Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
January 11, 2010 - All American Hockey League (AAHL)

BASEBALL

New York-Penn League: The city of Norwich (CT) unanimously approved a letter of intent signed by a yet-to-be-named team in the short-season Class-A New York-Penn League to play in Norwich for ten seasons. The NY-Penn League team is expected to start play in Norwich for the 2010 season, which starts in June. The city's Double-A Eastern League team, the Connecticut Defenders, moved to Richmond as the Flying Squirrels after the 2009 season.

Golden Baseball League: The Long Beach Armada team in the GBL is involved in a ballpark lease dispute and the city has apparently terminated its lease. The team might have to find an alternative playing field or possibly sit out the 2010 season. The Armada has been part of the GBL since the league's inaugural 2005 season.

National League: The Florida Marlins are undergoing a re-branding, as the team will be called the Miami Marlins when it moves into a new Miami-based ballpark in 2012.

BASKETBALL

Premier Basketball League: The PBL has started its third season of operation in 2010 with 9 teams, which was down from the 13 teams in 2009. The league lost seven teams from last season, but added three new teams for 2010. The Chicago Throwbacks, Detroit Panthers, Wilmington Sea Dawgs, Battle Creek Knights, Augusta Groove, Montreal Sasquatch, and Mid-Michigan Destroyers did not return for the 2010 season. Mid-Michigan had suspended operations during the season after playing 13 games of its 20-game schedule. Montreal was suspended by the league during the 2009 season, but a new group stepped in to re-start the franchise for the remainder of the season. New teams for the 2010 season include the Lawton-Fort Sill (OK) Cavalry, the Puerto Rico Capitanes (Arecibo), and the Maryland GreenHawks (Rockville).

American Basketball Association: Due to problems with its home arena in Lexington, the ABA's Bluegrass Stallions might end up playing the rest of its home schedule in other Kentucky cities like Corbin and Frankfort. The ABA's 2009-10 Pacific Northwest Division includes the Seattle Mountaineers, plus five other teams operated by the Basketball Northwest Foundation (BNF). These include the Everett (WA) Longshoremen, Seattle Zhen Gan, Spokane Sunz, Vancouver (WA) Explorers, and Washington Raptors. Vancouver's schedule does not start until this month. The BNF had three other teams called the Walla Walla (WA) Aggies, Yakima (WA) Hoppers, and Portland Stumpers planned for this season, but these teams are not listed on the 2009-10 schedule for BNF teams.

Eastern Basketball Alliance: The Delaware Destroyers have returned to the EBA for 2010 after merging and exchanging players with the league's New Jersey Lightning. The Destroyers have replaced the New Jersey Lightning in the Mid-Atlantic Division. The Delaware Lady Destroyers have done the same in the Women's Eastern Basketball Alliance and returned to replace the women's New Jersey Thunder team for the 2010 WEBA season.

FOOTBALL

National Football League: The group planning to build a new 75,000-seat football stadium in the Los Angeles area for an NFL franchise has targeted the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills as the first teams it will try to lure to Los Angeles. Other potential relocation candidates include the San Francisco 49ers, St. Louis Rams, San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, and Oakland Raiders.

Southern Indoor Football League: In a dispute with the SIFL, the owner of the proposed Albany (GA) Panthers franchise has reportedly pulled the franchise out of the SIFL and plans to move it to the American Indoor Football Association. The SIFL still plans to retain the Albany market and the city will decide which league it will support. The SIFL's proposed Augusta (GA) franchise, previously announced as the Augusta Colts, is now listed as the Augusta Mavericks after the franchise went through an ownership shift. The Florida Cobras (Tampa) and Texas Hurricanes (Beaumont) are no longer listed as 2010 teams.

American Indoor Football Association: The Erie (PA) RiverRats franchise recently came under new ownership and has listed four potential nickname choices for renaming the team. These include the Erie Storm, Erie Blizzard, Erie Punishers, and the Pulse of Erie. The owner of the proposed Albany (GA) Panthers franchise, previously announced as part of the Southern Indoor Football League, plans to move that team to the AIFA. The AIFA has awarded an expansion franchise to Wasilla (AK) for the 2010 and the team will play in the Western Conference. The owner of the new AIFA team plans to call it the Arctic Predators, which was the name of a proposed 2010 Indoor Football League franchise that was announced for Wasilla a few months ago. Due to a dispute over control of the IFL franchise in Wasilla, the city declined to offer the IFL an extended lease and the IFL moved the franchise to Kent (WA) as the Kent Predators last month. A new dispute has surfaced concerning ownership of the Arctic Predators name.

