Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
December 10, 2012 - North American Soccer League (NASL)
BASEBALL
American West Baseball League: The proposed new AWBL recently held tryouts and signed players for four teams-the North County Cannons (San Diego), Yuma (AZ) Desert Rats, Fullerton (CA) Flyers and the Orange County (CA) O's. Orange County apparently replaces the previously listed Long Beach Splash.
Eastern League: A local ownership group has now become involved in trying to bring a Double-A Eastern League team to Ottawa (Ontario) for the 2014 season.
Pecos Spring League: The independent Pecos League plans to operate its second Houston-based Pecos Spring League in the month of March 2013. The spring league currently lists five participating teams called the Houston Apollos, Mesa Arizona Garden of Gears, Austin Mudcats, New York Federal Lions and Coastal Kingfish.
Midwest Farm League: A new Chicago-based summer collegiate league called the Midwest Farm League plans to start play in 2013 with four teams called the Joliet Generals, Chicago Jets, Will County CrackerJacks and Illinois Lincolns. The CrackerJacks and Lincolns had dropped out of the Midwest Collegiate League near the end of the 2012 season.
Futures Collegiate Baseball League: The Seacoast Mavericks of the FCBL will move from Rochester (NH) to Portsmouth (NH) for the 2013 season.
BASKETBALL
Premier Basketball League: A team called the Bloomington (IL) Flex will apparently replace last season's Central Illinois Drive for the upcoming 2013 PBL season. The owner of the Drive put the team up for sale after the 2012 season and the new owner purchased the team, but was unable to work a deal on keeping the same team name.
United Basketball League: The UBL started its 2012-13 season this weekend and the posted season schedule currently includes only three of the league's teams-the Texas Wranglers (Addison), Austin Rhythm and Arkansas Warriors (Little Rock).
Independent Basketball Association: After the Dayton Air Strikers team dropped off the IBA's 2012-13 winter season schedule, the Springfield (IL) Xpress team, which played in the league's 2012 spring season, was added for a few games on the winter season schedule and is listed as a tenth team in the standings.
FOOTBALL
Champions Professional Indoor Football League: The new CPIFL, which plans to start its inaugural season in 2013, has officially announced the new Omaha Beef team as part of its ten-team lineup. The Omaha Beef was part of the 2012 Indoor Football League, but was dropped by the league after the season. New ownership took over the team and switched to the CPIFL. Teams called the Omaha Beef played two seasons (2000-01) in the former Indoor Professional Football League, three seasons (2002-04) in the former National Indoor Football League, four seasons in the former United Indoor Football, and four seasons (2009-12) in the IFL. The IFL was reportedly interested in reinstating the Beef under its new ownership for the 2013 season.
American Indoor Football: The AIF held its annual meeting this past week and it looks as though the league will have six teams for the 2013 season. The teams will include the returning Harrisburg (PA) Stampede, Cape Fear Heroes (Fayetteville, NC), and West Virginia Badgers (formerly the Virginia Badgers), along with new teams called the Roc City Thunder (Rochester, NY), York (PA) Capitals and Washington Eagles. The league has two 2014 expansion teams under contract in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (PA) and Baltimore and is in discussions with two other possible new teams in South Carolina for 2014.
Lingerie Football League - United States: The LFL-US announced the 2013 regular-season schedule for its 12 participating teams will run from March 30 to August 10. Each team will play two home games and two road games. The Eastern Conference will feature a Northeastern Division with the returning Baltimore Charm, Cleveland Crush and Philadelphia Passion, along with a Southeastern Division consisting of the Jacksonville Breeze, which relocated from Tampa, and expansion teams called the Atlanta Steam and Omaha Heart. The Western Conference will feature a Pacific Division with the returning Las Vegas Sin, Los Angeles Temptation and Seattle Mist, along with a Midwestern Division consisting of the returning Chicago Bliss, Green Bay Chill and Minnesota Valkyrie. The LFL-US had a previously proposed team called the Atlanta Steam that was announced for the 2009-10 season, but the team never started play due to arena issues.
Canadian Football League: Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), which will operate a new Ottawa-based CFL franchise and a new Ottawa-based Division II North American Soccer League franchise, announced a name-the-team contest for both teams. The teams will both use the rebuilt stadium in Ottawa starting with the 2014 season.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: With recent talk of a major-junior team in the Ontario Hockey League moving to Hamilton (Ontario), there has also been speculation the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs could move to a new arena in Laval (Quebec) that is expected to be completed in 2015.
Major League Hockey League: The four teams of the MLRH Pacific Division started play for its 2012-13 season with an event on December 8. The four teams include the Anaheim Bullfrogs, Arizona Arsenal, Breakaway Bullies and Hollywood Dream.
SOCCER
North American Soccer Leagues: The New York Cosmos team, which was announced as a new NASL team for the 2013 season, stated it will not start play until the second half of the 2013 season starting in August 2013. The league previously announced a new split schedule for the 2013 season with a first half running from March/April to early July and a second half running from August to October or November. The NASL's new Ottawa-based franchise that will start in the 2014 season has officially announced the start of its name-the-team contest.
New Women's Professional Soccer League: Three of the new teams-Seattle, Portland and Washington (DC)-in the yet-to-be-named new women's pro soccer league are expected to announce their team names next week. Seattle is said to be deciding among the Sirens, Reign or Seattle FC as its name, while Portland could have "Rose City" as part of its name.
United Soccer Leagues PRO League: The Division III USL PRO league announced it will add a new team based in Sacramento (CA) for the 2014 season. Another group in the Sacramento area was trying to build a new stadium for a possible future Major League Soccer franchise. This same group had been in talks with the Division II North American Soccer League about a possible franchise. The USL PRO league plans to have 13 teams in 2013 after adding expansion teams in Phoenix and Tampa.
United Soccer Leagues W-League: The Vancouver Whitecaps FC organization, which operates the men's team in Major League Soccer, will not operate the Vancouver Whitecaps Women team in the 2013 W-League. The team had been part of the W-League since the 2001 season and played its first two seasons (2001-02) as the Vancouver Breakers before coming under the Whitecaps ownership for the 2003 season.
United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League: The Rockville-based Real Maryland FC Monarchs soccer club of the USL PDL has announced it is shutting down operations and will not be part of the 2013 season. Real Maryland played three seasons (2008-10) in the former USL Second Division league and switched to the PDL for the 2011 season.
OTHER
NexGen League: The new NexGen League is another a proposed new professional ultimate Frisbee-style football league that plans to start play with 18 teams in 2013. The NexGen League wants to use top club teams from the USA Ultimate's Triple Crown Tour in this new pro league. Two other ultimate pro leagues, the American Ultimate Disc League, which played its inaugural season in 2012, and the new Major League Ultimate (MLU) will also play in 2013. The NexGen League plans to play nine-regular season weekend tournaments, each comprised of six teams in a round-robin format. The alignment will have a West Conference with a three-team Northwest Division and a three-team Southwestern Division, a North Conference with a three-team Central Division and a three-team Northeast Division, and a South Conference with a three-team Atlantic Division and a three-team Southeast Division.
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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