Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on October 5, 2009 under Arena Football League (AFL)

BASEBALL

Golden Baseball League: The GBL plans to add a Hawaii-based franchise for its 2010 season. The team will be based in the city of Wailuku on the island of Maui. The company that operates the league's St. George (UT) Roadrunners will run the new Maui team and could place up to three additional GBL teams throughout Hawaii in the future. As of now, the league would have ten teams in 2010, but is said to be considering cities in Arizona and British Columbia for other teams.

New York-Penn League: A team from the short-season Class-A New York-Penn League will be moving to the Norwich (CT) market, which recently lost the Connecticut Defenders in the Double-A Eastern League. A meeting is planned for next week to approve a team for relocation. The Burlington-based Vermont Lake Monsters, Jamestown (NY) Jammers, and Batavia (NY) MuckDogs have been mentioned as relocation candidates.

West Coast League: The summer collegiate WCL plans to add a team in Walla Walla (WA) for the 2010 season.

BASKETBALL

International Basketball League: The Battle Creek Knights plan to rejoin the IBL for its 2010 season. The Knights started as an IBL franchise in 2005, but switched to the Premier Basketball League this past season. The Knights had originally announced the team would sit out the 2010 season.

American Basketball Association: Although the Clayton (CA) Showtime has been listed with the proposed Pacific Professional Basketball League, the ABA has announced the franchise will be part of its 2009-10 season. The ABA announced the Central Valley Dawgs from the Fresno (CA) area will be part of the 2009-10 season. The new Seaside (CA) Sea Kings have found a home venue for the upcoming season.

Americas Basketball International: The ABI plans to start its 2009-10 season in November 2009 with four ABI teams in the United States and six other participating teams from Central America, South America, and Africa. The ABI calls itself "The Elite League" and plays by international basketball (FIBA) rules. The four ABI teams are listed as the Gladiators, Reigns, Wolf Pack, and Frontiers. Two of the six other teams are listed as the Caju Basketball Club of Uruguay and the Paysandu Wanderers of Uruguay.

Universal Basketball Association: The Texas-based United Regions Basketball League has been purchased and renamed the Universal Basketball Association. The UBA currently has seven teams listed in its National League-the Irving Assault, Houston Gladiators, Converse Flight, San Antonio Stars, Southside Warriors, GIE Morrow Disciples-Elite, and Georgia. The UBL's D-League lists the Warner Robins Knights, Orlando Stars, Columbus Dragons, and Metro Kings teams that are eligible to play in 2011. The UBA plans to operate globally with three regions-United States, Uruguay, and Japan.

FOOTBALL

Southern Indoor Football League: The Augusta (GA) Colts franchise, which last played in the 2008 season as part of the American Indoor Football Association, has switched league affiliations and is now trying to join the SIFL for its 2010 season. The Colts evolved from the Augusta Spartans franchise, which played in the 2007 World Indoor Football League and left for the AIFA. The Spartans' ownership sold its AIFA rights to a new group that renamed the team the Colts for the 2008 season. The Colts sat out the 2009 AIFA season to reorganize the franchise.

Arena Football 1: The new AF1 has announced 16 franchises that will participate in its inaugural season in 2010. The league has at least eight additional applications on file and plans to make a final announcement in the near future on these and other potential teams for 2010. The first of the 16 AF1 markets includes 11 from the 2009 arenafootball2: Arkansas (Little Rock), Bossier-Shreveport (LA), Central Valley (Fresno), Iowa (Des Moines), Kentucky (Lexington), Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Spokane, Tennessee Valley (Huntsville), Tulsa, and Tri-Cities (Kennewick, WA). The AF1 will include two new ownership groups in Chicago and Jacksonville, along with the Arizona Rattlers and Orlando Predators from the Arena Football League. Also, the Orem-based Utah Valley Thunder of the 2009 American Indoor Football Association has joined the AF1 and will move to the Salt Lake City market. The AF1 could have 24 to 30 teams for its first season.

