Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
November 17, 2008 - Canadian American League (Can-Am)

BASEBALL

Canadian-American League: Rather than operate a travel team to replace the departed Ottawa Rapidz franchise, the Can-Am League plans to operate a team in Ottawa in 2009 until a new owner can be found for the franchise. The team's previous owner shut down the franchise in September after only one season because it was losing money and was unable to renegotiate a long-term lease. The new league-operated Ottawa team is expected to receive a new nickname prior to the 2009 season.

Atlantic Baseball League: After declaring bankruptcy a couple of weeks ago, the Newark Bears have come under new ownership and the team will participate in the 2009 season. The ABL's 2009 season schedule was announced with the same eight teams as last season.

United League Baseball: The city of Brownsville (TX) has pulled back financing for a planned ballpark that would have become home to a ULB franchise, but the developer will continue to search for new financing. The proposed name of the ULB team was the Brownsville Charros.

Northern League: The Northern League continues to pursue the Topeka (KS) market and is trying to find potential investors for a new ballpark and Northern League franchise. The league has potential investors for a team in Burnsville (MN), but plans for a new ballpark seem to have stalled. The league recently lost out to the summer-collegiate Northwoods League for a proposed team in Waukesha (WI).

Prospect League: The owner of the Chillicothe (OH) Paints, formerly of the Frontier League from 1993-2008, has moved the Paints to the new summer-collegiate Prospect League. The Prospect League will feature a West Division consisting of six markets from the Central Illinois Collegiate League that has now disbanded. The East Division will feature teams in Chillicothe and the former Frontier League markets of Richmond (IN) and Slippery Rock (PA), along with teams in Lorain (OH) and Butler (PA).

BASKETBALL

American Basketball Association: The Charleston-based West Virginia Outlaws announced the team will not be participating in the 2008-09 ABA season. The Outlaws are no longer listed in the ABA's Northeast Division. Apparently, the West Virginia Wild team has been added to replace the Outlaws. A team called the West Virginia Wild participated in the 2006 season of the International Basketball League and attempted to play in the 2008 season of the National Professional Basketball League. The ABA has announced it will place a team in Hawaii for the 2009-10 season. The league had the Honolulu-based Hawaii Mega Force for a couple of games in the 2005-06 season. Another team called the Hawaii Hurricanes, which change ownership and became the Pacific Rim Rockers, failed to start up as planned for the 2007-08 season.

Louisville Basketball League: The LBL, the official farm league of the American Basketball Association, plans to start play in February 2009. ABA teams will apparently be able to scout LBL players and send players to the LBL for injury rehab or additional work.

Eastern Basketball Alliance: The list of 2009 EBA teams has been reduced to 12 teams and no longer includes the Metro Legends and Maryland Suns. The league's Newark team, previously listed as the Newark Above the Rim, is now the Newark Rebels. The 2009 EBA season starts in January.

United Basketball League: The UBL list of teams now includes a Northern Division with only the Arkansas Warriors and the Oklahoma OnPoint Hoops and a Southern Division with the Springfield (MO) Thrills and the Dallas-based UBL Wranglers. Several other teams, such as the Central Texas Stars, D-League Wranglers, Des Moines Tigers, Fort Worth Regulators, New Mexico Buffalos, North Missouri Hawks, Texas Outlaws, Tulsa Thunderbirds and Twin City Ballers (Nashville) are listed as "D-League Teams". The UBL also has Longview (TX) and the Austin Capital Sounds listed as "Cluster Teams". Teams called the Tyler (TX) Panthers and Louisiana Storm (Monroe) are no longer listed.

FOOTBALL

Arenafootball2: The af2 has announced its 2009 alignment that will include 25 teams split into 2 conferences with 3 divisions in each conference. Of the 29 teams in 2008, the Austin Wranglers, Lubbock Renegades, Texas Copperheads, Daytona Beach ThunderBirds and Louisville Fire did not return. The af2 added the Milwaukee Iron as an expansion team for 2009. The Albany Conquest was renamed the Albany Firebirds after the 2008 season.

Indoor Football League: The IFL, which was created in the summer of 2008 from a merger of the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football, has announced its 2009 alignment that will include 22 teams split into 2 conferences (United and Intense) and 2 divisions in each conference. Of the 17 teams announced in the merger, two former Intense Football League teams, the CenTex Barracudas and Louisiana Swashbucklers are not part of the new IFL's 2009 season. The Katy Ruff Riders from the Intense Football League moved to Abilene for the 2009 IFL season. Five markets from the 2008 Continental Indoor Football League have joined the new IFL and will make up an entire division. The new IFL has also added two of its own expansion teams since the merger-the El Paso Generals and Everett (WA) Destroyers.

Independent Indoor Football Alliance: The Texas-based semi-pro IIFA plans to return for a second season in 2009 and could be expanding into North Carolina and Tennessee. Greensboro (NC) was mentioned as a possible market, but expansion will be finalized at an IIFA league meeting in December.

HOCKEY

All American Hockey Association: The new single-A level AAHA has started play for its inaugural season with four teams-Battle Creek (MI) Revolution, Chi Town Shooters, Detroit Dragons and Evansville IceMen.

Midwest Hockey League: The proposed A-level MWHL recently announced it was moving the start of its inaugural season to 2009-10. The league currently has three teams or cities listed as members-the Indianapolis Trax, Chicago Bulldogs and St. Louis.

Global Canadian Hockey League: The GCHL has been proposed as a new minor professional hockey league that will initially target cities in Central and Atlantic Canada that do not have major junior or minor professional hockey teams. The league will run the teams under a single-entity ownership model and it eventually plans to grow by adding teams in the United States, particularly California, Ohio and New York State. Six teams in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada will begin play in November 2009-Ontario Canadians, Quebec Equipe Nationale, New Brunswick Schooners, Prince Edward Island Islanders, Nova Scotia Keltics and Newfoundland Republic. Each team will represent a province rather than a particular city and will play regular-season games in various cities within its province.

SOCCER

Women's Professional Soccer: The WPS Bay Area franchise will play its home games in the San Jose area at Santa Clara University, current home of Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes. The WPS franchise plans to announce its team nickname next week. United Soccer Leagues First Division: The Austin Aztex organization, which joined the USL in 2008 with a Premier Development League franchise, plans to operate a full professional team called the Austin Aztex in the 2009 USL First Division. The organization's 2009 PDL club will be known as the Austin Aztex U-23s.

United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League: The Portland Timbers of the USL First Division will operate a club in the 2009 PDL, which is for players under 23 years of age. The team will be called the Portland Timbers U-23s and will be part of the Northwest Division. The PDL announced that a new Rio Grande Valley franchise based in McAllen (TX) will start play in the 2009 season. The team will be added to the Mid South Division.

Professional Arena Soccer League: The Mexico-based Monterrey La Raza club of the National Indoor Soccer League is also listed as a PASL "Provisional, Expansion, Exhibition" team for the 2008-09 season. Apparently, Monterrey plans to play some PASL exhibition matches in addition to its 2008-09 NISL schedule. The PASL currently has a three-team Mexican Division for 2008-09.

OTHER

Rugby Super League: The RSL has announced the alignment for its upcoming season that starts in March 2009. The league will be split into an eight-team Blue Conference and an eight-team Red Conference. Last season the league had 18 teams split into 3 conferences of 6 teams each. The Philadelphia-Whitemarsh Rugby Football Club and the Washington (DC) Rugby Club are not listed for the 2009 season.

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/2533047. Dan can be contacted at dankrieger@leaguesteamsnicknames.com.

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