Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on August 10, 2009 under Northern League (NL)


BASEBALL

Northern League: The Rockford RiverHawks of the Frontier League have officially announced the team will switch to the Northern League for the 2010 season. The RiverHawks wanted to move out from under the Frontier League's player eligibility restrictions and hopes to establish rivalries with some of the Northern League's Chicago area teams.

Super Independent Baseball: The SIB has announced that its first annual Fall League will be held at Silver Cross Field in Joliet (IL) from September 20, to October 11, 2009. The SIB plans to hold a summer tour of prospective cities in 2010 and start regular-season play in May 2011.

Liga Norte de Mexico: The Liga Norte de Mexico, or Northern League of Mexico, has completed its 2009 regular season. Prior to this season, the eight-team league was called the Liga Norte de Sonora, or the Northern Sonora League. The 2009 season included teams called the Algononeros de San Luis, Azules de Mexicali, Marineros de Ensenada, Membrilleros de Magdalena, Ostioneros de Guaymas, Rieleros de Empalme, Rojos de Caborca, and Vaqueros de Agua Prieta.

New York State League: The NYSL, billed as America's Pro Development League, has completed its 2009 season. The NYSL is based in the New York City area and featured two teams called the Federals and Capitols playing a 32-game schedule of doubleheaders during the month of July.

BASKETBALL

American Basketball Association: The ABA's Mississippi Blues franchise has officially announced its move from the Jackson area to Biloxi for the upcoming 2009-10 season. The Jersey Express franchise plans to change its home venue in Morris County and is looking to move to nearby Essex County.

Women's National Basketball Association: The owner of the Atlanta Dream franchise, which started play last season in the WNBA, is looking to sell his position as the primary owner. The group trying to bring a WNBA franchise to Tulsa (OK) for the 2010 season reportedly faces has a September deadline.

Women's Blue Chip Basketball League: The semi-pro WBCBL has completed its fifth season with over 40 teams participating in 8 regional divisions. The league will hold its national tournament next week featuring the regional champions: North Whitehall Lazers (East Coast), Detroit Dolphins (Northeast), Gulf Coast Storm (Gulf South), Arkansas Starz (Mid South), South Carolina Allstars (Southern), Tampa X-Factor (Suncoast), Kansas Nuggets (Mid West), and Dallas Professionals (Western).

FOOTBALL

Arena Football League: After sitting idle for the 2009 season, the AFL announced it has suspended operations indefinitely. The league was unable to come to an agreement on a proposed restructuring to restart in 2010. The AFL first started play in 1987 with 4 teams and last played in 2008 with a total of 17 teams. With this announcement, the Atlanta-based Georgia Force ceased operations. It is expected that several other teams may also fold or possibly join the arenafootball2, which has operated as a minor league to the AFL for the past several years.

American Indoor Football Association: The AIFA's new franchise planned for Richmond (VA) next season will be called the Richmond Raiders.

Indoor Football League: The IFL has announced plans to add a team called the La Crosse (WI) Spartans for the 2010 season. A team called the La Crosse River Rats played in the 2000 season as part of a previous league called the IFL, which operated for two seasons (1999-2000). The city had the La Crosse Night Train franchise for two seasons (2002-03) in the defunct National Indoor Football League. In addition to La Crosse, the IFL has announced new teams for Wasilla (AK) and Richmond (VA) in 2010 and has mentioned other possible teams for the cities of Kent (WA) and Everett (WA).

Southern Indoor Football League: In a dispute over payment of certain league fees, the former owner of the SIFL's Houma (LA) Conquerors has announced plans to move the franchise to another indoor football league for next season. The SIFL has stated that it wants to return to Houma next season with a franchise under new ownership.

United Football League: The UFL has announced its inaugural 2009 season schedule for its four teams in Las Vegas, New York City, Orlando and San Francisco. Each team will play six games in a seven-week season running from October 8 to November 20. Las Vegas will play one of its three home games in Los Angeles and New York will play one home game in Hartford (CT). Plans to have Sacramento host one of the San Francisco games have been scrapped. An official announcement of the team nicknames will be made next week.

United National Gridiron League: The UNGL has announced the Georgia Slashers as the fourth of its proposed eight franchises that hope to start play in 2010. The Slashers will be based in the Columbus area. The league previously announced the Alabama Blackbirds (Birmingham), Miami Scorchers and Ohio Marauders (Akron/Cleveland) and will announce the names of the other teams planned for Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia in the near future.

HOCKEY

Eastern Professional Hockey League: After playing only one season in 2008-09, it appears the single-A level EPHL has officially folded. The four-team league consisted of the Brooklyn Aces, Danbury Mad Hatters, Hudson Valley Bears and Jersey Rockhoppers. The Brooklyn and Danbury markets are expected to resurface in the North East Professional Hockey League that will start play in 2009-10.

North East Professional Hockey League: Nicknames for four of the new NEPHL franchises have been reported. The Kingston (RI) team will be called the Rhode Island Storm; the Saugus (MA) team will be called the Boston Wings; the Fitchburg (MA) team will be called the Yeti; and the Salem (NH) team will be the Phantoms. A team called the New York Aviators, based out of the home arena of the Brooklyn Aces from last season's Eastern Professional Hockey League, is also expected to be part of the 2009-10 NEPHL. The league is also trying to place a team in Danbury (CT), another former EPHL market.

National Hockey League: A bankruptcy court judge will now allow bidding for the Phoenix Coyotes to include potential buyers that might want to move the franchise out of Phoenix. This would include a bid from a Canadian buyer who plans to move the franchise to Hamilton (Ontario). The auction is scheduled for September 10. The NHL is trying to keep the franchise in the Phoenix area. One bidder for the franchise wants to keep the team in Phoenix, but would try to bring five regular-season games to either Halifax of Saskatoon during the 2010-11 season.

All American Hockey League: The AAHL has announced it will operate with only five teams for its second season in 2009-10. The league will include the four teams from last season-the Chicago Blaze, Chi-Town Shooters, Battle Creek Revolution and Evansville IceMen-along with the new Detroit HitMen franchise based in Fraser (MI). The league had announced two additional ownership groups for the upcoming season and was working toward establishing an Eastern Division, but has now decided to wait another season for this to happen.

SOCCER

National Indoor Soccer League: New ownership has officially taken over the Milwaukee Wave franchise, formerly of the Xtreme Soccer League. The Wave has signed a letter of intent to play in the 2009-10 season of the NISL.

Major League Soccer: The MLS appears focused on adding Montreal as its 19th franchise and an announcement is expected in the coming weeks. The owner of the Montreal Impact, which currently plays as part of the United Soccer Leagues First Division, is behind the MLS expansion effort. The Impact's fairly new 13,000-seat stadium would need to be expanded to 21,000 to meet MLS requirements.

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 2008-09 version can be found at http://www.lulu.com/content/6218580. Dan can be contacted at dankrieger@leaguesteamsnicknames.com.

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Northern League Stories from August 10, 2009


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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