Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
October 12, 2009 - Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL)
BASEBALL
Eastern League: Five possible nickname choices have been announced for the new Richmond (VA) franchise, formerly the Norwich-based Connecticut Defenders, in the Double-A Eastern League. The five finalists are the Flatheads, Hambones, Rhinos, Rock Hoppers, and Squirrels. Apparently, voters will also be able to submit a wild-card entry as a possible nickname for consideration.
American Association: The owner of the American Association's Fort Worth Cats has put the franchise and its ballpark up for sale, citing property taxes and high travel costs as the reasons. After an annual league meeting last week, the AA reported it will operate with the same ten teams in 2010. The league has stated it would like to grow to 16 teams over the next several years and have 8 teams in both its north and south divisions as a way to control travel costs. Apparently, United League Baseball has expressed interest in having potential new ownership of the Fort Worth Cats eventually switch to the ULB as a way of cutting the team's overall costs, but this would have to wait until at least 2011.
Canadian-American League: The Can-Am League has stated that the Nashua-based American Defenders of New Hampshire will not return in 2010. The team's current ownership wants to sell and the league is looking at either Trois-Rivieres (Quebec) or Ottawa to replace Nashua. A group in Ottawa is apparently talking with the city and the league about fielding a team next season. The league recently had an Ottawa-based franchise called the Rapidz in the 2008 season. A proposed Ottawa Voyageurs franchise failed in a brief attempt to join the Can-Am League in 2009.
California Winter League: The operators of the Palm Beach (CA) Chill, which played as part of the Global Baseball League's Arizona Winter League the past two seasons (2008-09), have created the new CWL based in Palm Springs. The league will be comprised of four teams: the Palm Springs Chill, Coachella Valley Snowbirds, Palm Desert Coyotes, and the Canada A's. A possible fifth team called the Oriental Express could also be part of the league. The developmental teams will play a 20-game schedule at Palm Springs Stadium from late January to late February 2010.
BASKETBALL
Premier Basketball League: The PBL will hold its draft next week for its upcoming 2009-10 season that will include ten teams. The league's six returning teams are the Halifax Rainmen, Manchester Millrats, Quebec Kebs, Rochester RazorSharks, and Vermont Frost Heaves, while the four new teams are the Lawton-Fort Sill (Oklahoma) Cavalry, Las Vegas Thunderbirds, Maryland, and the Puerto Rico Capitanes. The Cavalry joins the PBL from the Continental Basketball Association and the Puerto Rico touring team is the Arecibo Capitanes (Captains) from the Puerto Rico's basketball league known as Baloncesto Superior National (BSN). The PBL had the Maryland Nighthawks in its inaugural 2008 season, but the team was dormant in 2009. It looks as though 7 of the 13 teams from last season are not returning. This includes the Chicago Throwbacks, Detroit Panthers, Battle Creek Knights, Wilmington (NC) Sea Dawgs, Augusta (GA) Groove, along with the Montreal Sasquatch and Mid-Michigan Destroyers teams that dropped out during last season. A proposed new team in Greenville (SC) apparently did not materialize as planned.
International Basketball League: This past summer, the Holland Blast announced the franchise was leaving the IBL after four seasons (2006-09) to form a new basketball league with other cities in the Midwest. The new league plans to start in the spring of 2010 and will be a high level amateur basketball league rather than professional. The Michigan cities of Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, South Haven, and Holland have committed to the league, while other cities in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois could join.
Global Professional Basketball League: The GPBL reports it has developed a draft schedule for its inaugural 2010 season with each team playing 24 games from April 1 to June 11. The league will announce its full roster of participating teams in the coming weeks.
Texas Professional Basketball League: The TPBL's new Brownwood (TX) Brigaide team is holding tryouts as it prepares for its inaugural season in 2010. The team was originally announced as the Brownwood Buckshots this past summer, but quickly changed its nickname.
World Basketball League: The operators of the United Football Teams of America (UFTA), which plans to operate both the Continental Football League and the World Indoor Football League in 2011, will operate the World Basketball League in 2011.
FOOTBALL
Arena Football 1: The new AF1 has set an October 17th deadline for additional teams to join the league for its inaugural 2010 season. Late last month the league announced its first 16 teams and stated it could have 24 to 30 teams. Previous teams from arenafootball2 (af2), along with groups from former Arena Football League markets are still expected to apply to the AF1. Apparently, new investors are interested in buying the Green Bay Blizzard from the af2 and bringing that team to the new AF1.
