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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
March 24, 2008 - American Basketball Association (ABA)


BASEBALL

• Frontier League: An investor in Sterling (IL) wants to build a sports complex that would eventually include a ballpark for a possible Frontier League franchise. Sterling would be a small market and is in northern Illinois about halfway between Rockford and the Quad Cities area. Last year, the Hammond Rollers of the American Basketball Association moved to the Sterling-Rock Falls area as the Sauk Valley Rollers during the 2006-07 season. After the season, the team's owner moved the club to Rockford and switched to the Premier Basketball League as the Rock River Fury.

• Atlantic Baseball League: The city of West Chester (PA) in the Chester County area of Philadelphia wants to build a 4,000-seat ballpark for a low-level minor league team. This market could be in the territories of some nearby affiliated teams, so an independent team in a league like the ABL might be more likely.

• Global Baseball: A Detroit area investor wants to convert the vacant Pontiac Silverdome into a ballpark for a new, independent international baseball league called Global Baseball. The league would start in April 2009 with 10 to 12 participating countries and would be a replacement for Olympic baseball games that have been eliminated from Olympic sports.

BASKETBALL

• American Basketball Association: After only one season in the league, the Halifax (Nova Scotia) Rainmen franchise has left the ABA. The team will not participate in the season-ending playoffs and the owner wants to join the National Basketball Association Development League. The ABA also confirmed that it plans to return to Hollywood (CA) next season with a team called the Hollywood Showstoppers. A team called the Hollywood Fame participated in the 2006-07 ABA season. The owner of the Showstoppers also plans to operate the new Phoenix Fury franchise next season.

• National Basketball Association Development League: The NBA D-League officially announced plans to place an expansion franchise in Erie (PA) next season. The Erie franchise will join along with the new Reno (NV) expansion franchise that was previously announced. The league is targeting the Northeast for expansion and states like Maine, New Hampshire and New Jersey are under consideration, along with New York City (Harlem) and southern Ontario.

• National Basketball Association: Oklahoma City has reached a tentative deal with the Seattle SuperSonics for an arena lease deal, if the franchise can get out of its current lease in Seattle and obtain league approval for the franchise relocation. If the Sonics move to Oklahoma City, the team will most likely to be renamed.

• Global Basketball Alliance: The GBA has terminated its plans to act as an affiliate league of the American Basketball Association.

FOOTBALL

• Arenafootball2: An ownership group in Milwaukee plans to bring an af2 franchise to the city for the 2009 season. The team plans to be called the Milwaukee Iron. The Milwaukee Mustangs franchise was part of the Arena Football League from 1994 to 2001 and a team called the Milwaukee Bonecrushers just started play in 2008 as part of the Continental Indoor Football League. The af2 also hopes to place an expansion team in Yakima (WA) in 2009. The league's Spokane Shock and Tri-Cities Fever played an exhibition game in Yakima this past week to gauge interest in the af2.

HOCKEY

• Mid-Atlantic Hockey League: The MAHL announced that its Jamestown (NY) Vikings franchise will move to a yet-to-be announced location in Ohio next season and the team will be called the Lake Erie Vikings. The league's Valley Forge Freedom franchise will not return for next season.

• Eastern Professional Hockey League: The new EPHL plans to start play in the 2008-09 season. The owner of the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League's Valley Forge Freedom is apparently involved and wants to place an EPHL franchise in Danbury (CT). Danbury was home to the Danbury Trashers of the United Hockey League (2004-06) and the New England Stars of the North Eastern Hockey League (2006-07). Teams are also planned for West Orange (NJ) and Jamestown (NY), a former MAHL market. The league plans to play at a level similar to that of the Southern Professional Hockey League.

• Central Hockey League: A proposed new arena in Yuma (AZ) that was to become home to a CHL franchise may have to wait. Although the city council approved construction of a 6,000-seat arena, opponents have forced the city council to either rescind their decision or put the arena project up for a vote. SOCCER

• Women's Professional Soccer: The Chicago franchise in the WPS has eliminated the names Chicago Towers and Chicago Progress from its list of ten proposed team names, based on fan voting. The franchise will continue to eliminate nicknames from the remaining list as it prepares for the league's inaugural season in 2009.

• Major Soccer League: The new Seattle MLS franchise that starts play in 2009 plans to announce three team names for fan voting. The franchise has ruled out the "Sounders" nickname currently used by the city's United Soccer Leagues team. That nickname was also used by the city's former North American Soccer League franchise from 1974 to 1983.

• United Soccer Leagues First Division: The USL First Division's Rochester Raging Rhinos franchise, along with the women's W-League franchise, have been sold to a new ownership group that plans to keep the teams in Rochester. Although the new owners considered a complete renaming of the club, they decided to simply shorten the name to the Rochester Rhinos as they prepare to participate in the upcoming 2008 season. The Raging Rhinos started play in the old A-League in 1996 before that league became part of the USL the following season. A Rochester women's team called the Ravens started play in the 1996 W-League and became the Raging Rhinos Women in 2006.

OTHER

Major League Lacrosse: The MLL previously announced that the Philadelphia Barrage franchise would play its entire 2008 regular season as a travel team. Instead of home games, the team will play in various prospective expansion markets. The league announced the Philadelphia Barrage will open its 2008 season against the Washington Bayhawks in Virginia Beach (VA), one of the possible MLL expansion sites. Another game against the Rochester Rattlers in June will be played in Cary (NC). Locations for Barrage "home" games against Long Island, Chicago and New Jersey have not been announced.

Rugby Super League: The RSL is considered the top level of rugby in the United States. The 2008 RSL season has started and the league has the same 18 teams as last season, split into three conferences. The Red Conference clubs are Belmont Shore (Long Beach), Denver Barbarians, Old Mission Beach (San Diego), Old Puget Sound (Seattle), San Francisco Golden Gate and Santa Monica Dolphins. The White Conference clubs are the Boston Irish Wolfhounds, Chicago Lions, Dallas Harlequins, Philadelphia-Whitemarsh, New York Athletic Club and the Washington (DC) Rugby Football Club. The Blue Conference clubs are the Boston Rugby Football Club, Charlotte Olde Originals, Chicago Griffins, New York Old Blue, Potomac Athletic Club (Washington, DC) and the St. Louis Bombers.

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 24, 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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