Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

Florida State League: The High Class-A FSL has approved the move of its Sarasota franchise, which had been affiliated with Cincinnati Reds, to Bradenton where it will become an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Reds will take over Pittsburgh's High Class-A franchise called the Lynchburg (VA) Hillcats in the Carolina League.

Golden Baseball League: The ownership group for the GBL's St. George (UT) Roadrunners plans to eventually operate four Hawaii-based teams and an unnamed fifth team. One of the Hawaii teams based on the island of Maui is expected to start play in the 2010 GBL season.

BASKETBALL

Premier Basketball League: The PBL has officially announced its 2010 schedule for its third season that will run from January to April. Each of the league's nine teams is expected to play a 20-game schedule. The PBL includes six returning teams (Rochester RazorSharks, Halifax Rainmen, Manchester Millrats, Vermont Frost Heaves, Quebec Kebs, and Buffalo Stampede) and three new teams (Capitanes de Arecibo of Puerto Rico, Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry, and Maryland GreenHawks).

American Basketball Association: The ABA has announced a new franchise called the New Jersey Mustangs, based in South Jersey, will start play in the 2010-11 season. The Tri-City Suns franchise, based in Prince George's County (MD), has confirmed the team will be part of the ABA's Northeast Division for the upcoming 2009-10 season.

Americas Basketball International: Although there are no results posted for the start of the ABI 2009-10 season that was supposed to take place last week, the ABI now has 12 teams listed as participating in the season. The four ABI-run teams based in the United States are named the Gladiators, Wolf Pack, Reigns, and Frontiers, although a team called the Pirates will soon replace the Frontiers. The eight international teams include the Caju Basketball Club (Uruguay), Paysandu Wanderers (Uruguay), Rowing Club Mercedes, Club de Baloncesto Lanco, University of Nigeria, Kano Pillars (Nigeria), Royal Hoopers (Nigeria), and Asociacion Deportiva Atenas. The ABI calls itself "The Elite League" and plays by international basketball (FIBA) rules.

Texas Professional Basketball League: A TPBL team called the Metroplex Miracles is holding tryouts and plans to be part of the 2010 season. The team is based in Lancaster (TX) in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. A team listed as the Metro Miracles played a couple of games in the league's 2009 season.

FOOTBALL

Indoor Football League: The IFL has officially announced it will operate with 24 teams in its upcoming 2010 season. From the 19 teams in 2009, the Saginaw (MI) Sting and River City Rage (St. Charles, MO) will not return, but the league has added seven new teams. Three of the new teams are expansion franchises called the La Crosse (WI) Spartans, Richmond (VA) Revolution, and Arctic Predators (Wasilla, AK). The four other new teams came from different 2009 indoor leagues: the Green Bay Blizzard and Amarillo Dusters from arenafootball2; the Chicago Slaughter from the Continental Indoor Football League; and, the Austin Turfcats from the Southern Indoor Football League. Last season's Muskegon Thunder moved to Grand Rapids to become the West Michigan ThunderHawks.

Arena Football 1: The new AF1 will add Dallas and one other yet-to-be-announced market to the 15 markets previously identified for its inaugural 2010 season. The league plans to make an announcement in the near future as to the final alignment that is expected to be split into two tiers based on market size. The addition of other markets is still a possibility to provide an even amount of teams in each tier.

Arenafootball2: The new Toledo Bullfrogs franchise planned to be part of the af2, but the league disbanded and the Bullfrogs will sit idle for 2010. Several af2 teams moved to the new Arena Football 1, but that league did not have enough Midwestern cities as possible rivals for the Bullfrogs and potential travel costs were considered too expensive. Toledo could reconsider the AF1 in 2011.

American Indoor Football Association: The AIFA announced it has added the Yakima Valley (WA) Warriors as an expansion team for 2010. An indoor football franchise called the Yakima Shockwave played the 2001 season as part of the defunct National Indoor Football League. Yakima is expected to be a rival for the AIFA's other expansion team in Washington called the Wenatchee Valley Venom.

United Football League: The four-team UFL hopes to expand next season with Los Angeles and Hartford (CT) considered front-runners. Other markets mentioned for possible consideration include Portland (OR), Rochester (NY), Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Birmingham, Mexico City, and Monterrey (Mexico).

HOCKEY

Major League Roller Hockey: The new MLRH2 full-contact pro league has started its inaugural season. A five-team North Division includes the Chicago RollerSnakes, Cincinnati Smoke, Detroit Revolution, Michigan Thunder, and Pennsylvania Blackout, while the four-team South Division has the D.C. Filibusters, Florida Fusion, South Carolina Buccaneers, and Virginia Wings. Most of these same clubs will operate teams in the new MLRH-AAA non-contact elite league and the MLRH-AA non-contact league.

National Hockey League: Although the NHL agrees that the city of Toronto could support a second NHL franchise, this will not happen in the near future. The league did not rule out the possibility of a franchise moving to Hamilton or the greater Toronto area. The NHL says it is committed to its current markets and will not expand any time soon. The Phoenix Coyotes and Nashville Predators appear to be the best candidates for relocation and the Atlanta Thrashers are expected to be up for sale in the near future.

SOCCER

United Soccer Leagues-First Division: The Vancouver Whitecaps, Minnesota Thunder, Carolina Railhawks, Montreal Impact, and Miami FC Blues have left the USL First Division in an attempt to create a new Division II league for the 2010 season. This group of teams had been part of the Team Owners Association (TOA) that was formed in 2008 to try to get more owner involvement in the First Division operations. This group will also be joined by the Atlanta Silverbacks organization, which dropped out of the USL First Division after the 2008 season, and a new St. Louis group, which had been trying to obtain a Major League Soccer franchise. The TOA had backed failed efforts by Miami FC, and later the St. Louis group, to purchase the USL organization and was not happy with the eventual new league ownership. The proposed new league is seeking approval from the United States Soccer Federation, which requires a minimum of seven teams to start a league. The Minnesota Thunder team was having financial problems that could affect its future. Vancouver has been accepted into the MLS for 2011 and Montreal is trying to obtain an MLS franchise, but both still plan on operating second-tier teams.

United Soccer Leagues-Premier Development League: The USL has announced that the Vermont Voltage will return to the PDL after sitting out the 2009 season due to renovations to its home field. The Maine Premier Soccer organization has announced it will join the USL PDL for the 2010 season with a team called MPS Portland Phoenix.

Professional Arena Soccer League: The PASL-Pro league has started its second season for 2009-10 with nine teams split into a five-team Eastern Division and a four-team Western Division. Gone from last season are the Colorado Lightning and Wenatchee Fire, but the league has added the Canton-based Ohio Vortex, Louisville Lightning, and San Diego Sockers. The PASL-Pro teams will also play games against teams from the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League and select regional matches against lower-level PASL-Premier league teams. The owner of the Tacoma Stars in the PASL-Premier league is planning to move up to the PASL-Pro league by next season.

OTHER

Women's Premier League Rugby: The Women's Premier League Rugby, which is sponsored by USA Rugby, recently completed its inaugural 2009 season with eight teams playing a six-match season from early September to late October. The Red Conference included the Berkeley (CA) All-Blues, Minnesota Valkyries, Twin Cities Amazons, and Oregon Sports Union (Portland), while the Blue Conference had Beantown (Boston), Keystone (Philadelphia), New York, and the Washington (DC) Furies.

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.

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