Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
September 11, 2007 - Women's Professional Soccer (WPS)
BASEBALL
- Canadian-American (Can-Am) League: The owner of the North Shore Spirit (Lynn, MA) plans to shut down the baseball team at the end of the 2007 season. The North Shore Spirit entered the Northeast League in 2003 by taking over the dormant Waterbury (CT) Spirit franchise (1997-2000). The Northeast League was reorganized as the Can-Am League for the 2005 season. The city of Lynn had another Northeast League team called the Massachusetts Mad Dogs (1996-99). That team sat dormant and then became the Pittsfield-based Berkshire Black Bears (2002-03) and the current New Haven County Cutters since 2004. The owner of the Nashua Pride is uncertain if the team will return next season and it could move to another location. The league was interested in placing an expansion team or relocated team in Ottawa next season.
- Golden Baseball League: The GBL is planning to expand from six to eight teams next season. Although the names of the new locations were not given, the league has been interested in Vacaville (CA), Redding and several communities in the Bay Area. The GBL is talking with other independent minor leagues about the possibility of inter-league play by the 2009 season.
- Frontier League: Plans to start on a new ballpark for a Crystal Lake (IL) Frontier League franchise have been delayed by the city's planning and zoning commission, which needs to approve expansion at McHenry County College that is to include a 6,500-seat ballpark.
BASKETBALL
- American Basketball Association: Some of the unnamed 2007-08 ABA expansion teams recently announced their nicknames. The team in Delaware (Dover) will be called the First State Fusion. The San Francisco ABA expansion team will be called the San Francisco Rumble and the Westchester (NY) ABA expansion team will be called the Westchester Phantoms.
- International Basketball League: The IBL announced that a team based in Vancouver (British Columbia) would join the league for its 2009 season.
- Texas Professional Basketball League: The TPBL is in negotiations for a possible 2008 team based in Arlington. The league had an Arlington-based team called the Texas Redhawks that was dropped by the league early in the 2007 season.
FOOTBALL
- All-American Football League: Reports on the AAFL's new Florida franchise stated that the league will have six teams in its inaugural 2008 season-Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Michigan, Texas and Alabama. The teams will each play a ten-game schedule. The league's web site also had these six locations listed.
- Arena Football League: An ownership group in Cleveland wants to have an AFL franchise playing in the city for the upcoming 2008 season. League meetings take place in early October, when a decision will most likely be made concerning the addition of a 20th team for the 2008 season. The Cleveland Thunderbolts played in the AFL from 1992 through the 1994 season.
- American Indoor Football Association: A report from Harrisburg (PA) states that the city will have an AIFA franchise that is scheduled to start play in March 2009.
- Arenafootball 2 (af2): The af2, United Indoor Football and the World Indoor Football League are apparently all interested in the Macon (GA) market. The af2's Macon Knights played in the league from 2001 through the 2006 season. Last year, the WIFL was in discussions with an investor that was interested in placing a team called the Macon Generals in the league for 2008. The WIFL would have a natural rival for Macon with its Columbus (GA) Lions team. A new owner has been found for the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz af2 franchise, which had been up for sale since last fall. The team is expected to remain in Oklahoma City.
- Women's Professional Football League: The WPFL recently started its 2007 season with 14 teams. Two previously announced expansion teams, the Kentucky Valkyries and the New York Nemesis were not part of the 2007 season.
AMERICAN CONFERENCE
East Division
Connecticut Cyclones
Empire State Roar
New Jersey Titans
West Division
Dallas Diamonds
Las Vegas Showgirls
Los Angeles Amazons
New Mexico Burn
So Cal (San Diego) Scorpions
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Central Division
Houston Energy
Minnesota Vixen
Wisconsin Wolves
North Division
Carolina Queens
Indiana Speed
Toledo Reign
HOCKEY
- American Hockey League: The Dallas Stars have expressed an interest in placing its AHL affiliate in a 6,000-seat arena to be built in the Austin area. The Stars organization stated that Des Moines, home of its AHL Iowa Stars affiliate, has proven it is an AHL city and will continue to have a team.
- International Hockey League: Even though the new IHL evolved from the United Hockey League after the 2006-07 season, the IHL will not recognize the UHL records. The new IHL has adopted the records from the league by the same name that played from 1946 to 2001.
SOCCER
- Women's Soccer Initiative Pro Soccer League: The launch of a new women's pro soccer league being planned by the Women's Soccer Initiative has been pushed back until 2009. The new league would be a replacement for the Women's United Soccer Association that last played in 2003. Seven locations have been announced for the new league-Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York/New Jersey, St. Louis and Washington (DC).
OTHER
- World Boxing League: A new "fight league" called the World Boxing League plans to start in 2008 as a top, professional team boxing sports league. The WBL plans to launch ten teams in North America for its inaugural season, with ten teams each in Europe, Africa and Asia to follow.
Dan Krieger is the creator of "Leagues, Teams & Nicknames", which tracks the changes in league alignments, franchise movements and team nicknames in today's sports world. The latest version can be found at http://www.lulu.com/content/774026. Dan can be contacted at dankrieger@leaguesteamsnicknames.com.
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Women's Professional Soccer Stories from September 11, 2007
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
