Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
February 16, 2009 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL)

BASEBALL

Eastern League: A group in Richmond (VA), which lost the Triple-A Richmond Braves to Gwinnett (GA) starting with the 2009 season, has reportedly reached a deal to purchase the Norwich-based Connecticut Defenders in the Double-A Eastern League. If the deal is approved, the Defenders would play the 2009 season in Norwich and move to Richmond for the 2010 season. The current owner of the Defenders has expressed interest in bringing a short-season New York-Penn League franchise to Norwich.

California League: The plan to shift two High-A California League teams to the High-A Carolina League for the 2010 season has apparently died. As was the case a few years ago when this plan was discussed, there were no suitable open markets in the Carolina League territory. The plan was to create two more eastern-based High-A affiliated teams in the Carolina League by relocating the California League's Bakersfield Blaze and High Desert Mavericks franchises.

Golden Baseball League: The GBL officially announced its 2009 season will feature 10 teams each playing an 88-game season. The league's South Division will include the Orange County Flyers, St. George (UT) Roadrunners, Tijuana (Mexico) Potros, Tucson Toros and Yuma Scorpions. The North Division will include the Calgary Vipers, Chico Outlaws, Edmonton Cracker-Cats, Long Beach Armada and Victoria (British Columbia) Seals.

BASKETBALL

Premier Basketball League: After shutting down the Montreal Sasquatch franchise and holding a dispersal draft, the PBL has found new ownership to take over its Montreal franchise for the remainder of the season. The new ownership will continue to operate the franchise under the Montreal Sasquatch name. There were also reports that the league's Augusta Groove franchise could be having financial troubles.

International Basketball League: The IBL's Windy City Soldiers team is now listed as the Kankakee County Soldiers, while the Jazz of Tacoma and Salem Stampede are no longer listed. Proposed new teams called the Yamhill (OR) Highflyers and Southern Illinois Truth are listed as "Coming Soon".

American Basketball Association: The Georgia Gwizzlies no longer appear on the ABA team list, but the team recently played a game against the Greenville (SC) Hoopsters, which is a team that plans to join the ABA for the 2009-10 season. A couple of weeks ago the Gwizzlies announced plans to join the Continental Basketball Association for 2009-10.

Texas Professional Basketball League: The TPBL is still looking for women's basketball teams to become part of the TPBL's women division that plans to start play in June 2009.

National Professional Basketball League: There has been little news on the upcoming NPBL season, which ran from March to June last season. The league is reportedly going to switch to a more traditional fall/winter basketball season that will start in October 2009 and will concentrate on teams located in the states of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut to cut travel costs. FOOTBALL

United Football League: The UFL announced its 2009 "UFL Premiere" season will include only four teams playing in at least seven cities. The teams will represent the markets of Las Vegas/Los Angeles, Sacramento/San Francisco, New York/Hartford and Orlando. The UFL plans to operate a six-week, six-game season in October and November with games played on Thursday and Friday nights. The league hopes to field more teams playing a longer schedule in 2010.

Canadian Football League: The city of Ottawa has to decide on two new stadium proposals; one is for a proposed Major League Soccer expansion franchise and another is a major stadium renovation for a CFL franchise. The CFL has stated it has no objection to the proposed CFL facility being shared with other tenants. The MLS has apparently decided to choose Ottawa as one of the two cities receiving a 2011 expansion franchise, if a new stadium deal is worked out.

Southern Indoor Football League: The SIFL has finalized the schedule for its inaugural 2009 season that will cover 13 weeks from mid-April to mid-July. The five charter teams-the Acadiana Mudbugs, Austin Turfcats, Houma Conquerors, Louisiana Swashbucklers and Texas Pirates-will each play 11 games. The schedule includes one home game per team against the Tampa-based Florida Kings team, which will play only five road games in 2009.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The new owners of the Philadelphia Phantoms franchise, which is the AHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers, appear to be interested in moving the team to a proposed arena to be built in the Allentown (PA) area of the Lehigh Valley. Since the arena would not be completed until the fall of 2012, the Phantoms could go dormant or find a temporary location for two seasons. The owners of the Dayton Dragons baseball team in the Class-A Midwest League have proposed a new arena to be built outside of Dayton for a possible AHL team. The city's current ECHL hockey team, the Dayton Bombers, hopes to build a new arena in downtown Dayton.

Eastern Professional Hockey League: An investor planning to bring a new EPHL franchise called the Hyannis (MA) Storm into the league next season has decided not to move forward with plans. The league is working to find a replacement owner for the new facility in the city and eventually wants to create a four-team New England Division to go with the four current EPHL teams in the New York/Connecticut area.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer: The city of Ottawa has basically been awarded one of two MLS expansion teams for 2011, if it can obtain a new stadium. After a deal to build a new soccer stadium for the D.C. United in the District of Columbia fell through, the team's owner is now committed to building a new stadium for the team in the Annapolis area of Prince George County (MD). The league's Philadelphia expansion franchise that is expected to start play in 2010 has ended its name-the-team contest and plans to announce the team's name next month. Nicknames to choose from included AC (Athletic Club) Philadelphia, SC (Soccer Club) Philadelphia, Philadelphia Union and Philadelphia City.

United Soccer Leagues Second Division: The USL Second Division has announced its 2009 schedule, which will feature each team playing a 20 games from mid-April to mid-August. The league will align all nine teams in one table consisting of the Bermuda Hogges, Charlotte Eagles, Crystal Palace Baltimore, Harrisburg City Islanders, Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Real Maryland FC, Richmond Kickers, Western Mass Pioneers and Wilmington Hammerheads. All teams from 2008 have returned, except the Cleveland City Stars team that moved up to the USL First Division for 2009.

Professional Arena Soccer League: The Mexican indoor soccer league known as the Liga Mexicana de Futbol Rapido (LMFR), which is also operating as a Mexican Division of the PASL-Pro league, has started its schedule. The ten-team LMFR is split into a six-team Baja Division with teams called Cuernavaca, Deportivo Lomas, La Cabana, Liverpool, Machado and UABC Ensenada; and a four-team Central Division with teams called Auge del DF, Contructores de Chilpancingo, Tecolapan del Estado de Mexico and Tigres Dorados MRCI Oaxaca. The PASL-Pro league also has the Chico Bigfoot, Louisville Mockingbird and Spokane now listed as teams under its "Provisional, Expansion, Exhibition" heading.

OTHER

Major League Lacrosse: The MLL's Rochester Rattlers will reportedly relocate to Toronto for the upcoming 2009 season and operate with a different team nickname. The Washington (DC) Bayhawks plan to move to Annapolis (MD) for 2009. The league was unsuccessful in finding buyers for the ownerless Philadelphia Barrage franchise after considering cities like Columbus (OH), Cary (NC) and Orlando. Although not officially announced, the MLL reportedly will contract from ten to six teams for the 2009 season. The New Jersey Pride, Los Angeles Riptide, San Francisco Dragons and Philadelphia Barrage would sit out the 2009 season, leaving the Boston Cannons, Chicago Machine, Denver Outlaws, Long Island Lizards, Washington/Annapolis and Toronto.

Dan Krieger is the creator of "Leagues, Teams & Nicknames", which tracks the changes in league alignments, franchise movements and team nicknames in today's sports world. The latest version can be found at http://www.lulu.com/content/2533047. Dan can be contacted at dankrieger@leaguesteamsnicknames.com.

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