Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
April 21, 2025 - NBA G League (G League)
BASEBALL
Carolina League: The Single-A Carolina League's Augusta (GA) Greenjackets, whose name is a tribute to the green jacket awarded to the winner of The Masters played at the Augusta National golf course, were renamed the August Azaleas for two games this weekend as a tribute to the one of Georgia's most famous plants that are found on the golf course.
Frontier League: The Sussex County (NJ) Miners of the independent Frontier League will play four games during the 2025 season as the Fill it up Regulars in a tribute to the "Fill it up, regular" phrase that is used to order fuel at the state's full-service gas stations.
International League: The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Allentown, PA) of the Triple-A International League will play a game in the 2025 season as the Lehigh Valley Tomato Pie in honor the area's thick-crust sauce-heavy pizza known as a tomato pie.
Liga de Mexicano de Beisbol: Mexico's top professional LMB, or Mexican Baseball League, started its 2025 season this weekend with the same 20 teams as last season and again aligned in ten-team Norte (North) and Sur (South) divisions. The teams will play a 93-game schedule through August 7, 2025.
Major League Baseball Draft League: The Trenton Thunder of the MLB Draft League will play a game in the 2025 season as the Trenton Tomato Pies to honor the area's thin-crust pizza known as a tomato pie.
Midwest League: The Lansing Lugnuts of the High-A Midwest League will become the Cap City Olive Burgers for two games in the 2025 season as a tribute to a mid-Michigan hamburger topped with olives.
Pacific Coast League: The Sacramento River Cats of the Triple-A PCL were supposed to play a game this weekend as the Sacramento Gold Diggers, which was inspired by the regional California Gold Rush, but dropped the alternate identity that was considered insensitive and promoted harmful female stereotypes.
Pioneer League: The Grand Junction (CO) Jackalopes of the independent Pioneer League will play each Wednesday home game in the 2025 season as the Grand Junction Humpback Chubs after an endangered native fish of the area's Colorado River.
BASKETBALL
National Basketball Association G-League: The Indiana Fireants, the NBA G-League affiliate of the NBA's Indiana Pacers, have been renamed the Noblesville Boom as the team moves to a new 3,400-seat arena in the Indianapolis suburb of Noblesville for the 2025-26 season. The team started as the Fort Wayne Mad Ants for the 2007-08 season and was purchased by the Pacers prior to the 2015-16 season. The team was moved to the home of the Pacers in Indianapolis for the past two seasons (2023-25) while waiting for completion of the new arena in Noblesville.
East Coast Basketball League: The semi-pro ECBL has removed the LetItFly WebDogs (Spartanburg, SC) team from the league for the remainder of the 2025 season due to a violation of league standards.
The Basketball League: The Columbus (OH) Wizards, who played the past two seasons (2023-25) in the semi-pro American Basketball Association, reported they are close to an announcement on being accepted into the TBL for the 2026 season.
FOOTBALL
International Football Alliance: The proposed new outdoor minor professional IFA, which planned to start its inaugural 2025 season at the end of next month, underwent some turmoil this week. The league reports that the Alabama Beavers (Huntsville) franchise has been terminated for not meeting league standards, while the Beavers stated the team decided to leave the IFA and plans to play in a newly developing league in 2025. The IFA's Texas Pioneros, originally called the Dallas Pioneros before moving to the Austin area, are reported to be sitting out until the 2026 season. It is uncertain if all four remaining IFA teams will play in 2025.
National Gridiron League: The second version of the proposed professional NGL, which plans to play 8-man outdoor football on a 60-yard field, has pushed back the start of its inaugural 2025 season until May 31. The league plans to start with eight teams aligned in four-team Eastern and Western conferences with each team playing a ten-game schedule through August 2, 2025. The Oklahoma City Owls are no longer part of the Western Conference and are now listed with ten other inactive teams. The Mississippi Mudcats (Jackson) team was moved from the Eastern Conference and has joined the Arkansas Twisters, Austin Wranglers and San Jose SaberCats in the Western Conference. The new Montgomery (AL) Generals were recently added to the Eastern Conference and have joined the Atlanta Wildcats, Charleston (SC) Pirates and Tampa Bay Storm.
