Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on February 8, 2010 under North American Soccer League (NASL)


BASEBALL

Canadian-American (Can-Am) League: The owner of the American Defenders of New Hampshire in the independent Can-Am League has closed a deal to move the team from Nashua (NH) to Pittsfield (MA) for the 2010 season. During the 2009 season, the owner operated both the New Hampshire Can-Am team and the Pittsfield American Defenders summer-collegiate team in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). The NECBL team has been sold to a group in Bristol (CT). The new Pittsfield team will be renamed before the 2010 Can-Am season.

Continental Baseball League: The South Louisiana Pipeliners might not be returning to the CBL for 2010 and the team's logo no longer appears on the CBL site. The 2009 travel team was based out of Morgan City (LA) in 2009, but had been trying to find a permanent home in New Iberia (LA).

Southwestern Baseball League: The SBL has logos posted for four proposed teams that could be part of an inaugural 2011 season. These include the Javelinas Baseball Club, Club de Beisbol Cerverceros, Diablos Rojos Club de Beisbol, and Mineros Club de Beisbol.

Great Plains Baseball League: The GPBL plans to be a new 2010 summer-collegiate league with teams based in the Midwest. One team announced for the inaugural 2010 season was the Rockford (IL) Foresters.

Northwoods League: The summer-collegiate Northwoods League has announced its newest team for 2010 will be the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters.

Texas Collegiate Baseball League: The owners of the Victoria Generals in the TCBL have purchased a second franchise and will make a final selection on the team's location in the coming weeks. Victoria was an expansion team last season in the five-team league.

New York Collegiate Baseball League: Now that the Oneonta Tigers of the short-season Class-A New York-Penn League plan to move to Norwich (CT), the city is considering ownership of team in the NYCBL.

BASKETBALL

International Basketball League: The Vancouver Titans franchise, based in British Columbia (Canada) has been renamed the Vancouver BC Titans to distinguish the team from the Vancouver (Washington) Volcanoes team that is based in southern Washington, just north of Portland (OR).

United Basketball League: The UBL has announced its 2010 schedule that will run from March 6 to late June. The league plans to have six teams called the Arkansas Warriors (Little Rock), Mississippi Tornadoes (Jackson), Oklahoma Impact (Oklahoma City), Springfield (MO) Thrill, Texas Wranglers (Dallas), and Tulsa Tornadoes.

Universal Basketball Association: The UBA, which purchased the United Regions Basketball League after its inaugural 2009 season and changed its name to the UBA, has decided to keep the URBL name for a UBA developmental league that will start play in April 2010. The UBA will now start its inaugural season in December 2010 and the winner of the URBL season will advance to be part of the 2010-11 UBA. The URBL will have six teams called the Austin Knights, Converse Flight, Houston Gladiators, Houston Asteroids, San Antonio Airmen, and Irving Assault. The Florida Flight team, which was at one time listed as part of the UBA, has now left the UBA and will concentrate on joining the Premier Basketball League.

United States Basketball Association: The USBA is planning to start its inaugural season in April 2010 with 15 teams in 3 regional 5-team divisions. Eventually, the league hopes to grow to 60 teams in 12 divisions.

American Basketball Association: The California Sea Kings, based at Hartnell College in Salinas, is the latest ABA franchise to report financial problems. After starting its 2009-10 season with 50-plus franchises, several ABA teams have dropped out or stopped playing, while remaining teams have had to revise their schedules due to the loss of opponents.

FOOTBALL

Indoor Football League: The Little Rock-based Arkansas Twisters, which played as part of arenafootball2 in 2009, has changed its nicknamed to the Arkansas Diamonds as it starts play in the 2010 IFL. The league's Amarillo Dusters franchise was also part of the 2009 af2 and plans to change its name to either the Venom or the Turf Monsters. Both teams were forced to change their nicknames due to legal complications after the new Arena Football 1 league purchased the names and logos of all af2 and Arena Football League teams.

