Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on August 31, 2009 under Indoor Football League (IFL)
BASEBALL
Canadian-American League (Can-Am): A businessman in Ottawa wants to bring a professional baseball franchise back to the city, most likely in the Can-Am League. The city last had the Ottawa Rapidz franchise that was part of the 2008 season in the Can-Am League. The Nashua-based American Defenders of New Hampshire have been locked out of its ballpark for failure to pay certain outstanding debts to the city. The team was arranging to play its remaining home schedule at other Can-Am League ballparks.
Arizona Fall League: The AFL has announced its upcoming 2009 season will run from October 13 through November 21, 2009, and feature the same six teams as last season-the Mesa Solar Sox, Peoria Javelinas, Peoria Saguaros, Phoenix Desert Dogs, Scottsdale Scorpions and Surprise Rafters. Each team is assigned players from five different major league teams. When the Hawaii Winter Baseball league shut down after its 2008 fall season, there was talk of moving that operation to Arizona as a junior league to the AFL consisting of Class-A prospects. Apparently, efforts are still underway to start this junior-level AFL for next fall.
BASKETBALL
American Basketball Association: The new Minneapolis/St. Paul expansion franchise that plans to start play in 2010 will be called the Minnesota Blizzards. The Nashville Broncs, a 2008-09 expansion franchise, has been renamed the Music City Stars. The owner of the Lexington-based Bluegrass Stallions recently purchased the rights to the team.
Louisville Basketball League: The LBL plans to have six teams and will act as a training and development league for the American Basketball Association. The management of the summertime Kentucky Basketball Development League will operate the LBL, along with the ABA's travel team called the Kentucky Crusaders, formerly the Kentucky Travelers. The Crusaders will play some games as part of the regular season schedule and will be used to fill in for other teams that may have scheduling conflicts. The Kentucky Travelers played a few games against ABA teams in the second half of the 2008-09 season.
Eastern Basketball Alliance: The Hudson Valley Hawks 2010 EBA expansion team that was announced last week is now called the Hudson Valley Hype. Two other new 2010 EBA teams-the Maryland Suns and Montgomery County All-Stars-now have affiliated women's teams called the Maryland Lady Suns and Montgomery Lady All-Stars listed as part of the 2010 Women's Eastern Basketball Alliance.
Women's National Basketball Association: The investment group trying to bring a Tulsa-based franchise to the WNBA for next season is making progress toward its goal. The WNBA might consider extending the September 1st deadline for a decision.
FOOTBALL
United National Gridiron League: The UNGL has announced the Louisiana Lancers as the seventh of its proposed eight franchises that hope to start play in 2010. The Lancers are expected to be based in the Shreveport area. The league previously announced the Alabama Blackbirds (Birmingham), Miami Scorchers, Georgia Slashers (Columbus), Ohio Marauders (Akron/Cleveland), North Carolina Comets, and Virginia Swarm (Norfolk). The UNGL will announce the name of its eighth team planned for Texas in the near future.
Arenafootball2: The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers franchise has been put up for sale and the owner states there are a couple of months to try to find local ownership. A group attempting to purchase the Tri-Cities Fever af2 franchise has been in discussions with the Indoor Football League about moving the team to that league, if a sale goes through.
Indoor Football League: The ownership group for the IFL's new Richmond (VA) franchise has announced the team will be called the Richmond Revolution. The nickname won out in fan balloting as part of a name-the-team contest that included Blitz, Reign, Rivermen, and Rush as other possibilities. The ownership group plans to start construction this year on a new sports complex that is to include a 5,000-seat arena for the Revolution. The new arena is expected to be completed in 2011, but the team plans to start play in 2010 at another location. The American Indoor Football Association recently announced the name of its Richmond Raiders franchise, which will also start play in that league's 2010 season.
Southern Indoor Football League: The Orlando-based Florida Punishers team is one of the Florida-based indoor football teams trying to join the SIFL for the 2010 season.
United States Indoor Football League: It looks as though the USIFL never got its inaugural 2009 season off the ground this year and its future is uncertain. At one time, the league had five teams-the Bridgeview Red Devils, Lehigh Valley Outlawz, Southland (IL) Chill, New England Surge, and Pennsylvania Stillers-listed for a proposed 2009 season. Lehigh Valley and New England had been part of the 2008 Continental Indoor Football League.
HOCKEY
North East Professional Hockey League: The proposed NEPHL franchise in Salem (NH), which was previously identified as the Salem Phantoms, has been renamed the New England Pharaohs. The NEPHL plans to start play in November 2009 and currently has three other proposed teams called the Rhode Island Storm based in Kingston, the Twin City Yeti based in Fitchburg/Leominster (MA), and the New York Aviators, or A's, based in Brooklyn (NY). The league is also trying to add a team in Danbury (CT).
American Hockey League: One of the investment groups bidding for the National Hockey League Phoenix Coyotes as part of the club's bankruptcy auction talked of eventually moving the Coyotes' AHL affiliate to Thunder Bay (Ontario). There has been discussion about the possibility of an AHL team landing in Kansas City, but that is doubtful with nearby Independence recently building a new 5,800-seat arena for the Mid-Missouri Mavericks franchise, which starts play in the Central Hockey League this fall.
National Hockey League: The NHL has submitted its own bid for the Phoenix Coyotes in the club's ongoing bankruptcy auction. The NHL wanted to assure the franchise is eventually sold to a qualified buyer who would operate the team in Phoenix, but would also consider relocating the franchise, if such a buyer is not found. The auction is to be completed on September 10.
SOCCER
Champions League: Group play has started in the Champions League, which is the club championship tournament sponsored by the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). The Columbus Crew, D.C. United, and Houston Dynamo from Major League Soccer; Pachuca CF, CD Toluca, SC Cruz Azul, and Puma UNAM from Mexico's Primera League; and the Puerto Rico Islanders from the United Soccer Leagues First Division represent 8 of the 16 teams in group play.
Major League Soccer: Part of the Vancouver Whitecaps' bid for an MLS franchise in 2011 included a renovated stadium that would include a retractable roof. Funding for the retractable roof portion of the renovations is under review due to financial concerns and it is uncertain what effect this might have on Vancouver's MLS bid.
United Soccer Leagues: The ownership group that operates the USL Premier Development League franchise in Atlanta has purchased the entire USL organization along with rights to two USL First Division teams in Atlanta and Birmingham (AL). The USL includes six leagues: the First Division (men's), Second Division (men's), Premier Development League (men's Under-23), W-League (women's), Super-20 League (Under-20 men's and women) and Super Y-League (elite boy's and girls amateur). The owners of the USL's First Division Miami FC Blues were part of another group that lost out in the bidding for the USL, which could lead to Miami FC reconsidering its future in the league.
Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro): The Vitesse Dallas club in the Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL-Premier) has reached an agreement to become the official reserve team for the Texas Outlaws in the PASL-Pro league. The Outlaws are based in the North Richland Hills area of Dallas/Fort Worth and were one of eight United States-based teams in the league's inaugural 2008-09 season. The PASL-Premier is now the official development league of the PASL-Pro league, which will be starting its second season this fall. The Louisville Lightning has been mentioned as a new team that will be part of the 2009-10 PASL-Pro league.
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.
Indoor Football League Stories from August 31, 2009
- League Meetings Provide Changes For 2010 Season - IFL
- Open Tryout for 2010 Wild Set for November 1 - Wichita Wild
- 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.
