Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
June 25, 2013 - National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada)

BASEBALL

Pacific Coast League: The Triple-A Pacific Coast League team currently operating as the Tucson Padres will be moving to a new downtown stadium in El Paso for the 2014 where the team will be renamed. Five finalists for the new name of the El Paso team have been announced and include the Aardvarks, Buckaroos, Chihuahuas, Desert Gators and Sun Dogs. A name-the-team contest ends next week.

Diamond League: The new independent developmental baseball league proposed by individuals associated with the Atlantic Baseball League will be called the Diamond League. The league plans to start in 2014 with six teams playing a 60-game schedule and wants to grow to eight teams playing an 84-game schedule in 2015. Worcester (MA) and Atlantic City (NJ) are two locations rumored to be under consideration.

Eastern League: The city of Ottawa has decided to increase the amount of money it will put toward upgrades to Ottawa Stadium in hopes of luring a Double-A Eastern League team after plans fell through this past year. The league's Binghamton Mets were rumored to be moving to Ottawa last year and there was speculation that the league's Erie Seawolves were a relocation candidate.

Southern League: The Biloxi (MS) city council voted to borrow money to help fund a new stadium for a potential Double-A Southern League team. Currently, 2014 is the initial target for stadium completion and negotiations are apparently underway to purchase an existing Double-A team and relocate it to Biloxi.

Atlantic Baseball League: The ABL currently has only one Texas-based team called the Sugar Land Skeeters, but it plans to have four Texas-based teams within three or four years. The league is looking to place a team in Fort Worth and possibly two other teams in or near the Houston area.

New York-Penn League: Except for three affiliation changes, the short-season Class-A NYPL has started its 2013 season with the same 14 teams and league alignment as last season. A NYPL team will be moving to a new ballpark in Morgantown (WV) for the 2015 season, so there has been speculation as to which team will move. The Pittsburgh Pirates' Jamestown (NY) Jammers affiliate has been mentioned due to the close proximity of Morgantown to Pittsburgh. Other potential relocation candidates are the Auburn (NY) Doubledays, due to low attendance and city size, and the Batavia (NY) Muckdogs team that has been for sale since 2010.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball League of Canada: The NBL-Canada is currently in negotiations to play some pre-season exhibition games in western provinces this year. There have been some groups inquiring about western expansion and the league wants to have a western Canadian division within the next one to three years. The proposed Canadian Basketball League was recently announced and plans to start with teams in western Canada that consist of more Canadian players.

Central Basketball League: The CBL is closing out its inaugural spring season with four teams, but is planning an upcoming fall developmental B-League season set to start in September. The Indiana Legends (Portland) and the Parkersburg (WV) Angels are two of the teams set to play in the 2013 fall developmental season. A team called the Lake City Kingdom Riders, based in Lake Charles (LA), will join the CBL for its 2014 spring season. Earlier this year, the Lake City Kingdom Riders were announced as a 2013-14 expansion team for the American Basketball Association.

Bikini Basketball Association: The new women's BBA started its inaugural 2013 season this weekend. Teams include the Houston Inferno, Illinois Heart (Chicago), Las Vegas Fantasy, Miami Spice and Philadelphia Diamonds. The regular season runs until August 24.

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced the new Southwest Florida Spartans, based out of Largo (FL) in the Tampa area, have been added as an expansion team for the 2013-14 season. The league officially announced that the Oakland County (MI) Cowboys team has moved to Grand Prairie (Alberta, Canada).

FOOTBALL

Arena Football League: The Utah Blaze (Salt Lake City) of the AFL has been evicted from its home arena for not paying rent on six previous home games this season. The Blaze has three home games remaining in the 2013 season and the owner is trying to find new investors for the team. The league has been providing financial assistance to the Blaze to meet its payroll.

United Football League: The four-team UFL postponed the second half of its 2012 fall season and was supposed to complete it in the spring of 2013. The league had run out of funds and has been unable to restart as planned. The UFL has been involved in a lawsuit by players that were still owed money.

Professional Development Football League: The spring-summer PDFL started its six-week inaugural outdoor season in mid-May with only three teams called the Portland (OR) Boltz, Utah Argos and Sea-Tac Cobras (Seattle/Tacoma). A fourth team called the Boise Bandits dropped out just prior to the start of the season and recently the Sea-Tac Cobras decided to end its season early after only two league games. The league originally planned to start with 12 teams across the United State split into American and National conferences, but the other proposed teams are listed as starting in 2014.