Arena Football 1: The Dallas-based AF1 franchise has announced the team will be called the Dallas Vigilantes when its starts play in the inaugural 2010 AF1 season.

Canadian Football League: The CFL has announced its 2010 season schedule that will include the same eight teams as last season. The league has scheduled a regular-season game in Moncton (New Brunswick) as a way to gauge support for a possible future expansion team in Atlantic Canada. The CFL hopes to add an Ottawa-based franchise as a ninth team in the near future and has been considering Atlantic Canada for a tenth team.

Regional Indoor Football League: The semi-pro RIFL plans to start play in the spring of 2010 and has an unofficial divisional alignment listed. The East Division has the Allen Renegades, Denver Titans, El Paso Vaqueros, Sarasota Scorpions, and South Florida Wave. The West Division includes the Dallas Diablos, Fort Worth Gunslingers, New Mexico Gamblers (Hobbs), Texas Regulators, and West Texas Rustlers (Midland).

HOCKEY

Southern Professional Hockey League: The SPHL has confirmed a new expansion franchise based in Augusta (GA) will be added for the 2010-11 season and the ownership group will be introduced next week. It is expected that the owner of the SPHL's dormant Twin City Cyclones, which previously played two seasons (2007-09) in Winston-Salem (NC), will be part of the group.

International Hockey League: The seven-team IHL will be holding discussions about possible expansion at its annual meeting next week as it tries to get to an even number of teams. The dormant Chicago Hounds will be represented, along with the expansion Evansville IceMen franchise that currently is part of the All-American Hockey League. Evansville is scheduled to join the IHL in 2011-12, but could join the IHL a year early if the AAHL is unable to continue playing next season. Although the Muskegon Lumberjacks are discussing the possibility of operating a junior-level team next season, the IHL believes all seven of its current teams will return next season.

United States Hockey League: The owners of the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the International Hockey League have had discussions with the Tier I Junior-A USHL about a possible Muskegon-based junior hockey team being part of the league in 2010-11. The USHL recently added Dubuque (IA) as its 15th team for next season, so the league could be looking to expand to keep an even number of teams.

North American Hockey League: The Tier II Junior-A NAHL announced that it has accepted the membership for an expansion team called the Aberdeen (SD) Wings that will start play in the 2010-11 season.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer: The MLS has announced its 2010 season schedule for its 16 teams which now includes the expansion Philadelphia Union. The Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps will join in 2011 to give the league a total of 18 teams. The city of Portland recently approved the renovation and conversion of its Triple-A ballpark to a soccer-specific stadium for the MLS franchise.

North American Soccer League: The new NASL team owned by the National Sports Center (NSC) in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area will be called the NSC Minnesota Stars when it starts play in the new Division II league, which will be operated by the United States Soccer Federation in 2010. The NSC had been home to the Minnesota Thunder, formerly of the United Soccer Leagues First Division, but when the Thunder ran into financial trouble after announcing its switch to the NASL, the NSC stepped in to operate a new franchise as a replacement for the Thunder.

United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League: A new PDL franchise called the Rochester (MN) Thunder will replace last season's Rochester Thunder PDL team. The Minnesota Thunder of the 2009 USL First Division was the majority owner of the 2009 Rochester Thunder team. After the USL First Division club ran into financial troubles, the 2009 Rochester Thunder team in the PDL was terminated by the USL.

United Soccer Leagues - Second Division: Although the USL Second Division will operate with only six teams in 2010, the league is confident it will double in size for 2011. The USL is committed to aggressive expansion for 2011 which will include the addition of a Western Conference.

OTHER

Rugby Super League: The RSL will operate with two less teams in 2010 as the Santa Monica Dolphins and Belmont Shore rugby clubs will not return. The RSL plans to have a seven-team Red Conference and a seven-team Blue Conference when the season starts in March.

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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North American Soccer League Stories from February 8, 2010


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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