Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on September 8, 2009 under Golden Baseball League (GBL)

BASEBALL

Midwest League: The Low Class-A Midwest League recently announced its 2010 schedule, which will include 16 teams with the addition of the Bowling Green (KY) Hot Rods and Lake County (OH) Captains from the Low Class-A South Atlantic League. It looks as though both teams might be added to the current six-team Eastern Division, creating two eight-team divisions in the 2010 Midwest League. Ironically, both South Atlantic teams had connections to Columbus (GA). The Columbus RedStixx moved to Eastlake (OH) as the Captains in 2003, while the Columbus Catfish moved to Bowling Green for the 2009 season.

Global Baseball League: The city of Kamloops (British Columbia) should know by October whether a GBL franchise will be playing in the 2010 season. The league hopes to add three teams in 2010, one of which would be from Canada. The addition of Kamloops would give the league four Canadian teams with existing teams in Victoria (British Columbia), Edmonton (Alberta), and Calgary (Alberta).

Canadian-American League (Can-Am): With the American Defenders of New Hampshire apparently leaving the Can-Am League, it is doubtful there will be another attempt in the near future for an independent professional team in the Nashua (NH) market. The city could be considered for a summer collegiate team, possibly in the New England Collegiate Baseball League.

BASKETBALL

Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional: The 20-team LNBP, Mexico's top basketball league, starts its 2009-10 season next week. The Valores de Nuevo Laredo team, previously the Venados (2007-09), is now listed as the Toros de Nuevo Laredo; the new La Jaiba Brava de Tampico-Madero team is now listed as the Huracanes de Tampico; and the Dorados de Chihuahua team is now the Indios de Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua). The LNBP's 40-game regular season runs until late January 2010.

Premier Basketball League: It is still unclear which new teams will be part of the 2010 PBL season, but efforts are being made to add teams in Las Vegas and Greenville (SC), along with the Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry from last season's Continental Basketball Association. Apparently, the PBL is working with Puerto Rico's top basketball league, the Baloncesto Superior National (BSN), to have the BSN's Arecibo Capitanes (Captains) team participate in the 2010 PBL season.

Women's National Basketball Association: The WNBA's September 1st deadline for the proposed Tulsa expansion effort has passed. The league has reportedly given the investors some flexibility with the deadline.

All World 6'4 Basketball League: A Las Vegas-based company is trying to form the new height-restricted AW6'4BL with all players 6'4" and under. The league site has ten proposed team locations: Ontario (CA), Las Vegas, Phoenix, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Jose, New York, Toronto, Des Moines (IA), Tampa, and Seattle.

American Basketball Association: The new Kansas City franchise for the 2009-10 ABA season will be called the Kansas City Stars. The city had previous ABA teams called the Knights, which played four seasons (2000-02, 2003-05) before dropping out in the 2005-06 season, and the Spartans, which played a limited schedule in the 2008-09 season. The Music City Stars, which played as the Nashville Broncs last season, also recently chose the "Stars" nickname.

United Regions Basketball League: The Texas-based URBL is developing its international operations and plans to expand the league into Japan and South America in the near future.

FOOTBALL

United National Gridiron League: The UNGL has announced the Dallas Bluestorm as the last of its eight proposed franchises that hope to start play in 2010. The league previously announced its other seven teams: the Alabama Blackbirds (Birmingham), Miami Scorchers, Georgia Slashers (Columbus), Ohio Marauders (Akron/Cleveland), North Carolina Comets, Virginia Swarm (Norfolk) and Louisiana Lancers (Shreveport).

Arenafootball2: Activity has surrounded several af2 franchises as the deadline for a decision on the 2010 season approaches next week. The future structure of the af2 is uncertain and some reports have a new league forming with some af2 and former Arena Football League markets. The Manchester (NH) Wolves have decided to suspend operations. The Albany-based South Georgia Wildcats were having trouble establishing an arena lease and its ownership may be restructured. The Tulsa Talons were trying to renegotiate is arena lease and it was reported the team could possibly move to San Antonio, since ownership holds expansion rights to that market. The owner of the Tri-Cities Fever has reportedly found new local ownership to keep the franchise in the af2.

