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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
March 17, 2008 - American Basketball Association (ABA)


BASEBALL

- New York-Penn League: The Triple-A Rochester Red Wings of the International League have stepped in to run the operations of the Short-Season Class-A Batavia (NY) Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League for the 2008 season. The New York-Penn League was close to forfeiting the Muckdogs franchise due to the club's financial problems. The deal between Rochester and Batavia, which is located about 30 miles from Rochester, is only for one season. Batavia has one year remaining on its affiliation with the St. Louis Cardinals and Rochester is an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.

BASKETBALL

- American Basketball Association: The ABA's Orlando Aces franchise will move to North Las Vegas for next season and become the Las Vegas Aces. The Orlando Aces played only one game in the 2007-08 season. The ABA already has a potential 2008-09 franchise in the Las Vegas area called the Henderson All Starz. The league has had previous experience in the Las Vegas market with the Las Vegas Slam, which played in the 2002 portion of the 2001-02 season; the Las Vegas Rattlers, which played the 2003-04 and 2004-05 season before dropping out after one game in 2005-06; and the Las Vegas Venom, which suspended operations early in the 2006-07 season. The ABA had other proposed Las Vegas teams listed since called the Lights and then the PROLYMS, but these eventually disappeared. The ABA announced an expansion franchise for the town of Marion (IN), located about 30 miles north of Anderson. Next season's Fresno Legends expansion franchise played an exhibition game against the San Francisco Rumble this past week. Several teams and potential markets have disappeared from the league's 2008-09 list of expansion teams-Anderson Champions, Augusta, Baltimore BayLions, Birmingham Magicians, Gallup (NM) Outlaws, Gomez Palacio Thundercats, Ontario Red Wolves, Palm Beach Imperials, Reno Sharpshooters, Rochester/Syracuse Raging Bullz, Tijuana Dragons, Villa Rica (GA), and Waco Wranglers.

- National Basketball Association Development League: The NBA D-League plans to announce next week that an expansion team for Erie (PA) will become an affiliate of the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2008-09 season.

- National Basketball Association: The Washington state legislature has not moved forward on possible funding for improvements to Seattle's KeyArena that could help keep the NBA's SuperSonics franchise. A group of local businessmen still plan to get an arena improvement plan in place before the league votes in mid-April on the team's proposed move to Oklahoma City.

- International Basketball League: The 2008 IBL season has started with 17 franchises and the league-operated USA All-Stars team. The league alignment features four divisions with the Bellingham Slam, Edmonton Chill, Jazz of Tacoma, Snohomish County Explosion and Vancouver Volcanoes in the West; the Battle Creek Knights, Elkhart Express, Holland Blast and Windy City Soldiers in the East; Central Oregon Hotshots, China-Shanxi Kylins, Las Vegas Stars, Los Angeles Lightning and Portland Chinooks in the Southwest; and Elgin Racers, Gary Steelheads, Grand Rapids Flight and USA All-Stars in the Midwest.

- Global Basketball Alliance: The GBA plans to operate a division with teams in New York City and North Jersey this summer. One of these teams will be called the Bronx BreakOuts.

FOOTBALL

- All American Football League: The AAFL announced it would not start its inaugural season until 2009 due to certain economic conditions affecting the league's finances. The AAFL will continue to search for additional investors and now plans to start in 2009.

- Arena Football League: The Grand Rapids Rampage franchise appears to be under scrutiny since it plays in the league's smallest market. The AFL was not pleased with the attendance figures for the team's first home game, but stated that if the team's overall attendance is good there should be no problem keeping the franchise in the league. The league still plans on possibly placing teams in London, Berlin, Mexico City or Monterrey (Mexico) by the end of this decade.

- American Indoor Football Association: The AIFA wants to expand in the West and plans to place an expansion franchise in Wenatchee (WA) for its 2009 season. The league is working with a prospective ownership group and is also working with arena operator Global Entertainment Corporation to place AIFA teams in their arenas. The junior-level North American Hockey League (NAHL) recently granted Wenatchee conditional approval for a 2008-09 franchise.

HOCKEY

- ECHL: The league's Toledo franchise will be called the Toledo Walleye when it starts play in the 2009-10 season at a new downtown arena that is under construction. The team replaces the Toledo Storm franchise that suspended operations in 2007 after it came under new ownership. Jefferson County (TX) has officially rescinded a lease for the Beaumont-based Texas Wildcatters for next season. The team's ownership has a stake in the Ontario (CA) Reign expansion franchise that starts play in 2008-09.

- Mid-Atlantic Hockey League: The MAHL announced it has added a 2008-09 expansion franchise called the South Shore Shooters, which will be located in the Northwest Indiana town of Dyer. The league currently owns the franchise, but is looking for local ownership. The Valley Forge (PA) Freedom franchise is not expected to return next season, but the league plans to have 8 to 12 franchises.

- Quebec Major Junior Hockey League: The relocated St. John's (Newfoundland) Fog Devils will be called the Junior de Montreal (Montreal Junior) when the team starts play in the Montreal area for the 2008-09 season. The QMJHL also announced its realignment from two to four divisions next season. The TELUS West will feature the Gatineau Olympiques, Montreal Junior, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Val-d'Or Foreurs; the TELUS Centre will have Drummondville Voltigeurs, Lewiston MAINEiacs, Shawinigan Cataractes and Victoriaville Tigres; the TELUS East will include the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, Chicoutimi Sagueneens, Quebec Remparts, and Rimsouki Oceanic; and the Atlantic will include the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Halifax Mooseheads, Moncton Wildcats, Prince Edward Island Rocket and Saint John Sea Dogs.

SOCCER

- SuperLiga 2008: The participating teams have been announced for the 2008 SuperLiga tournament that will run from July 12 to August 5, 2008. This will be the second year of the tournament featuring four teams from Major League Soccer and four teams from Mexico's Primera Division (First Division). Group A will include D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo from the MLS, along with the Mexican clubs Atlante (Potros) and Guadalajara (Chivas). Group B will include the New England Revolution and Chivas USA from the MLS, along with the Mexican clubs Santos Laguna (Guerreros) and Pachuca (Tuzos).

- Major Soccer League: The effort to bring an MISL franchise to Beaumont (TX) was apparently tied to the ECHL's Texas Wildcatters franchise, which offered to bring an indoor soccer franchise to the city's Ford Arena as part of a proposed lease deal. The lease deal fell through and the ECHL franchise is gone, so the future of a proposed Beaumont MISL franchise is uncertain.

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.

Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.

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American Basketball Association Stories from March 17, 2008


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.


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