Division.

Independent Basketball Association: The IBA has announced the nine teams that will participate in the league's 2015 Spring Season. The International Racers (Lemont, IL), Kankakee County (IL) Soldiers, Kenosha (WI) Ballers, Lansing (MI) Capitals and St. Louis Trotters return after playing in the 2014-15 Winter Season, while the Windy City Blazers and Grand Rapids Fusion return after playing in the 2014 Spring Season. The new Portland (IN) Revolution and the IBA's Rockford Riverdawgs, which last played in the 2013-14 Winter Season, will be partial-schedule teams. The Spring Season starts in March 2015.

Central Basketball Development League: The CBDL is planning to start a North Central Division for the 2015 season with a team called the Minnesota Rangers as the division's first member. The league is also talking to a team from Indiana and would like to add three or four more teams to the division.

Florida Basketball Association: The FBA officially announced the addition of the Ocala-based Marion County Showtime Stallions as the league's fifth team for the 2015 season.

Tobacco Road Basketball League: Previously announced as a member of the Central Basketball Development League, the Savannah Cavaliers have now joined the TRBL for the 2015 winter/spring portion of the 2014-15 season.

FOOTBALL

X-League Indoor League: The X-League announced it will add an expansion team in Albany (GA) for the 2016 season. The city's most recent indoor football team called the Albany Panthers played two seasons (2010-11) in the Southern Indoor Football League and two seasons (2012-13) in the Professional Indoor Football League before folding. Albany also had an arenafootball2 (af2) team called the South Georgia Wildcats that played five seasons (2005-09) until the league folded after the 2009 season.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The National Hockey League's San Jose Sharks are reported to be moving its AHL affiliate called the Worcester (MA) Sharks to San Jose's SAP Center, which is also home to the NHL Sharks, for the 2015-16 season. The new San Jose AHL team could receive a different name There had been speculation the Sharks would move their AHL team to either Fresno or Sacramento. The San Jose move is part of an AHL realignment for next season that could see at least five AHL teams in a new western-based division. An official announcement on this new division is expected next week. Last month, ground was broken on a new 10,000-seat arena in Laval (Quebec) that is expected to become home to the Montreal Canadiens' AHL team, the Hamilton Bulldogs. The owner of the Canadiens stated a professional team will be in Laval by 2017.

ECHL: With the Norfolk (VA) Admirals of the American Hockey League being purchased by the National Hockey League's Anaheim Ducks and moving to San Diego, the owner of the Admirals is trying to get the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors team to move to Norfolk. The Condors are owned by the NHL's Edmonton Oilers, but the Oilers plan to place its Oklahoma City Barons AHL team in Bakersfield and move the ECHL team to another location.

Northern Pacific Hockey League: USA Hockey has approved the Tier-III junior-level NorPac for expansion by one team next season. The league currently has six teams.

Eastern Hockey League: The Tier-III junior-level EHL plans to add two teams next season. One of the teams will be an expansion team and another will be moving from the Tier-III Metropolitan Junior Hockey League, which also is planning to expand next season.

SOCCER

North American Soccer League: The Division-II men's NASL plays both a Spring Season and a Fall Season with the champions of each season earning championship playoff spots, along with the two non-champion teams with the most combined points over both seasons. The NASL announced its 2015 Spring Season schedule last month will run from early April to mid-June and announced this week its 2015 Fall Season will run from early July to early November. All ten teams from last year will return, plus the league added an expansion team called the Jacksonville Armada FC for 2015.

Evergreen Premier League of Washington: The Olympic Force (Bremerton, WA), which is playing a 2014-15 indoor season as part of the Premier Arena Soccer League, has been accepted as an outdoor team in the men's elite amateur EPLWA for the 2015 season. The Force will take the spot of the WestSound FC. After playing in the inaugural 2014 season of the EPLWA, the WestSound FC merged with the FC Crush and was renamed the Kitsap Alliance FC, but that club pulled out of the league.

United Soccer Leagues - PRO: The Toronto FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) previously announced it will own and operate a USL PRO league team starting in 2015 and stated this week the affiliated team will be called the Toronto FC II. The New York Red Bulls of the MLS confirmed this week it will also own and operate an affiliated team in the USL PRO starting in 2015, but an official team name was not yet announced. A total of eight MLS teams will own and operate USL PRO league affiliates in 2015, seven of which have been added for the 2015 season. The other 12 MLS teams will have an affiliation with a USL PRO team as the MLS eliminated its Reserve League for 2015. The Division-III USL PRO league has expanded from 14 to 24 teams for the 2015 season and announced a new alignment with a 12-team Eastern Conference and a 12-team Western Conference. Of the 14 teams from last season, the Charlotte Eagles and Dayton Dutch Lions left and moved down a level to the USL Premier Development League, while the Orlando City SC Lions moved up to the MLS for 2015. The league added 13 new teams for the 2015 season that included the 7 MLS-owned teams (Portland Timbers 2, Seattle Sounders FC 2, Real Monarchs SLC, FC Montreal, Toronto FC II, Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 and the New York Red Bulls) and six other teams (Austin Aztex, Charlotte Independence, Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, Louisville City FC, St. Louis FC and Tulsa Roughnecks).

United Soccer Leagues - Premier Development League: The under-23 amateur PDL announced its alignment for 2015 that will feature 65 teams in 4 regional conferences. The Central and Southern conferences each have two divisions, while the Eastern and Western conferences each have three divisions. New teams include the Burlingame (CA) Dragons FC, Calgary Foothills FC, Charlotte Eagles (from USL PRO), Dayton Dutch Lions (from USL PRO), FC Miami City Champions, Lehigh Valley United Sonic, New York, Palm Beach (FL) Suns FC and Toronto. Four teams changed their names for 2015-the Spingfield Demize to the Synergy, the River City Rovers to the Derby City Rovers (Louisville), the Los Angeles Misioneros FC to the Golden State Misioneros FC and the Connecticut FC Azul to AC Connecticut.

OTHER

National Rugby Football League: The NRFL is a professional rugby union fifteens league trying to get off the ground in the United States with a proposed start in 2016. The league will play an April to July schedule and hopes to use National Football League stadiums during the NFL off-season. An exhibition game with an NRFL-sponsored team called the Rough Riders versus England's Leicester Tigers team is scheduled for August 2015.

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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North American Soccer League Stories from January 26, 2015


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