HOCKEY

Central Hockey League: The CHL announced the Fort Worth Brahmas and Bloomington (IL) Blaze will not be part of the 2013-14 season, but the league will remain at ten teams with the addition of two expansion teams called the Brampton Beast (Ontario, Canada) and St. Charles (MO) Chill. The Brahmas could return in the future if they find a more suitable home venue. The Bloomington Blaze came under new ownership that formed a new team by the same name that will play in the 2013-14 season of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The Fort Worth Brahmas started play in the 1997-98 season of the Western Professional Hockey League; joined the CHL when it merged with the WPHL for the 2001-02 season; suspended operations for the 2006-07 season; returned as the Texas Brahmas based in North Richland Hills for the 2007-08 season; and changed back to the Fort Worth Brahmas under new ownership for the 2012-13 season. The Bloomington Blaze joined the CHL for the 2011-12 season after replacing the city's Bloomington Prairie Thunder that was part of the CHL for the 2010-11 season. The CHL has come under new ownership by a collection of CHL franchise owners. Also, new ownership was found for the league's Quad City Mallards (Moline, IL) franchise that was operated by the league last season.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League: The 18-team QMJHL has announced its 2013-14 schedule and league alignment. The only change from last season was the sale of the Prince Edward Island Rocket to new ownership that changed the team's name to the Charlottetown Islanders. Near the start of the 2012-13 season, the Rocket announced plans to rename the team the PEI Islanders for the 2013-14 season, but the new ownership decided to change that to the Charlottetown Islanders.

ECHL: The ECHL, which is billed as the Premier "AA" Hockey League, has announced its 2013-14 schedule that will include 22 teams. The league had 23 teams last season, but the Trenton Titans ceased operations after the 2012-13 season and were removed from the Eastern Conference Atlantic Division.

North American 3 Junior Hockey League: The Tier-III level NA3JHL has added a four-team South Division for 2013-14 that will include a team in Topeka (KS), one team in Houston and two teams in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The league will have 22 teams aligned into four divisions for 2013-14. The league plans to add western teams in San Jose, Phoenix and Southern California by the 2014-15 season.

National Hockey League: A potential ownership group is trying to buy the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes franchise and move it to Seattle. The team would play in the city's KeyArena until a new shared arena is built for a potential National Basketball Association franchise. Work on that arena will not start until an NBA franchise is placed in Seattle.

SOCCER

Ascenso MX: The Ascenso MX, which is the relegation soccer league or second level to Mexico's top Liga MX, has announced it will again have 15 teams in its upcoming season that starts in July. The Pumas Morelos team was relegated to the Segunda Division and the Ballenas Galeana team was promoted from the Segunda Division to the Ascenso MX. The San Luis organization that was part of last season's Liga MX, moved down to the Ascenso MX with a team called Atletico San Luis. The La Piedad Reboceros team was promoted to Liga MX, but moved to become the Veracruz Tiburones Rojos in the Liga MX. Since the Veracruz Tiburones Rojos team was in last season's Ascenso MX, an Oaxaca team was added to replace Veracruz in the Ascenso MX The Club de Fútbol Alebrijes de Oaxaca took over the over Tecamachalco Segunda Division team, which was promoted last year but was unable to obtain a license, and will be part of the Ascenso MX. Other changes include the sale of the Irapuato Freseros to become the Zacatepec 1948 team and the ownership of the Toros Neza team replacing it with a team in Ciudad del Carmen called Delfines FC.

Women's League Soccer: The five teams that make up the elite-level WLS started their 2013 schedules last month. The Lady Saints (Cincinnati), FC Indiana (South Bend) and Fort Wayne SC returned from last season, with the addition of teams called the Ohio Galaxies (Dayton) and Chicago Aces. The second FC Indiana club based in Lafayette did not return and last season's Des Moines Lady Menace moved to the Women's Premier Soccer League for 2013.

Major League Soccer: The mayor of Orlando expects the MLS to award a franchise to the city sometime this summer. The mayor and the owner of the Orlando City Lions team in the Division-III United Soccer Leagues PRO league have been working to finalize funding for a new soccer-specific stadium to host an MLS franchise.

OTHER

North American Lacrosse League: The NALL announced it will cease operations. The NALL started play in January 2012 with a six-game "NALL Pro Invitation Season" in which all games were played in Louisville against the Kentucky Stickhorses because that was the only team with an arena lease. The league played a 2013 season with the Stickhorses, the Boston Rockhoppers, Baltimore Bombers and Rhode Island Kingfish. Boston, Baltimore and Rhode Island would not be able to move forward with another season due to financial issues, so the Stickhorses also decided to suspend operations.

Dan Krieger is the creator of the "The Leagueology Almanac 2011-12", 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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