Independent Indoor Football Alliance: The new Tyler (TX) Rose franchise announced for the 2010 season in the semi-pro IIFA has been renamed the East Texas Drillers.

HOCKEY

North East Professional Hockey League: After the Connecticut C-Dogs canceled their ice time at its home arena last week, the NEPHL is apparently calling for an early end to its inaugural 2009-10 season. The league's two remaining teams, the Brooklyn-based New York Aviators and the Rhode Island Storm, will now face off in a best-of-three playoff for the league championship.

All American Hockey League: The AAHL is apparently restructuring at mid-season. It appears the league's Madison (WI) Ice Muskies franchise is facing financial problems and might not continue on for the rest of the season. The AAHL started the 2009-10 season with six teams, but the Detroit Hitmen and Chicago Blaze folded last month. The league then added the new Muskegon-based West Michigan Blizzard franchise.

Federal Hockey League: The FHL has officially announced the name of its Alexandria Bay (NY) franchise as the Thousand Islands Privateers. The A-level professional FHL plans to start its inaugural season in November 2010. At least three other teams are also planned for the FHL's inaugural season.

North American Hockey League: The Tier II Junior-A NAHL has granted conditional approval for an expansion team to an owner in Aberdeen (SD). The team would start play in 2010-11. A possible new ownership group is considering the purchase of the Albert Lea (MN) Thunder from the NAHL. The league recently took control of the Thunder from its previous owner. Another ownership group has reportedly received approval to place an NAHL team in the city of Austin (MN), about 20 miles west of Albert Lea in southern Minnesota.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer: The MLS could face a player lockout after a five-year labor contract expires on January 31, 2010. The international union, which includes MLS players, says the league's single-entity ownership structure violates regulations of soccer's governing body.

United States Soccer Federation Division II League: The USSF, the United Soccer Leagues, and the North American Soccer League have reached an agreement on the structure of a Division II pro soccer league that will be in place for only the 2010 season. As part of the agreement, all pending claims by the USL and NASL will be dropped. The new league will feature two six-team conferences. The NASL Conference will include teams in Baltimore, Carolina, Miami, Montreal, Vancouver, and St. Louis. The USL Conference will include teams in Austin, Portland, Puerto Rico, Rochester, Tampa Bay, and Minnesota. The National Sports Center in Blaine (MN) will operate a new renamed Minnesota team at its soccer complex as a replacement for the Minnesota Thunder NASL team that recently left the USL. The NASL Thunder could not continue due to financial problems. Additional details of the new league will be announced in the near future.

United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League: Due to financial issues with the Minnesota Thunder of the USL First Division, the USL had terminated the Thunder franchise in November 2009, along with its related Rochester (MN) Thunder PDL team and its related W-League women's team called the Minnesota Lightning. Apparently, a deal has been reached with an ownership group that will operate a new USL PDL expansion franchise in Rochester for the 2010 season. The expansion team will also be called the Rochester Thunder.

OTHER

National Pro Fastpitch: The NPF has added the new Tennessee Diamonds franchise for the 2010 season. The Diamonds will take over the rights to the roster of the Rockford Thunder franchise, which was taken over by the league last month. The Diamonds will be based in Blount County (Maryville) near Knoxville. The league now includes Tennessee, the Chicago Bandits, Akron Racers, Philadelphia Force, and USSSA Florida Pride (Kissimmee).

National Lacrosse League: The NLL has started its 2010 season with 11 teams, 5 in the Western Division and 6 in the Eastern Division. The Portland LumberJax dropped out of the NLL Western Division after last season. The New York Titans moved to Orlando as the Orlando Titans and the San Jose Stealth moved to Everett (WA) as the Washington Stealth.

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.

All American Hockey League Stories from January 11, 2010

• 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.