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In Case You Missed It: Weekly Baseball, Basketball and Football Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
September 14, 2016 - International League (IL1)


BASEBALL

American Association: The city of Franklin (WI) in the Milwaukee area has given initial approval for a plan to finance a proposed development that will include a ballpark for a team in the American Association. The ballpark planning phase will move forward and the goal is to have the ballpark ready for the 2018 season. It is uncertain if the league's Joplin (MO) Blasters team will return next season due to financial and attendance issues. The team's ownership is reported to be under consideration to run the operations of the league's proposed Cleburne (TX) Railroaders expansion team, which is currently building a new ballpark in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Frontier League: The group trying to bring a Frontier League team to Jackson (MI) has received an extension through February 2017 to obtain funds from a naming rights agreement, which will help fund a proposed new ballpark to be built at the Jackson County Fairgrounds.

International League: The Gwinnett (GA) Braves of the Triple-A International League are having attendance issues and the team is considering a name change to stimulate interest. The team came to the Atlanta area when the Richmond (VA) Braves were relocated prior to the 2009 season. The team has the lowest attendance of the 30 teams in the Triple-A classification.

Texas League: The city of Wichita is trying to obtain state bonds to help finance a new stadium for a potential relocated Double-A Texas League team. The proposed stadium would be built on the site of the city's Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, which is currently used by the Wichita Wingnuts of the independent American Association. A new stadium would not be ready until at least 2019 and obtaining a Texas League team is contingent on the relocation of the San Antonio Missions team to Wichita.

New York-Penn League: The Staten Island Yankees of the short-season Class-A NYPL announced plans earlier this year to rebrand the team and recently announced five nickname choices for name-the-team voting. Choices include the Staten Island Bridge Trolls, Staten Island Heroes, Staten Island Killer Bees, Staten Island Pizza Rats and Staten Island Rock Pigeons.

West Coast League: The summer collegiate WCL announced a team called the Port Angeles (WA) Lefties will be part of the 2017 season. The Lefties will take the spot of the Kitsap BlueJackets team, which is moving to the Pacific International League next season.

BASKETBALL

Florida Basketball Association: The FBA announced it has added the Bradenton GymRatz team for the 2017 season. The Bradenton GymRatz were originally announced as new 2016 team for the Central Basketball Development League, but jumped to the North American Basketball League where they competed in the NABL's inaugural 2016 season.

National Basketball League of America: The new NBLA started its inaugural 2016-17 season earlier this month with five teams called the Dakota Magic (Mitchell, SD), Kansas City (KS) Spartans, Omaha Chargers, Omaha Nation Bison (Macy, NE) and Sioux City (IA) Hornets. The Kansas City team was originally announced as the Kansas City Steel and the Omaha Nation Bison was originally called the Siouxland Bison. The Siouxland Bison was listed as an American Basketball Association expansion team in March 2016 and the Sioux City Hornets played in the 2015-16 ABA as an "at large" team. The 2016 NBLA season runs through mid-November with each team scheduled for about 12 games.

Champions Basketball League: The proposed Champions Basketball League, which plans to be a professional men's summer basketball league with teams stocked with former National Basketball Association players, recently announced the Gotham Ballers (New York City) as its first team. The league is trying to develop 16 teams for an inaugural season in the summer of 2017. The league is said to be targeting Detroit for its next team.

Women's United States Basketball Association: The WUSBA, which has been trying to get off the ground with a summertime season since 2010, has cancelled a proposed European tour this fall that was to include four WUSBA-operated teams. The league will now concentrate on developing 32 teams in six regional divisions for a start in 2018-19.

FOOTBALL

Fall Experimental Football League: The FXFL, which hoped to become a developmental league for the National Football League, has ceased operations after only two seasons. The league played two short fall seasons with four teams in 2014 and three teams in 2015. Last season the Brooklyn Bolts played five games, the Hudson Valley Fort (Fishkill, NY) played three games and the Florida Blacktips travel team played two games.

Indoor Football Association: The proposed new IFA has added a team called the Iowa Elite (Davenport, IA) for its inaugural 2017 season. The Iowa Elite played some games as part of the 2015 North American Indoor Football and its National Pro Indoor League, but sat out the 2016 season.


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International League Stories from September 14, 2016


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