The Arena League: The professional 7-on-7 indoor TAL announced its Kansas City (MO) Goats team has been renamed the St. Joseph (MO) Goats. In October, the Kansas City Goats stated the team would be moving about 55 miles north to St. Joseph for the league's second season in 2025 due to a lack of available arena dates in Kansas City.
United States Premier Women's Football League: The semi-pro USPWFL started its 2025 season this week with seven teams each playing six games through June 7, 2025. The 2025 teams include the River City Sting (Richmond, VA), Ardmore (TN) Tigers, Topeka Mudcats, Cincinnati Sizzle, Gulf Coast Mystery (Biloxi, MS), New Orleans Sabercats and Houston Doom. The USPWFL currently lists nine other teams that plan to start playing in the 2026 season.
HOCKEY
Federal Prospects Hockey League: The FPHL announced it is coming to the Pee Dee region with a team to be based in Florence (SC) starting with the 2025-26 season. Florence was home to a former ECHL team called the Pee Dee Pride (1997-2003, 2004-05) and the Florence Pride (2003-04). The FPHL's 2025-26 Topeka expansion team announced five potential nicknames (Scarecrows, Tornados, Wizards, Roadrunners and Capitals) that are up for fan voting through April 27. After restarting in the FPHL for the 2024-25 season, the FPHL's Danville (IL) Dashers will not be returning to the city's David S. Palmer Arena for the 2025-26 season. The Dashers won only two regulation games in the 2024-25 season.
North American 3 Hockey League: The Tier-III junior-level NA3HL approved the Amarillo-based West Texas Wranglers as a 2025-26 expansion team that will be affiliated with Amarillo Wranglers of the Tier-II North American Hockey League. The new NA3HL team will be added to the South Division.
Professional Women's Hockey League: The six-team PWHL is expected to hold a press conference next week to announce an expansion team for Vancouver (British Columbia). There is speculation a second PWHL expansion team could be based in Seattle. The PWHL held nine neutral-site regular-season games during the 2024-25 season in Seattle, Vancouver, Denver, Quebec City, Edmonton, Buffalo, Raleigh (NC), Detroit and St. Louis as part of a "PWHL Takeover Tour." Vancouver had the highest attendance for its neutral-site game.
SOCCER
USL League One (United Soccer League): Groups in Modesto (CA) and Santa Rosa (CA) are working with the USL to build soccer stadiums for new men's professional teams in either the Division-II USL Championship or Division-II USL League One along with new women's professional teams.
Northern Super League: Canada's new six-team women's professional NSL started its inaugural 2025 season this week with teams called the AFC Toronto, Calgary Wild FC, Halifax Tides FC, Montreal Roses FC (Roses FC), Ottawa Rapid FC and Vancouver Rise FC. Each team will play a 25-game schedule from through October 18, 2025.
WPSL Pro: The proposed new women's professional soccer league known as the WPSL Pro, which is being organized by the elite amateur-level Women's Premier Soccer League and was originally supposed to be a Division-III women's professional league, announced it will start in 2026 as a Division-II women's professional soccer league. The WPSL Pro currently lists 15 potential teams, one of which is represented by the group called Cleveland Pro Soccer that recently lost out in a bid for an expansion team in the Division-I professional National Women's Soccer League. The new league expects to launch with an abbreviated fall season after the 2026 men's World Cup followed by a full April-to-October season beginning in 2027.
OTHER
Liga Mexicana de Softbol: The eight-team Mexican women's professional softball league known as the LMS, or Mexican Softball League, completed its second season last month with each team playing a 27-game regular season. Seven teams called the Bravos de Leon, Charros de Jalisco, Diablos Rojos del Mexico, El Aguila de Veracruz, Olmecas de Tabasco, Sultanes de Monterrey and Algodoneros de Union Laguna are named after affiliated men's professional baseball teams in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, while one team called the Naranjeros de Hermosillo is named after an affiliated men's professional baseball team in the fall-winter Liga Mexicana del Pacifico (Mexican Pacific League).
Dan Krieger is the creator of the Weekly Sports League & Franchise Report, which has been tracking the changes in the sports world's leagues, teams, and nicknames since April 2007.
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NBA G League Stories from April 21, 2025
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
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