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 Champions Indoor Football

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
July 6, 2015 - Champions Indoor Football (CIF)


BASEBALL

Ozark Pro Baseball League: The proposed new OPBL has made an offer to purchase Price Cutter Park in Ozark (MO) as its main ballpark for six proposed teams. Until a deal can be worked out in Ozark, the league plans to have teams traveling to play games in various towns in northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri. The league states the schedule is not yet completed, but it will start playing games next week in Harrison (AR) and West Plains (MO). Mountain Head (AR) and the Missouri towns of Branson, Nixa and Lebanon have been mentioned as locations for OPBL games.

Coastal Plain League: With the Savannah Sand Gnats of the low Class-A South Atlantic League moving next season to a new stadium under construction in Columbia (SC), the owner of the Gastonia Grizzlies in the summer-collegiate Coastal Plain League plans to place a Savannah-based team in the league for the 2016 season.

Pacific Coast League: Officials in San Antonio, which is currently home to the San Antonio Missions team in the Double-A Texas League, are still interested in building a new downtown stadium for a Triple-A team in the PCL. The PCL's New Orleans Zephyrs team is up for sale and considered a possible relocation candidate, but there are issues with financing the stadium construction and getting the Missions' owner to give up the San Antonio market.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association Development League (D-League): The Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association announced the ownership has purchased the rights to own and operate an NBA D-League team starting with the 2015-16 season. The team's home arena will be the Hershey Centre in Mississauga (Ontario) and the team will be called the Raptors 905 for the arena's area code in the Peel Region of Toronto. The Raptors ownership purchased the Mississauga-based team in the lower-level National Basketball League of Canada called the Mississauga Power, which operated out of the Hershey Centre for the past two seasons and will cease operations. The new Raptors 905 becomes the ninth NBA team to own a D-League team, as the league increases to 19 teams. Nine other D-League teams have single affiliations with NBA teams. Also, the mayor of Columbia (SC) announced the city will not be one of the sites under consideration as a possible location for a D-League team affiliated with the NBA's Charlotte Hornets. Two other sites, Raleigh (NC) and Greenville (SC), have also dropped from consideration.

National Basketball League of Canada: With the arrival of a new National Basketball Association D-League team in Mississauga, the NBL-Canada's Mississauga Power has ceased operations. The team started as the Oshawa (Ontario) Power in the league's first two seasons (2011-13) before moving to Mississauga for the 2013-14 season. The NBL-Canada states the league will still have at least eight teams next season, as a new team called the Niagara River Lions will join and basically replace Mississauga in the Central Division. The league is also looking to add an Atlantic Division team in Sydney (Nova Scotia) and a city in southwestern Ontario is reported to be ready to apply for the 2015-16 or 2016-17 season.

Central Basketball Development League: The CBDL is looking to lengthen its playing schedule and is talking with the Premier Basketball League, along with other leagues, about CBDL teams participating in the PBL from January to April and then shifting to the CBDL schedule from May to September. The CBDL's recently announced 2016 Bradenton (FL) team is listed as both the Gym Rats and the GymratZ.

FOOTBALL

American Indoor Football: The AIF announced a new team called the Winston Wildcats, based in Winston-Salem (NC), will start play in the 2016 season. Over the past two years, the AIF had a proposed expansion team in Winston-Salem called the Carolina Silverhawks.

Champions Indoor Football: The CIF announced a new team called the Mesquite (TX) Marshals has joined the league and will start play in the 2016 season. A team called the Mesquite Bandits was announced for the inaugural season of the Lone Star Football League in 2012, but its membership was revoked by the league before starting play. Another proposed team called the Mesquite Ghostriders failed to get off the ground for the 2013 indoor season. The CIF operated with nine teams in 2015 and previously announced a new Chicago area team called the Illiana Eagles will start play in 2016.

Canadian Football League: The CFL started its 2015 season late last month with the same nine teams in a four-team East Division and a five-team West Division. Each team will play an 18-games schedule from late June to early November. The CFL hopes to add a fifth East Division team in the future with Halifax (Nova Scotia) and Quebec City considered as frontrunners for a team.

National Football League: The NFL is reported to be looking at temporary stadium venues in the Los Angeles area if one or more of its teams decides to shift operations to Los Angeles for the 2016 season. The StubHub Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, along with the Rose Bowl, Los Angeles Coliseum, Dodger Stadium and Angels Stadium have been asked to submit bids to the NFL.

HOCKEY

Federal Hockey League: The owner of the FHL's Berkshire Battalion (North Adams, MA) will be involved with the league's new Danbury (CT) expansion team, so the Berkshire Battalion will not return for the 2015-16 season. The owner of the Battalion had been having issues with the local arena management, but just two weeks ago said the team would be returning to North Adams. The Berkshire Battalion was an expansion team for the 2014-15 season. Earlier last month, the Dayton Demonz team lost its owner, but the league plans to operate the team in 2015-16 until new ownership is found.

Canadian Women's Hockey League: The five-team elite-level CWHL has approved future expansion under certain standards and is interested in the Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul markets. The league has received unsolicited expansion proposals in many markets. As of now, the CWHL does not anticipate adding a sixth team for the 2015-16 season, but that could change if terms can be agreed to.

SOCCER Major League Soccer: The Minneapolis-based MLS expansion group is expected to ask for an extension to the league's July 1, 2015 deadline for progress on a soccer stadium plan. The group was said to be considering a move of the stadium site to St. Paul or suburban Brooklyn Park, but the league wants to stick to the initial deal on a franchise playing at a privately financed stadium in downtown Minneapolis.

North American Soccer League: The Division-II NASL started its 2015 Fall Season with the same 11 teams that participated in the 2015 Spring Season. The Spring Season ran from early April to mid-June, while the Fall Season runs from late June to early November.

United Soccer League: The Orlando City FC Lions of Major League Soccer plan to operate its own Division-III USL team in Central Florida starting with the 2016 season. Orlando City FC will end its affiliation with the USL's Louisville City FC after this season. The Orlando City FC Lions were part of the USL until ownership obtained an MLS expansion franchise and the team moved up to the MLS for the 2015 season. A minority owner of Orlando City FC started the Louisville City FC for the 2015 and that team became Orlando's USL affiliate.

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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