Arenafootball2: Of the 25 teams in the 2009 af2, 11 have joined the new Arena Football 1. Of the remaining teams, the Boise Burn, Peoria Pirates, Mahoning Valley Thunder, and Manchester Wolves have suspended operations. The owner of the Rio Grande Valley Dorados stated the team would not be joining the AF1. The Green Bay Blizzards need new investors to move forward in the AF1 and will fold if it does not join the AF1. The Amarillo Dusters have asked the fans to vote on whether the team should join the AF1 or the Indoor Football League. Other teams like the Quad City Steamwheelers, Corpus Christi Sharks, South Georgia Wildcats, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers have ownership or arena issues.

American Indoor Football Association: The AIFA expansion franchise in Trenton (NJ) known as the New Jersey Kings has signed a three-year arena lease and the team is expected to be part of the 2010 season. The city had a previous indoor football team called the Trenton Lightning, which folded during its first and only season in the 2001 Indoor Professional Football League. The AIFA announced that the Morristown-based New Jersey Revolution, formerly of the Continental Indoor Football League, has been added for the 2010 season. The New York/New Jersey Revolution joined the Great Lakes Indoor Football League as a travel team for the league's inaugural 2006 season and found a home in Morristown for the 2007 GLIFL season. In 2008, the team became the New Jersey Revolution and the GLIFL was renamed the CIFL. The Revolution decided to sit out the 2009 CIFL season, while playing a short, independent indoor schedule against semi-pro teams. The AIFA has also found new ownership for its Ogden (UT) Knights franchise, which had been started by the league's co-owners last season.

Indoor Football League: The La Crosse (WI) Spartans have signed a one-year arena lease with the city that will allow the IFL expansion franchise to participate in the 2010 season.

HOCKEY

Major League Roller Hockey: The MLRH is moving forward with adding teams for the upcoming fall/winter seasons of the new full-contact MLRH2 and two new non-contact leagues known as MLRH-AAA and MLRH-AA. The new Detroit Revolution has been announced for the MLRH2. The Michigan Thunder (Grand Rapids), Virginia Wings (Chantilly), and teams from Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago are also expected to be part of the MLRH2. New teams called the Southeast Mafia, based in Snelville (GA), and the Raleigh Dragons have added teams in the AAA and AA leagues. The MLRH is competing for players and locations with two non-checking inline hockey leagues-the American Inline Hockey League, which started play last season, and the Professional Inline Hockey Association, which started play in 2002.

National Hockey League: A Phoenix bankruptcy court rejected two bids for the take over of the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes franchise. The offer from the group wanting to buy the franchise and move it to Hamilton (Ontario) was rejected because it did not consider the NHL's rights to choose a franchise owner and a franchise location. The NHL's bid for the Coyotes was too low to adequately repay the team's creditors. The bankruptcy court would reconsider an NHL bid, if it was reworked to include all of the listed creditors.

North East Professional Hockey League: The new NEPHL has announced its inaugural 2009-10 season schedule that will include only four teams-the Twin City Yeti (Fitchburg, MA), New England Pharaohs (Salem, NH), Rhode Island Storm (Kingston), and New York Aviators (Brooklyn). A previously announced team called the Boston Wings and a proposed franchise in Danbury (CT) failed to materialize for the inaugural season.

SOCCER

Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro): The Wenatchee Fire team in the PASL-Pro league has been removed from the 2009-10 Western Division and is now listed as a "Provisional, Expansion, Exhibition" team. The Fire suspended operations last week. Currently, the PASL-Pro league has a five-team Eastern Division and a four-team Western Division for its teams in the United States. The Calgary United, Edmonton Drillers, and Saskatoon Accelerators of the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League were part of last season are again listed as the league's Canadian Division.

Major League Soccer: The new stadium being built for the Philadelphia Union MLS expansion team will not be ready for the start of the team's inaugural season in 2010. The Union will start its home schedule at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles.

OTHER

Major League Lacrosse: The MLL, a professional outdoor lacrosse league, has announced its protected rosters for its six teams that are expected to return in 2010. The MLL was reduced from ten to six teams prior to its 2009 summertime season. Teams in New Jersey (Bridgewater), Philadelphia, Rochester, Los Angeles and San Francisco dropped out; while a Toronto expansion team was added. The MLL web site states that the cities of Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, St. Louis and Seattle are currently under consideration for future expansion.

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 2008-09 version can be found at http://www.lulu.com/content/6218580. Dan can be contacted at dankrieger@leaguesteamsnicknames.com.

Arena Football League Stories from October 5, 2009

• Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.