AtL Atlantic League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
April 14, 2008 - Atlantic League (AtL)


BASEBALL

• Atlantic Baseball League: The owner of the Somerset Patriots has been trying for several years to get a ballpark built for a proposed ABL franchise called the Bergen Cliff Hawks. The ballpark was to be part of the Xanadu retail and entertainment development in the Meadowlands, but a change in developers has led to a dispute as to who would pay for the ballpark. The project's current developer is apparently talking to other teams that might want to be part of the ballpark portion of the development.

• Frontier League: A decision on a proposed ballpark at Heartland Community College in Normal (IL) is expected within a month. The ballpark would be home to an independent baseball team. The Frontier League appears to be the first choice, but the Northern League is also interested in the market.

BASKETBALL

• National Basketball Association Development League: The city of Portland (ME) has agreed on a five-year lease for its Expo arena with a group of investors that wants to bring an NBA D-League franchise to the city. The agreement runs from 2009-10 through 2013-14. The group hopes the team can become an affiliate of the Boston Celtics. The NBA D-League plans to add two new teams next season in Reno (NV) and Erie (PA).

• West Coast Basketball League: The Orange County Gladiators of the American Basketball Association will be one of the WCBL's eight teams participating in the league's inaugural 2008 season. The other seven teams listed on the league web site are the Carlsbad Beach Dawgs, High Desert Rattlers, Hollywood Shooting Stars, Newport Beach Surf, Pasadena Slam, Santa Barbara Breakers and Ventura Jets.

• Continental Basketball Association: The Yakama Sun Kings franchise announced it has folded operations. The CBA's Topeka (KS) Sizzlers moved to Yakima (WA) and became the Yakima Sun Kings in 1990. The Sun Kings played until February 2001 when the entire league ceased operations during the second half of the 2000-01 season. A new version of the CBA was started in 2001-02 and the Yakima Sun Kings returned in 2002-03. The team was later sold to the Yakama Nation and renamed the Yakama Sun Kings in 2005-06.

• Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional: The LNBP plans to place a team in Mexico City for its 2008-09 season after the city's La Ola Roja (Red Wave) franchise dropped from the league just prior to the 2007-08 season. The Club Estrella Indebasquet has acquired La Ola Roja's LNBP franchise rights and will begin play in 2008-09. Representatives from La Ola Roja hope that team can return in a few seasons after securing more financing and sponsorships.

• Liga de Baloncesto del Sureste: The Mexican minor basketball league known as LBS, or Southeast Basketball League, plans to start its 2008 season on April 18. The league plans to have eight teams: Aluxes de Cancun, Camaroneros de Ciudad del Carmen, Delfines de Chetumal, Dorados de Playa del Carmen, Leopardos de Merida-Yucatan, Marineros de Cozumel, Pioneros de Cancun and Progreso de Yucatan. Another team called Peppers de Merida could also play in the 2008 season.

• Women's Blue Chip Basketball League: In addition to its returning Southern, Mid-South and Western regions, the league has created a new Suncoast Region for 2008 with seven new Florida-based teams: Florida Nighthawks, Jacksonville Cougars, Lauderdale Lions, Miami Rain, Orlando Spirit, Tampa X-Factor and West Palm Beach Storm.

FOOTBALL

• Independent Indoor Football Alliance: The Galveston-based Texas Tidalwave team is no longer part of the IIFA and the league announced an ownership group for a new Galveston team that plans to play most of the Tidalwave's remaining 2008 schedule. The leagues Spring (TX) Bulls team that was recently added to the standings is a semi-pro team that is based in an area north of Houston.

• American Professional Football League: The Texas Rough Riders team from the San Antonio area has left the Independent Indoor Football Alliance for the semi-pro indoor APFL. The Rough Riders plan to start play as an APFL team in 2009 and are working with the APFL's Wichita Falls Diablos in 2008.

• The Indoor Football Association: The TIFA announced a new team called the Indianapolis Venom will start play in the 2008 season. Two of the league's Pennsylvania-based teams, the Washington Steam and Indiana Wolverines will be merging for the 2008 season due to problems at the Steam's arena. A proposed team called the South Bend (IN) Slayers is apparently no longer part of the plans for the 2008 season. The league has a Chicago area team called the Cook County Mustangs that plans to start play in 2009.

HOCKEY

• ECHL: The lease for the ECHL's Trenton Devils expires after the 2008-09 season and a report a couple of months ago stated that the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League could relocate to Trenton due to plans to replace the Phantoms' arena with a hotel.

• Major League Roller Hockey: The founder of the MLRH has confirmed that there are no teams or owners to start a full professional roller hockey league in April 2008 as was previously planned.

SOCCER

• Major Soccer League: The new Seattle MLS franchise that starts play in 2009 will be called the Seattle Sounders FC. The "Sounders" name was a write-in on about one half of the votes submitted by the fans. The name won out over three other proposed nicknames-Seattle FC, Alliance and Republic. The Seattle Sounders name will be transferred from the city's current United Soccer Leagues First Division team. The Seattle Sounders name was used by the city's former North American Soccer League franchise from 1974 to 1983. The nickname was resurrected by the Seattle Sounders of the American Professional Soccer League in 1994 and has been in use since then as the APSL evolved into the A-League and then became part of the United Soccer Leagues in 1997.

• Women's Professional Soccer: The WPS Chicago franchise has eliminated the name Chicago Union from its list of ten proposed team names, based on fan voting. This nickname was the fifth of ten to be eliminated. The franchise will continue to eliminate nicknames from the five remaining names on the list as it prepares for the league's inaugural season in 2009.

OTHER

• National Lacrosse League: After a recent trip to check out arenas in Dallas and Houston, the owner of the Calgary Roughnecks denied he is looking to move the team at this time. The owner is also a member of the NLL's expansion committee and the league is looking at both Dallas and Houston as possible expansion markets.

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.

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