Indoor Football League: The Richmond (VA) Revolution, La Crosse (WI) Spartans, and Arctic Predators, based in Wasilla (AK), are expected to play in the 2010 IFL. The Spartans were accepted on a conditional basis because an arena lease was not yet in place. The league has set October 15 as a deadline for additional teams to apply. Six other expansion teams are expected to apply, including teams near Chicago and Denver. The Everett (WA) Destroyers paid the league fees, but have not yet submitted an application.

Canadian Football League: The group trying to bring an Ottawa CFL franchise back to the city recently presented its plans for football stadium renovations and surrounding developments to the city council. The group also wants to bring a United Soccer Leagues First Division franchise to the facility.

Continental Indoor Football League: There have been no new developments to report on the possible purchase of the Fort Wayne Freedom franchise, which went into receivership during the 2009 CIFL season. The first-year Wheeling (WV) Wildcats franchise might not return in 2010, but the New Jersey Revolution, which sat out the 2009 season, is expected to be back in 2010.

United Football League: Although its first season has not yet been played, the UFL plans to add two teams a year for the next three years and Milwaukee is apparently one of the cities under consideration.

HOCKEY

International Hockey Association: A Las Vegas-based company is trying to develop the IHA as a 4-on-4 hockey league that plays a spring/summer schedule. Several cities have signed on or expressed an interest in the league. Some of these include Seattle, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, New York, Hartford, Toronto, Hamilton (Ontario), Edmonton, Vancouver, and Chicago.

Major League Roller Hockey: The MLRH has announced that the South Carolina (Greenville) Buccaneers inline team has committed to play in the MLRH2 full-contact league that starts play this fall. The MLRH has also created two new non-contact "AAA" and "AA" leagues. A team called the Myrtle Beach Manta Rays has joined the non-contact AA league. The MLRH operated a summertime MLRH-AA (non-checking) league in 2001, but was unable to fully develop its national MLRH-AA league planned for the fall of 2002. Some MLRH-AA tournaments were held in 2002 and again in 2003. SOCCER

United Soccer Leagues-First Division: The owner of the USL Premier Development League's Ottawa Fury has joined with the group trying to renovate Ottawa's former Canadian Football League stadium and made an application for a USL First Division franchise. The 11-team USL First Division previously announced plans for other future expansion teams called the Tampa Bay Rowdies and FC New York. With the recent sale of the USL organization to a group that does not currently operate a USL First Division franchise, several First Division owners are considering pulling out of the USL to form a more team-operated league. These franchise owners had formed the Team Owners Association (TOA) in 2008 with the intention of restructuring the First Division league in compliance with international rules. The TOA includes five current clubs (Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps), one proposed expansion club (Tampa Bay Rowdies), one former USL First Division club (Atlanta Silverbacks), and the St. Louis Soccer United, which operates the St. Louis Athletica of Women's Professional Soccer and has been trying to establish a men's pro soccer club in the city. The Cleveland City Stars franchise has been put up for sale. The City Stars were part of the USL Second Division for two seasons (2007-08) before moving up to the First Division in 2009.

National Indoor Soccer League: Along with the possible addition of the Milwaukee Wave from last season's Xtreme Soccer League, the NISL has been working to establish a franchise in Harrisburg (PA). An indoor soccer franchise called the Harrisburg Heat played ten seasons (1991-2001) as part of the former National Professional Soccer League and another two seasons (2001-03) as part of the former Major Indoor Soccer League.

Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL-Premier): An indoor soccer team called the WECMRD Freedom FC plans to join the PASL-Premier for its 2009-10 fall/winter season. The Western Eagle County Metropolitan Recreation District (WECMRD) is based in Edwards (CO), just outside of Vail.

OTHER

Pro Team Poker: The All American Association of Pro Team Poker plans to sponsor the Southwest Poker League in the fall of 2009. Eight poker teams will be split into a four-team North Division based in Las Vegas and a four-team South Division based in Laughlin (NV). The Pro Team Poker site currently has two teams listed-the Las Vegas Stars and Phoenix Jackpots.

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.

Golden Baseball League Stories from September 8, 2009

• Vipers to face Toros - Calgary Vipers
• Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
• Toros Walkoff In To The GBL Championships - Tucson Toros

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.