Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
May 18, 2015 - American Indoor Football (AIF)
BASEBALL
Frontier League: The independent Frontier League started its 2015 season this past week with the same 14 teams aligned into seven-team East and West divisions. This is the third season in a row the teams and alignment have remained the same. One of the teams is the Frontier Greys travel team that returns for a third season and will again be based out of Highland (IL), about 40 miles east of St. Louis. The Greys were formed for the 2013 season to replace the Road Warriors travel team, which was organized during the 2012 season after the league's London (Ontario) Rippers folded. The Frontier Greys were based out of Chillicothe (OH) for the 2013 season.
American Association: The independent AA starts its 2015 season this week and grew to 13 teams in the offseason with the addition of the Joplin (MO) Blasters to the South Division. The Blasters are the former El Paso Diablos team that was sold after the 2013 season and sat out last season with plans to move to Joplin. Also in the off-season, the Amarillo Sox were renamed the Amarillo ThunderHeads. The league is aligned in a four-team Central Division, a four-team North Division and a five-team South Division. This is the fourth season the AA will play an interlocking schedule with teams from the independent Can-Am League.
International League: The new owners of the Pawtucket (RI) Red Sox are still working to build a new stadium in Providence (RI) for the team, but if a deal does not work out the Massachusetts markets like Worcester, Springfield and New Bedford have expressed interest in the team. The main concern is the financing of a new stadium and the potential costs to taxpayers.
South Atlantic League (SALLY): Officials in Spotsylvania County, located just southwest of Fredericksburg (VA), expect to know at the end of the month whether a proposal for a publicly financed stadium for the Hagerstown (MD) Suns of the low Class-A SALLY will move forward. The Suns have a lease through the 2016 season in Hagerstown and the ownership has been seeking a new stadium.
Liga Mexicana de Beisbol: Mexico's top baseball league known as the LMB, or the Mexican Baseball League, started its 2015 season early last month with the same 16 teams as last season aligned into eight-team North (Zona Norte) and South (Zona Sur) divisions. The LMB is part of Minor League Baseball and is considered to be at the Triple-A level of play.
Liga Norte de Mexico: Mexico's LNM, which is considered a Double-A minor league for the Triple-A Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, started its 2015 season last month with eight teams. Another Mexican Double-A minor league called the Liga Norte de Sonora cancelled its 2015 season due to financial problems and two of its teams joined the LNM for 2015.
BASKETBALL
National Basketball League of Canada: The NBL-Canada held a league meeting this week and announced a ninth team based in St. Catharines of Ontario's Niagara region will start play in the 2015-16 season. The new team will be added to the Central Division. Instead of starting its season in early November, the NBL-Canada will start next season in the week of December 2015 and end on April 30, 2016. Apparently, this switch was made to appease owners who wanted to move to a summer season. St. Catharines last had a pro basketball team called the Niagara DareDevils that played a few games as part of the American Basketball Association in the 2005-06 season. A group in Fredericton (New Brunswick) is reported to be exploring an NBL-Canada team.
Central Basketball Development League: The CBDL, which evolved from the 2013 Central Basketball League, recently started its 2015 season that will feature a six-team Southeast Division of teams called the South Florida Spartans (Winter Park), Fort Pierce (FL) Pride, D-Elite Silver Backs (Auburn, AL), Talladega (AL) Toros, Sylacauga (AL) Supersonics and Shreveport-Bossier Knights. Fort Pierce and South Florida are the only two locations returning from last year's shortened inaugural season as the CBDL, which played only a handful of games with several Florida-based teams.
FOOTBALL
American Indoor Football: The Chicago Blitz of the AIF announced its game this weekend against the Atlanta Sharks has been cancelled since the Sharks will not be traveling to Chicago. The Atlanta Sharks became a travel-only team early in the 2015 season when it lost its lease at its home arena. After playing three road games in April against the Savannah Steam, the Sharks stopped playing and basically forfeited the rest of its 2015 games. The Atlanta Sharks joined the AIF last season and played four games as a travel-only team in 2014.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The AHL announced the league alignment for the 2015-16 season. Each of the 30 teams will again be affiliated with one National Hockey League team. The Eastern Conference will have an eight-team Atlantic Division and a seven-team North Division, while the Western Conference will have an eight-team Central Division and a seven-team Pacific Division.. The league's two Texas-based teams were added to the new Pacific Division, which was created in the off-season and also includes five new California-based teams created from relocations of five 2014-15 teams. The relocations included the Oklahoma City Barons becoming the Bakersfield Condors; the Manchester Monarchs becoming the Ontario Reign; the Worcester Sharks becoming the San Jose Barracuda; the Adirondack Flames becoming the Stockton Heat; and the Norfolk Admirals becoming the San Diego Gulls. In addition the St. John's IceCaps (Newfoundland), an affiliate of the NHL's Winnipeg Jets, were moved to Winnipeg to become the Manitoba Moose, while the Hamilton Bulldogs, an affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens, were moved to St. John's to become another version of the IceCaps.
North American Hockey League: A proposed Tier-II junior-level NAHL team for Lewiston (ME) will not start as planned for the 2015-16 season. The ownership of the New Hampshire Fighting Spirit in the 2014-15 Tier-III North American 3 Eastern Hockey League (NA3EHL) announced plans to move the team to Lewiston for the 2015-16 season and also applied for a Tier-II NAHL franchise in Lewiston. The NAHL has been trying to establish an eastern-based division of teams for the 2015-16 season. The Lewiston-Auburn Fighting Spirit is expected to be part of the 2015-16 Tier-III NA3EHL and its ownership is expected to re-submit an application to the Tier-II NAHL for next season.
North American 3 Eastern Hockey League: The junior-level NA3EHL, which became affiliated with the Tier-II junior-level North American Hockey League last season after evolving from the Northern States Hockey League, was granted Tier-III certification for the upcoming 2015-16 season. The Tier-II NAHL now has two affiliated Tier-III leagues - the 13-team NA3EHL based in the East and the North American 3 Hockey League with most teams based in the Midwest and a division of Montana/Wyoming teams.
SOCCER
League1 Ontario-Women's League: The men's semi-pro soccer league known as League1 Ontario, which started its second season earlier this month, announced a new seven-team women's division will start play later this month. Six of the League1 Ontario-Women teams (ANB Futbol, Durham United FC Women, Vaughn Azzurri Women, Woodbridge Strikers Women, Sanjaxx Lions and Pro Stars FC) will be directly affiliated with men's League1 Ontario teams, while the seventh team will be the established North Mississauga SC Panthers.
United Soccer Leagues Super-20 League: The men's USL Super-20 League, which features elite players between the ages of 17 and 20, announced its 2015 alignment will have 26 teams divided among 6 geographic divisions. The Super-20 League features reserve squads for seven USL Premier Development League teams and well as a team operated by St. Louis FC of the United Soccer League. The 2015 season runs from May 23 to July 8.
OTHER
Western Lacrosse Association: The British Columbia-based indoor Senior-A WLA will start its 2015 season in the upcoming week with the same seven teams as last season - the Burnaby Lakers, Coquitlam Adanacs, Langley Thunder, Maple Ridge Burrards, Nanaimo Timbermen, New Westminster Salmonbellies, and the Victoria Shamrocks. At the end of the season, the WLA champion plays the champion of the Ontario-based Major Series Lacrosse for the Mann Cup.
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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American Indoor Football Stories from May 18, 2015
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
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