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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
January 5, 2015 - Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL)


BASEBALL

Frontier League: The group called MKE Sports & Entertainment has been trying to bring a new ballpark to the Oak Creek area of Milwaukee for a possible Frontier League team and now is partnering with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to build a 4,000-seat multi-use stadium in the area by 2016. MKE Sports will operate the league's Rockford Aviators franchise in 2015 and there has been speculation the Rockford team could eventually end up in the Milwaukee area.

Pecos League: The independent Pecos League has confirmed the Taos (NM) Blizzard team has been moved and renamed the Garden City (KS) Wind for the 2015 season. The Taos Blizzard started play in the 2013 season, but was more of a travel team its first season playing only 13 home games due to a lack of lighting at its home field. The league has not ruled out a return to Taos in 2016.

South Atlantic League (SALLY): A proposed new ballpark in Columbia (SC) for a possible low Class-A SALLY team is expected to break ground next week and should be ready for the 2016 season. The league's Savannah Sand Gnats ownership group is involved with the project and the group is expected to announce this year whether the Sand Gnats or some other minor league team will be moving to Columbia.

Eastern League: Groundbreaking is expected next month in Hartford (CT) on a new downtown stadium that will become home to the relocated New Britain (CT) Rock Cats of the Double-A Eastern League. A revised financing plan has been established for the project and if there are no other delays the stadium could be ready for the 2016 season.

Michigan Baseball League: Plans by Macomb County (MI) to build a new 2,500-seat baseball stadium in Utica (MI), just north of Detroit, for a yet-to-be-named semi-pro independent baseball league might not move forward without financial support from the state. The proposed league plans to have three or four teams playing all league games at the facility by 2016.

BASKETBALL

Universal Basketball Association: The men's UBA has posted the schedule and 20-team league alignment for its 2015 season that will start later this month. The league has a six-team Southern Conference, a six-team Western Conference, a four-team Northern Conference and a new Eastern Conference with four teams (Carolina Cougars, Charlotte Fury, Queen City Bulls and Wilkes County Flames) based in North Carolina. Other new teams for 2015 include the Anderson (IN) Legends, Louisiana Soul and the Atlanta-based International Elite Academy. The DFW Stars are now listed as the Dallas Stars and the Fort Worth Fresh in now the North Texas Fresh. The league evolved from the United Regions Basketball League and started play as the UBA for the 2010-11 season. The UBA also has a Women's Universal Basketball Association.

Florida Basketball Association: The FBA plans to add a team called the Marion County Showcase Stallions (Ocala, FL) for the 2015 spring-summer season that will start in May. The league had five teams last season, but the Tampa Bay Rebels dropped out after the 2014 season. The FBA started play in 2012.

Midwest Professional Basketball Association: The new MPBA has started play in its inaugural 2015 season with teams called the Gateway Steam (St. Louis), St. Louis RiverSharks, Champaign (IL) Swarm, Bloomington (IL) Flex, Chicago Force and Windy City Groove (Chicago). The Bloomington Flex was part of the 2014 Premier Basketball League. Teams will play 20 games from January to early April 2015.

Empire Basketball Association: The new semi-pro EBA is planning its inaugural season that will run from May through August 2015. Currently, the league has seven teams called the Houston Horned Frogs, Houston Faith, UBAL Allstars (Houston), Central Texas Sky Riders, Missouri City Hornets, Dallas Young Kings and Houston God's Property. The UBAL Allstars were part of the 2013-14 Texas Basketball Association.

Women's United States Basketball Association: The WUSBA, which has been trying to get off the ground with a summer season since 2010, announced 14 teams targeted to be part of a summer season starting in June 2015. Teams will include the Chicago Cagerz, Milwaukee Reign (formerly Minneapolis Reign), Atlanta Platinum, New Orleans Pzazz, Dallas Dynasty, St. Louis Silver, Houston Galaxy, Indiana Royal, San Antonio Stingers, Birmingham Starz, Cincinnati Raging River, Kansas City Blaze, Minnesota River Hawks (formerly Memphis River Hawks) and Columbia (SC) Breeze.

FOOTBALL

Professional Indoor Football League: The Harrisburg (PA) Stampede of the PIFL announced the team has suspended operations indefinitely due to economic conditions. The eight-team PIFL previously announced its 2015 schedule with Harrisburg included, so the league is now down to seven teams. The Harrisburg Stampede played two seasons (2009-10) as part of the American Indoor Football Association, one season (2011) in the Southern Indoor Football League and two seasons (2012-13) in the league known as American Indoor Football before joining the PIFL for the 2014 season.

HOCKEY

Ontario Hockey League: The proposed relocation of the OHL's Plymouth Whalers to Chatham (Ontario) or some other market might not happen for the 2015-16 season. The OHL deadline for teams to apply for relocation was December 31, 2014 and it did not appear a relocation application was filed. The current arena in Chatham does not meet OHL requirements and would most likely need to be replaced. The OHL wants to keep the Whalers in Michigan, but a Tier-I United States Hockey League team is moving to the arena in Plymouth next season and it would have to be shared with the OHL team. There has been talk of Flint (MI) for an OHL team, but the arena operators there have applied for a team in the USHL.

ECHL: The AA-level ECHL, which grew to 28 teams with the absorption of six Central Hockey League teams prior to the 2014-15 season, would like to cap its membership at 30 teams to match the number of teams in the National Hockey League and the AAA-level American Hockey League. The league currently has two dormant franchises-the Las Vegas Wranglers, which sat out the 2014-15 season while searching for a new arena, and a Reno (NV) expansion team that has been proposed for several years.

SOCCER

Major League Football: The proposed Caribbean-based professional soccer league known as Major League Football is still being discussed with 2016 as a possible start. Representatives from Major League Soccer, Liga MX (Mexcio) and the English Premier League have been consulted about the new league. A similar effort called the Caribbean Professional Football League started play in 1992, was renamed the Caribbean Major Football League for the 1994 season and disbanded just prior to a 1995 season.

OTHER

World Team Tennis: The owner of the Texas Wild in the WTT is not sure if the team will return to Irving (TX) for the 2015 season. The team was the Kansas City (MO) Explorers until moving to Texas for the 2013 season. Moving the team back to Kansas City was not an option, but selling the team is a possibility.

National Lacrosse League: The indoor NLL started its 2015 season this weekend and again has a five-team Eastern Division and a four-team Western Division. The only change from last season was the sale and relocation of the Philadelphia Wings team, which moved to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville (CT) and was renamed the New England Black Wolves. The Philadelphia Wings had been part of professional indoor lacrosse since 1987.

Dan Krieger is the creator of the Leagues, Teams & Nicknames 2013-14: "The Leagueology Almanac" , 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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Professional Indoor Football League Stories from January 5, 2015


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