Indoor Football League: Based on fan voting, the Amarillo Dusters have decided to apply to the IFL rather than the new Arena Football 1 league. The Dusters have been part of arenafootball2 since 2005 after playing their inaugural 2004 season as part of the Intense Football League, which eventually merged with United Indoor Football to become the IFL for the 2009 season. Amarillo will be a natural fit for the IFL's 2010 Lone Star Division that is expected to have Texas-based teams in Abilene, Austin, El Paso, San Angelo, Corpus Christi and Odessa. October 15, 2009, is the IFL's deadline for 2010 teams to apply, but the league has not yet heard from its Saginaw Sting franchise as to whether the team will return.
National Football League: A proposed new football stadium in the Los Angeles area's City of Industry is moving through the approval process. If the stadium is built, the NFL could allow a current team to relocate. Some likely relocation candidates are the San Diego Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and the St. Louis Rams, who are currently up for sale.
HOCKEY
North American Hockey League: The Tier-II Junior-A level NAHL has awarded a conditional expansion franchise to a team called the Chicago Hitmen. The new franchise owners also own the Chicago Force in the Tier-III Junior-A Central States Hockey League and the Force is expected to change its name to the Chicago Hitmen next season.
National Hockey League: Since the owner of the New York Islanders has not yet obtained local support for renovations to the team's arena, there again is speculation the Islanders could look for a new home. Kansas City has been mentioned as a destination, but there is a possibility the team could remain in the New York City area by moving to the new arena to be built in Brooklyn.
American Hockey League: Apparently, there is a new proposal to build an arena in Lehigh Valley (Allentown, PA) that would become home to the former Philadelphia Phantoms, now temporarily playing as the Adirondack Phantoms in Glens Falls (NY).
Canadian Women's Hockey League: The CWHL's 2009-10 season has started with the same six teams as last season-the Brampton Canadette-Thunder, Burlington Barracudas, Mississauga Chiefs, Montreal Stars, Ottawa Senators, and Vaughan Flames.
SOCCER
Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro): The PASL-Pro league has announced its 2009-10 season schedule that will feature nine teams. From the eight teams in last season, the Colorado Lightning disbanded and the Wenatchee Fire will only field a team in the Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL-Premier). The PASL-Pro league has added new teams called the San Diego Sockers, Louisville Lightning, and the Canton-based Ohio Vortex. The PASL-Pro teams will again play inter-league games with teams from the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League starting in January 2010, along with games against geographic rivals in the PASL-Premier league. Also, the Revolucion Tijuana club from the Liga Mexicana Futbol Rapido will play seven games against PASL-Pro league competition.
Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League: The CMISL has added a new British Columbia team called the Prince George FC for its upcoming 2009-10 season. The team will join the Calgary United, Edmonton Drillers, and Saskatoon Accelerators from last season. A team called the Winnipeg Alliance FC, which sat out last season, could also return. Starting in January 2010, the CMISL teams will play inter-league games with teams from the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro).
National Indoor Soccer League: Some of the NISL teams have announced their 2009-10 schedules. At this time, it looks as though there might only be five participating teams. This includes the Baltimore Blast, Philadelphia Kixx, Monterrey La RaZa, and Rockford Rampage from last season, plus the Milwaukee Wave from last season's Xtreme Soccer League. It looks as though Milwaukee is replacing the Springfield-based Massachusetts Twisters team that was part of the 2008-09 NISL.
Major League Soccer: The city of Baltimore has expressed interest in trying to build a new soccer-specific stadium that could become the permanent home to the D.C. United. A plan to build a soccer stadium for the club in Prince George's County was rejected earlier this year. The owner of the Colorado Rapids has increased his stake in the Arsenal FC Gunners of the English Premier League. The Rapids entered into a commercial alliance with the Arsenal club back in 2007 fueling rumors that the MLS team would change its nickname to the Colorado Arsenal.
United Soccer Leagues - First Division: The USL has released the players from the Minnesota Thunder, Carolina RailHawks, and Miami FC Blues of the USL First Division. These three teams, along with the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact, had been supporting the Team Owners Association (TOA) that wanted more control of the league and threatened to form a new league. Apparently, all of these clubs have not renewed their contracts for the 2010 season, but Vancouver and Montreal were still active in the playoffs.
United Soccer Leagues - Second Division: The Wilmington (NC) Hammerheads are not expected to return to the USL Second Division in 2010, as the league has discontinued its relationship with the current franchise owner. The Hammerheads have been in existence since 1996.
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.
Major Indoor Soccer League Stories from October 12, 2009
- 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.
