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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
February 9, 2015 - Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL)


BASEBALL

Southern League: The new Biloxi Shuckers, the Double-A Southern League team that previously operated as the Huntsville Stars before relocating to Biloxi for the 2015 season, will play at least 15 home games in Huntsville during the 2015 season. The Shuckers' new stadium is not expected to be ready until at least June of the 2015 season.

Major League Baseball: The city of San Jose is taking its antitrust lawsuit against MLB to the Supreme Court in an effort to let the Oakland A's move to San Jose. The San Francisco Giants have claimed territorial rights over the Santa Clara County market, which includes San Jose. The city of San Jose sued MLB in June 2013 and lost a lower court decision and a subsequent appeal decision.

Pacific Coast League: The Fresno Grizzlies of the Triple-A PCL will be called the Fresno Raisin Eaters for one game during the 2015 season as a tribute to the city's 1906 PCL team by that name.

BASKETBALL

Independent Basketball Association: After announcing last month that the 2015 Spring Season would include seven full-schedule teams and two partial-schedule teams, or branding teams, the IBA has announced it will have a total of eight teams with the elimination of the Portland (IN) Revolution as one of the 2015 branding teams.

Central Basketball Development League: The CBDL announced a team in West Palm Beach (FL) called the Palm Beach Kings will be part of 2015 season. The league's previously announced team for Talladega (AL) is listed as the Talladega Toros.

Eastern Basketball Alliance: The 2015 EBA teams and schedule appear to be in a state of change as new teams called the Carolina Warhawks and Fayetteville Express Showcase are no longer listed in the Southern Division, the new South Jersey Knights are gone from the Northern Division, and the DMV Kings and Metrowest Ballas have been added as travel teams.

FOOTBALL

Professional Indoor Football League: With the PIFL's Harrisburg Stampede deciding to drop out last month after the 2015 schedule was already announced, the league has had to revise its schedule for only seven teams. The league wanted each team to play a 12-game schedule so some teams have lost games scheduled against Harrisburg. It looks as though not all teams will be able to play the same number of games in 2015. As of now, two PIFL teams (Lehigh Valley Steelhawks and Nashville Venom) will play home games against the Marion Blue Racers of the X-League Indoor Football and one PIFL team (Alabama Hammers) will play a home game against the Saginaw Sting of the American Indoor Football.

HOCKEY

Southern Professional Hockey League: The new SPHL expansion team called the Macon Mayhem is planning for its start in the 2015-16 season. The Macon Mayhem is the league's former Augusta (GA) RiverHawks franchise, which was forced to sit out the 2013-14 season due to the failure of the ice system at its home arena and decided to move to Macon.

Ontario Hockey League: The major-junior OHL has officially approved the sale of the Plymouth (MI) Whalers and a move of the team to Flint (MI) for the 2015-16 season. The Plymouth Whalers originated as the Detroit Ambassadors in 1990 and was the first United States-based OHL franchise. The Whalers' arena was purchased by USA Hockey, which plans to move its Team USA national development team in the Tier-I United States Hockey League from Ann Arbor (MI) to Plymouth. The new Flint OHL team is holding a name-the-team contest that will end on February 20.

ECHL: With three current California-based ECHL teams moving to the American Hockey League next season and being replaced with teams in three current AHL markets, the ECHL announced the league alignment for next season that will again feature 28 teams. The Eastern Conference will have five-team South and North divisions and a four-team East Division, while the Western Conference will have five-team Midwest and West divisions and a four-team Central Division. The new ECHL markets of Adirondack (Glens Falls, NY), Manchester (NH) and Norfolk (VA) have all been placed in the Eastern Conference East Division. Adirondack will be the ECHL's relocated Stockton Thunder, Manchester the relocated Ontario Kings and Norfolk the relocated Bakersfield Falcons.

Canadian International Hockey League: The Ontario-based junior-level CIHL is down to only two teams, the Batchewana Attack and Espanola Rivermen, after the recent departure of the Greater Sudbury Royals and the Kalkaska (MI) Rhinos. The Rhinos plan to join another league for 2015-16, while Batchewana, Espanola and a team in Sudbury under new ownership plan to return next season. The CIHL started the 2014-15 season with eight teams, but its four Southern Division teams left to form the new World United Hockey League in November 2014.

SOCCER

National Women's Soccer League: The professional NWSL has announced its 2015 schedule that will feature the same nine teams as last season and run from early April to early September.

Women's Premier Soccer League: The pro-am WPSL announced a Canadian team called the Tkaronto Justice (Toronto) will be part of the 2015 season.

Major League Soccer: The ownership of the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers and National Basketball Association's Sacramento Kings are investing in the Sacramento Republic FC of the United Soccer Leagues PRO league and will be part of the Republic's bid to become an MLS expansion team. Groups in Las Vegas and Minneapolis are also in the running for an MLS expansion team. The proposed MLS team previously announced for Miami is contingent on a deal for construction of a new soccer-specific stadium. Local officials have proposed a Miami MLS team use the stadium at Florida International University as a temporary home, but the Miami MLS group is currently focused on finding a privately owned site for its permanent home and a possible start in 2017.

Professional Futsal League: The proposed new PFL, which hopes to start league play in the United States in November 2016, has announced a three-day International Challenge tournament for next month in Frisco (TX). Participating teams will include FC Barcelona (Spain) and representative teams from Mexico (PFL Team Mexico) and the United States (PFL Team USA). The league plans to hold several international futsal events in the next 18 months to introduce the sport to fans, investors and sponsors in the United States.

United Soccer Leagues - Premier Development League: After announcing its 65-team league alignment last month, the under-23 PDL announced its 2015 schedule this week with 64 teams. The Victoria (British Columbia) Highlanders were previously announced in the league alignment, but will not participate in the 2015 season and have been removed from the Northwest Division. The new Toronto-based PDL team is listed as the TFC Academy and is affiliated with the Toronto FC of Major League Soccer. A total of ten PDL teams have affiliations with either MLS or USL PRO league teams.

OTHER

American Ultimate Disc League: The new Charlotte (NC) franchise in the professional AUDL will be called the Charlotte Express when the team starts play as part of a new five-team South Division in 2015. The league will increase to 26 teams in 2015 and the league commissioner plans to reach a goal of 32 teams by the 2016 season. The AUDL has been planning to add a Texas-based division with teams in Dallas (currently the Roughnecks) and Austin already announced for 2016.

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 February 9, 2015


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