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WNBA Women's National Basketball Association

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
September 17, 2007 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)


BASEBALL

- American Association: The Brighton (CO) city council has developed a ballot for this November to let voters decided on a sales tax increase to fund a new ballpark. Brighton is in the Denver area and, if approved, could have a facility ready for the 2009 season. The investor in the project has been working with the American Association to place a franchise in the Denver area.

- Canadian-American (Can-Am) League: After the North Shore Spirit announced they would not return next season, the owner of the Nashua Pride stated that the Pride might not return for 2008. The cities of Ottawa and Leominster (MA) were mentioned as relocation sites for the Pride. The 10,000-seat Ottawa stadium may be too big and another group wants to redevelop the stadium for other purposes. Leominster would have to build a ballpark for the team, which is something that has been attempted over the past few years with no success. Recently, the Pride's owner was now trying to work out a deal to keep the team in Nashua by raising funds through the sale of limited partnerships.

- Northern League: The league was having problems with its Alberta franchises, the Calgary Vipers and Edmonton Cracker-Cats, over travel subsidies those teams must pay to the league for other teams to travel to Alberta during the season. Apparently, the Alberta teams have discussed inter-league play with the Golden Baseball League and the possibility of joining the GBL.

- Puerto Rican League: The fall/winter Puerto Rican League may not operate this season after 69 years of operation. The owners claimed financial difficulties as the reason for the shutdown. Other fall/winter leagues operate in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, along with the Arizona Fall League and Hawaii Winter Baseball in the United States. In 2007, the independent Golden Baseball League and United League Baseball operated month-long winter seasons.

BASKETBALL

- National Basketball Association: The owner of the Seattle SuperSonics plans to file for relocation with the league if an arena plan does not emerge by October 31, 2007. The Seattle City Council recently passed an ordinance to bind the team to its current arena lease through 2010.

- Continental Basketball Association: Investors in Rockford (IL) are interested in building a new multi-purpose arena and possibly bringing back the Rockford Lighting, a former CBA franchise that closed down in 2006 after 20 years of operations. The investors would purchase a dormant CBA franchise, although a NBA Development League franchise could also be considered. A new arena would most likely not be ready until the 2009-10 season.

- Women's National Basketball Association: The owner of the Colorado Chill, formerly of the National Women's Basketball League, was unable to arrange enough financing to have a team by the same name become part of the WNBA in 2008. The Colorado Chill played three seasons (2004-06) in the NWBL, which disbanded after its 2006 season. The Chill planned to play most games in Fort Collins and a few in Denver.

- Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional: The LNBP's La Ola Roja (Red Wave), based in Mexico City, asked to sit out the 2007-08 season. The Guerreros de Morelia team has taken their spot in the 24-team league alignment.

FOOTBALL

- All-American Football League: The AAFL's first ten-game spring season appears to be set with teams in Detroit, Little Rock, Gainesville (FL), Birmingham (AL), Knoxville (TN) and a Texas city to be named later.

- Arenafootball 2 (af2): The return of the af2 to Fort Wayne for a second season is still uncertain after the ownership of the Fort Wayne Fusion was rescinded at the end of the 2007 season. The general manager of the local coliseum stated that a new group associated with a different league could move into the market. Prior to the Fusion, the Fort Wayne Freedom played two seasons (2003-04) in the National Indoor Football League and two seasons in the United Indoor Football (2005-06). Back in 2000-01, a franchise called the Fort Wayne Safari was listed as a proposed expansion team in the now-defunct Indoor Professional Football League. Ongoing financial problems with the Bakersfield Blitz could force the franchise to fold or move to another city by next season. The Blitz joined the af2 in 2002.

- American Indoor Football Association: The head of the Utah Indoor Football League has been granted rights to the state of Utah for establishing a minimum of three franchises for the AIFA's proposed western division. Contracts have reportedly been signed with arenas in Harrisville (UT) and Kearns (UT) to house AIFA franchises in 2008.

- Indoor Gridiron Football League: Billed as the first winter indoor football league, the IGFL plans to start play in November 2008 with at least eight teams playing a regular season of eight to ten games. The league is targeting markets with arenas that seat 3,000 to 5,000 fans and hopes to eventually grow to 32 teams.

- National Women's Football Association: A Houston-based team called the Texas Cyclones has joined the NWFA for the 2008 season. The NWFA champion Pittsburgh Passion will move to the Independent Women's Football League for its 2008 season. HOCKEY

- American Hockey League: The city of Glens Falls (NY), former home of the Adirondack Red Wings of the AHL and the Adirondack Frostbite of the United Hockey League, has hired a consulting firm to help the city obtain an affiliated AHL team by the 2008-09 season.

- Central Hockey League: The group that owns the CHL is still acquiring land in the Yuma (AZ) area where it wants to build an arena for a CHL franchise. The city ordered a feasibility study on the project and it should be completed next month.

- North Eastern Hockey League: The NEHL has four teams listed for the upcoming 2007-08 season-Findlay (OH) Freedom, Pittsburgh Prowl, Copper City Chiefs (Rome, NY) and Norfolk (Ontario) IceCats. Only the Findlay Freedom team was part of the four-team 2006-07 season. The Mohawk Valley IceCats (Utica, NY) moved to Ontario for 2007-08.

SOCCER

- Major League Soccer: The city of Collinsville (IL) in the metropolitan St. Louis area has given its approval to move forward on a new development that will include a soccer-specific stadium to house a MLS franchise. The organizer of the effort is in the application phase of obtaining a franchise and hopes to have a team on the field for the 2009 season. This group also plans to bring a women's professional team to the St. Louis area when that league restarts in 2009. The MLS plans to add a 14th team in San Jose for 2008. Recently, the league commissioner stated that because of the number of interested markets, the league could go as high as 18 teams before holding off on further expansion, with two teams added in 2009 and two in 2010.

OTHER

- World Combat League: The WCL announced that the Houston Enforcers team has moved to St. Louis for its upcoming 2007-08 season, which will run from October to February. The league has new teams called the New Jersey Tigers and Denver Fury, but the New England Strikers and Philadelphia Fire were no longer listed.

Eastern Division
Miami Force
New Jersey Tigers
New York Clash
St. Louis Enforcers

Western Division
Denver Fury
Los Angeles Stars
Oklahoma Destroyers
Texas Dragons

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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