Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on December 1, 2008 under International Basketball League (IBL)

BASEBALL

Carolina League: The Winston-Salem Warthogs of the High Class-A Carolina League plan to announce its new nickname next week. The team is moving to a new ballpark next season and will change its nickname to coincide with the move. The team has been called the Warthogs since the 1995 season and is currently an affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.

Canadian-American League: The Can-Am League wants to remain in the Ottawa market in 2009, so it plans to operate the Ottawa franchise until a new owner can be found.

West Coast League Tri-State: The WCL Tri-State is a new summer collegiate league that plans to start play in 2009 with five teams that previously operated as independent clubs-Humbolt (CA) Crabs, Southern Oregon RiverDawgs (Medford), Redding (CA) Colt .45s, Folsom (CA) Pioneers and Nevada Bighorns (Carson City).

BASKETBALL

International Basketball League: The return of the Elkhart (IN) Express to the IBL for the 2009 season is uncertain due to the effects of the economy on corporate sponsorships. The Express has been part of the IBL for three seasons (2006-08). A proposed sale of the team this past summer that would have included relocation to Chicago fell through. Teams participating in the 2009 season reportedly have until January 11, 2009 to pay their league fees.

American Basketball Association: The ABA has announced the addition of Monterey (CA) as a 2009-10 expansion market. The 2008-09 ABA team listing now includes two ABA "travel teams", the Knoxville-based Tri-City Racers in the Southeast and an Alexandria (VA) team in the Northeast. The Racers and the ABA's Knoxville Thunderbolts have the same ownership and will fill in as an opponent when needed. Reportedly, the Racers will join as a regular-season team next year.

United States Basketball Association: The USBA is preparing for its inaugural season that will begin in 2009 with a seven-team Appalachian Division and a seven-team Atlantic Division. The city of Augusta, which has the Augusta Groove of the Premier Basketball League starting play in January 2009, will have a USBA team called the Augusta Raging River in the Appalachian Division. Other teams in the division include the Atlanta Platinum, Birmingham Crusaders, Chattanooga Royal, Huntsville Storm, Montgomery Generals and Nashville Thunder. The Atlantic Division will include the Charleston (NC) Stars, Charlotte Blue Wave, Columbia Centurion, Jacksonville Admirals, Norfolk Blaze, Richmond Colonials and Savannah Seahawks.

Women's Blue Chip Basketball League: The Columbus (OH) Hidden Gems plan to be one of the new teams in the WBCBL's fifth season that starts in the summer of 2009. The WBCBL has several other new teams listed for the 2009 season including the Atlanta BattleCats, Baton Rouge Heat, C-Port Lady Hornets, Delaware Lady Destroyers, Fort Bliss Lady Titans, Houston Lady Takers, Kansas City Queenz, Las Vegas Pride, NYC Exodus, Oklahoma Heat, Phoenix Rockets, Toronto, Tucson Dust Devils and Windy City Ball Stars.

FOOTBALL

American Indoor Football Association: The new Ogden-based AIFA expansion franchise will be called the Ogden (UT) Knights. The league will operate the franchise while looking for local investors to take control. The AIFA has announced another 2009 expansion team will be called the Carolina Force, based in Greenville (SC). Greenville had the Carolina Rhinos in the arenafootball2 (2000-02) and the Greenville RiverHawks for a short time in the 2004 National Indoor Football League. The AIFA has also announced a 2010 expansion franchise has been granted to the city of Trenton (NJ).

Independent Indoor Football Association: The Texas-based semi-pro IIFA is moving forward with its East Division expansion in 2009 and three North Carolina teams are now listed-the Carolina Renegades, Carolina Blue Jays and High Point Ravens. In Texas, a new Waco (TX) team called the Waco Knights has been added and the last year's Collin County Wranglers team is listed as the Texas Wranglers.

United Football League: The UFL plans to announce franchise locations next week for the six teams that are expected to start play in the fall of 2009. The league has announced plans to build a three-team training camp in the Casa Grande (AZ) area.

National Football League: A developer in the Los Angeles area is in the early stages of putting together plans for an NFL stadium in the Carson area, just south of Los Angeles. Another developer has been working toward a privately financed NFL stadium in the City of Industry, just east of Los Angeles.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League reportedly held discussions with the Central Hockey League's Oklahoma City Blazers this past summer about becoming the Oilers' AHL affiliate, but the Blazers said an AHL affiliation was not an option right now.

Major League Roller Hockey: The MLRH Pro Tour, which is hoped to lead to the return of a full professional league next fall, will debut in Grand Rapids (MI) on January 17, 2009. The Michigan Thunder, Chicago RollerSnakes, Washington Power and a yet-to-be-named fourth team will participate in the two-day TV event. The league is also holding tryouts in January for women roller hockey players to participate in its Slamm Hockey TV series that will tape shows from games played January through April.

The Slamm Hockey series is a new made-for-TV and co-ed roller hockey league that will feature alternating lines of male and female players in full-contact roller hockey.

SOCCER

Women's Professional Soccer: The WPS St. Louis franchise has announced it will be called the St. Louis Athletica when the team starts play in the inaugural 2009 season. The franchise originally announced it would go without a team nickname for its first season because the owner was still trying to obtain a Major League Soccer expansion franchise for 2011 and planned to have both teams share the same name. The Athletica will play its home games on the campus of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League: The PDL team known as the Cary (NC) RailHawks U23's, has been renamed the Cary Clarets. The team's operator, Next Level Academy, has signed a two-year partnership with England's Burnley Football Club for developing players for the Academy and the Burnley club, which is also nicknamed the Clarets.

Major League Soccer: Montreal's bid for one of two MLS expansion teams was rejected by the MLS, but the market could be considered in the future. The Montreal group was willing to pay the fee, but Vancouver was thought to have a stronger bid over Montreal or Ottawa as a new Canadian expansion market and the MLS will most likely not add two Canadian teams.

OTHER

National Pro Fastpitch: The NPF has announced its 50-game schedule for 2009 that will include the same six teams as last season-Akron Racers, Chicago Bandits, New England Riptide, Philadelphia Force, Rockford Thunder and Washington (DC) Glory. The NPF has evolved from the Women's Professional Fastpitch that was formed in 1997 and has been under the NPF name since the 2004 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.

International Basketball League Stories from December 1, 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.