Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on December 24, 2007 under NBA G League (G League)
BASEBALL
- Appalachian League: The Seattle Mariners have decided to place a Rookie-level team in Pulaski (VA) as part of the 2008 Appalachian League. The Pulaski Mariners will again give the league ten teams. The league was forced to operate with nine teams last season after the Toronto Blue Jays pulled out of the league and a replacement team could not be found.
- Southern League: The sale of the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx has been approved by the Double-A Southern League. The new owners are committed to remaining in Jackson (TN) and could change the team's name as a way of marketing the franchise. Other proposed sales of the team, along with possible relocation, have been hanging over the franchise for the past few years.
- Frontier League: The new Frontier League franchise in Oakland County (MI), near Detroit, will be called the Oakland County Cruisers. The Cruisers will start play in 2009 and its ownership group will be purchasing the league's Midwest Sliders franchise, which will play as a traveling team in the 2008 season. A 3,778-seat ballpark still needs to be built in the Waterford Township.
- South Coast League: The city of Albany (GA) has threatened the South Georgia Peanuts with eviction if it does not make a payment for utilities at its stadium.
- Golden Baseball League: The GBL has scheduled a regular-season game between Calgary and Edmonton to be played in Kamloops (British Columbia). The league is planning Canadian and Pacific Northwest expansion and could place a franchise in Kamloops for 2009. When the defunct Canadian Baseball League was in its planning stages for its inaugural 2002 season, a team called the Kamloops Critters was proposed but never started play.
BASKETBALL
- National Basketball Association: The move of the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn will not happen until 2010 due to construction-related delays surrounding the proposed new arena. The team is expected to be renamed the Brooklyn Nets after the move.
- National Basketball Association Developmental League: The Manchester (NH) Millrats of the American Basketball Association have reportedly opened preliminary talks with the NBA about the Millrats becoming an NBA D-League franchise after the 2007-08 ABA season. The Northeast is the next area of D-League expansion and the Millrats would be a natural affiliate of the Boston Celtics. The NBA D-League reportedly wants to expand to 16 teams by the 2009-10 season and eventually have 30 teams.
- World Basketball Association: The WBA has come under new ownership for its fifth season starting in 2008. The league has been renamed the WBA Pro Basketball League.
FOOTBALL
- United Football League: The UFL is reported to be close to announcing Las Vegas as one of its inaugural franchises when it starts play in August 2008.
- United Indoor Football: After previously announcing its 2008 schedule and alignment, the UIF's Omaha Beef and Sioux City Bandits have switched conferences for 2008. Omaha was originally in the Eastern Conference and Sioux City in the Western Conference.
- Continental Indoor Football League: The CIFL's Flint franchise will be called the Flint Phantoms. The owner of the new franchise owned last year's Port Huron Pirates, who moved to Flint for the playoffs as the Michigan Pirates. The Pirates then disbanded. Flint had an indoor football franchise called the Flint Flames in the 2000 season of the defunct Indoor Football League.
HOCKEY
- ECHL: A group in Exeter (NH) wants to build a 5,000-seat arena and eventually would like to bring a Double-A ECHL franchise to the city. The league appears interested in adding some Northeast markets and currently has only Elmira (NY) and Trenton (NJ) that are closest to Exeter. The Single-A Mid Atlantic Hockey League is also apparently interested in the Exeter market.
- Central Hockey League: The city council in Independence (MO), part of the Kansas City area, authorized a sales tax to finance a 5,800-seat arena that is expected to become home to a CHL franchise. Global Entertainment Corporation, the parent company of the CHL, will build and operate the arena that is expected to be completed by the fall of 2009. The corporation is still waiting for approval from the city council in Yuma (AZ) on a proposed 6,000-seat arena.
SOCCER
- Major League Soccer: Additional reports discussed the possibility of the league's return to Miami and an MLS franchise playing in a new stadium next to a proposed new ballpark for the Florida Marlins. The Miami Fusion played in the MLS for four seasons (1998-2001). The city's Miami FC in the United Soccer Leagues First Division would most likely be displaced by an MLS team and the USL team owner has expressed an interest in being involved with a potential Miami MLS franchise.
- Major Indoor Soccer League: An individual in the Louisville (KY) area is interested in bringing an MISL expansion franchise to the city. If the league application is accepted and enough investors are found, the team could start play next season. A team called the Louisville Thunder played in the first three seasons (1984-87) of the former American Indoor Soccer Association. The AISA became the National Professional Soccer League in 1990 and was reorganized as the current version of the MISL for the 2001-02 season.
OTHER
- National Lacrosse League: A group of investors wants to bring a NLL expansion franchise to Halifax (Nova Scotia), which hosted the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship this year and has hosted a couple of NLL exhibition matches. A new Halifax franchise could join for the league's 2009 season when the expansion Boston Blazers are expected to start play. The Canadian markets of Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton host current NLL franchises and the league had previous teams in Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver.
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/1375144. Dan can be contacted at dankrieger@leaguesteamsnicknames.com.
NBA G League Stories from December 24, 2007
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- Lakers Recall Coby Karl from D-Fenders - Los Angeles D-Fenders
- Morris Almond Named D-League.com Performer of the Week - G League
- Colorado's Billy Thomas Signs with New Jersey Nets - Colorado 14ers
- D-League Daily Developments - G League
- 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.
