Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on April 28, 2008 under World Basketball Association (WBA)

BASEBALL

- Atlantic Baseball League: The 2008 season of the independent ABL has gotten underway. The league added the new Walforf-based Southern Maryland Blue Crabs franchise, which replaced the league's Road Warriors travel team from last season. The ABL's newly named Liberty Division features Southern Maryland, along with the Bridgeport (CT) Bluefish, Camden (NJ) Riversharks and Long Island Ducks. The new Freedom Division features the Lancaster (PA) Barnstormers, Newark (NJ) Bears, Somerset (NJ) Patriots and York (PA) Revolution.

BASKETBALL

- World Basketball Association: The WBA has eight possible locations listed for 2008 franchises, some of which have team nicknames: Buford (GA) Majic, Marietta (GA) Storm, Mississippi Hardhats (Holly Springs), Palm Coast (FL) Blue Waves, The Critters (Wilson, NC), Tri-State Crusaders (Wise, VA), Rome (GA) and Macon (GA). No longer listed were the Murfreesboro (TN) Musicians, Anderson (SC) Heat, Gwinnett (GA) Ravia-Rebels, Gulf Coast Bandits (Biloxi, MS), and proposed teams for Birmingham, Memphis and Jackson (TN).

- American Basketball Association: The new Chicago ABA franchise will be called the South Chicago All-Stars.

- National Basketball Association Development League (D-League): As the NBA's D-League expands to larger markets, the league plans to keep the successful Dakota Wizards, who play in the smaller market of Bismarck (ND). The league will increase to 16 teams next season with the addition of Reno (NV) and Erie (PA) and wants to expand into the Northeast in the next couple of years.

- National Professional Basketball League: The Delaware Destroyers team, which took over for the departed West Virginia Wild, has taken the Wild's position in the NPBL's four-team South Division.

- Liga de Baloncesto del Sureste (LBS): Southeast Mexico's LBS minor basketball league has started its 2008 season with only five teams-Aluxes de Cancun, Dorados de Playa del Carmen, Leopardos de Merida (Yucatan), Marineros de Cozumel and Peppers de Progreso (Yucatan).

FOOTBALL

- Canadian Football League: The city of Moncton (New Brunswick) is building a 28,000-seat stadium for the 2010 world junior track and field championships and there is hope that this stadium could eventually become home to a CFL expansion franchise. Ottawa was recently granted a conditional expansion franchise. When the league adds an eastern team, Winnipeg will probably switch to the West Division.

- United National Football League: The new UNFL, which hopes to become a developmental league for the NFL, has announced a commissioner and plans to play its first game in January 2009. The league expects to have eight teams in place by the end of next month.

- American Professional Football League: The Sarasota-based Florida Knights of the semi-pro indoor APFL have not yet played a game, but are no longer part of the league. A new team called the Florida Scorpions has been organized to replace the Knights.

- American Indoor Football Association: The AIFA's Huntington (WV) Heroes franchise is apparently having financial problems and its future is uncertain. The coach and players quit the team over financial issues with the ownership, so the league had to find replacement players to compete as the Heroes in a game against the Florence Phantoms. Also, the league is moving forward with its proposed Harrisburg franchise for next season and has confirmed one part-owner of the franchise.

- National Women's Football Association: The NWFA has started its 2008 season with 35 teams across the United States and plans to expand into Canada. The league has several teams proposed for 2009-the East Texas Saberkats (Marshall), Ventura (CA) Black Widows, Jacksonville Dixie Blues and Pittsburgh Force. The Jacksonville Dixie Blues were part of the 2007 Women's Football League and plan to play some exhibition games against NWFA teams in 2008.

- Independent Women's Football League: The IWFL recently started its 2008 season with 40 teams. This season the league split into a Tier-1 level and a smaller-market Tier-2 level with 26 and 14 teams, respectively. The IWFL also operates a "Sixxes" league with several six-player teams.

HOCKEY

- American Hockey League: The AHL's Des Moines-based Iowa Stars and the National Hockey League's Dallas Stars have ended their affiliation agreement after three seasons of a five-year agreement. The agreement with Dallas started in the 2005-06 season when the Iowa Stars entered the AHL. The franchise shared its affiliation with the Edmonton Oilers for the first two seasons (2005-07). The future of the Dallas-Iowa affiliation was in question when the Dallas Stars' ownership announced plans a few months ago to place its AHL affiliate in a new arena planned for the Austin area. The Iowa AHL ownership plans to find a new AHL affiliate for the 2008-09 season, but a decision needs to be made before the league's spring meeting next month. The owner of the Class-A Dayton Dragons baseball team in the Midwest League wants to build a new arena south of Dayton for a possible AHL franchise. The Dayton Bombers currently play in the ECHL, a level below the AHL.

- International Hockey League: The owner of the Muskegon Fury had apparently considered leaving the IHL and moving to the junior-level United States Hockey League (USHL). USHL investors were reportedly scouting out Muskegon in recent weeks. The IHL plans to have all six teams return for next season. The addition of the dormant Chicago Hounds franchise as a seventh team for next season is expected to be decided early next month during a league meeting.

- Eastern Professional Hockey League: The EPHL has officially announced the addition of Rome (NY) for its inaugural 50-game 2008-09 season. Rome joins West Orange (NJ) and Danbury (CT) as the league's first three of six planned franchises. The owner of the Rome franchise operated the Rome-based Copper City Chiefs of the North Eastern Hockey League, which suspended play midway through its 2007-08 season. All teams will hold name-the-team contests.

- Central Hockey League: The city of Independence (MO), just east of Kansas City, announced its final approval for a 5,800-seat area that will house a CHL franchise. Construction of the arena will now get underway and it is expected to be ready by the fall of 2009.

SOCCER

- Women's Professional Soccer: The WPS Chicago franchise that plans to start play in 2009 has eliminated the name Chicago Riot from its list of ten proposed team names, based on fan voting. This nickname was the seventh of ten to be eliminated. The remaining three nickname choices for the final round of voting are Wind, 1871 and Red Stars with a final announcement expected in June.

- Women's Premier Soccer League: The high amateur-level WPSL has announced several new teams over the past two months and plans to have about 50 teams in 2008, up from 37 teams in 2007. Some of the new teams include the Monterey (CA) Blues, Los Angeles Rampage, SD United (San Diego), West Coast FC, Arizona Rush (Tucson), Maine Tide, Florida Surge, FC Thomasville (GA) Dragons, Brevard County Cocoa (FL) Expos, Middleton Yahara SC Lady Blues (Madison, WI), Vitesse Dallas, Oklahoma Alliance FC, South Select (Houston), Tulsa Spirit, Ohio Premier SC (Dublin), Salt Lake City Sparta and Northern Arizona Cheetahs (Prescott). Brevard County played the past two seasons in the United Soccer Leagues (USL) W-League. The Middleton Yahara club recently announced a partnership with the Chicago franchise of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) to promote soccer and the WPS in the state of Wisconsin.

OTHER

- National Lacrosse League: The owner of the Chicago Shamrox has decided to put the NLL franchise up for sale after two seasons in the league. The group does not want to move the franchise and hopes to find new local buyers.

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.

World Basketball Association Stories from April 28, 2008

• 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.