Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on April 19, 2010 under North American Soccer League (NASL)


BASEBALL

Continental Baseball League: The CBL's arrangement with the New York State League to operate two CBL teams-the Desert Valley Mountain Lions and West Texas Road Hogs-has apparently fallen through for the 2010 season. The CBL will now bring back the Coastal Kingfish travel team, which was based out of Houston as part of the 2009 season. The Coastal Kingfish will be based out of El Paso (TX) in 2010 and has replaced the West Texas Road Hogs on the CBL team list. There were no further details on the Desert Valley team that is still listed. The CBL has two other teams for 2010, the returning Big Bend Cowboys (Alpine, TX) and the expansion Las Cruces (NM) Vaqueros.

New York State League: The independent NYSL has announced its plans for 2010 that will include expansion from two to four teams. In addition to the Federals and Capitols teams, the league has added teams called the Empires and Hudsons. The 2010 season will run from June 2 to August 6 with teams playing a 54-game schedule in the New York City metropolitan area. The NYSL is entering its fourth season as a developmental baseball league for players that have exhausted their collegiate eligibility. Many NYSL players have gone on to sign with teams in other independent baseball leagues.

BASKETBALL

MidWest Basketball League: The proposed springtime MWBL has announced it will delay its start until 2011. The league now has four teams listed: the Chicago Stars, Evansville Swish, Centralia (IL) Pride, and the Indianapolis-based Naptown Ruff Riderz. Naptown is new to the team list that no longer includes previously listed teams called the Cincinnati Century and Akron Rise.

American Basketball Association: The ABA has officially announced its new Oklahoma City-based team called the Oklahoma Stallions. The team will play what it calls an exhibition season as part of the ABA's new summertime Lonestar Professional Basketball League and plans to be part of the ABA's 2010-11 fall season. The ABA tried to add a team called the Oklahoma City Ballhawgs for its 2004-05 season, but it was replaced by a Baton Rouge-based team called the Louisiana Hurricanes prior to the season. Another proposed Oklahoma City expansion effort in 2007 left the ABA to be part of the Continental Basketball Association. Some ABA teams played a few non-league games against the Oklahoma City-based Oklahoma Impact of the United Basketball League during the recent 2009-10 season.

Universal Basketball Association: The new UBA plans to start its inaugural 2010-11 season this fall and currently has 11 teams listed. The Eastern Conference has teams called the Brevard (FL) Lightning, Columbus (GA) Dragons, Metro Big Bully, Morrow Disciples, Orlando Blue Spiders, and Southern Generals. The Western Conference has the Austin Knight, DFW Warriors, Fort Worth Fresh, Norman (OK) Express, and Texas Hurricanes.

Iowa Basketball Exposure League: The new IBEL has posted a schedule for its "2010 Showcase" that will include each of its three teams-the Hybrids, Hydrogen, and Wind Turbines-playing four games in the month of June.

Kentucky Basketball Development League: The KBDL has apparently moved its 2009 Harrodsburg (KY) Tankers team to Evansville as the Evansville Tankers for 2010. The former director of the Evansville Swish, which was to be part of the proposed MidWest Basketball League in 2010, will run the Tankers. Apparently, another proposed MWBL team called the Centralia (IL) Pride also plans to be part of the 2010 KBDL season.

National Athletic Basketball League: The new NABL has started its inaugural 2010 season with six teams: the Portland (OR) Showtime, Salem (OR) Stampede, Seattle Mountaineers, Snohomish County Explosion, Tacoma Thunder, and Tualatin (OR) Rainmakers.

FOOTBALL

United Football League: The UFL has announced a fifth team based in Omaha (NE) that will play in the league's second season in 2010. The league is holding a name-the-team contest and has Mustangs, Spirit, Navigators, and Stags as nickname choices. The UFL wants to add a sixth team for 2010 and is reportedly considering San Antonio, Austin, and Salt Lake City as possible locations.

Arena Football League: A new version of the AFL, originally called Arena Football 1, has started its inaugural 2010 season with 15 teams split into 2 conferences with 2 divisions each. The original AFL started play in 1987 and eventually filed bankruptcy after playing its last season in 2008. The new AFL has seven teams based in markets that had former AFL teams in 2008. These include Phoenix (Arizona Rattlers), Dallas (Dallas Vigilantes), Orlando (Predators), Tampa Bay (Storm), Salt Lake City (Utah Blaze), Cleveland (Gladiators), and Chicago (Rush). Only Dallas has a different team name than its original AFL team called the Desperados. The new AFL includes the new Jacksonville (Sharks) market for 2010, plus seven markets that were part of the 2009 arenafootball2. The former af2 markets include Milwaukee (Iron), Bossier-Shreveport (Battle Wings), Huntsville (Alabama Vipers), Des Moines (Iowa Barnstormers), Oklahoma City (Yard Dawgs), Tulsa (Talons), and Spokane (Shock).

Independent Indoor Football Alliance: The semi-pro IIFA has announced that its Houston-based Missouri City Blitz franchise will no longer be part of the 2010 season. Missouri City had a 0-3 record and appears to have forfeited two of its first three games.

Regional Indoor Football League: The proposed semi-pro RIFL now has the Jacksonville Tigers listed as one of its teams, while the Denver Titans are no longer listed.

Lingerie Football League: The LFL plans to add two new teams called the Baltimore Charm and Orlando Fantasy for its second season in 2010-11. The league has suspended operations of its New York Majesty and Denver Dream franchises for next season, but hopes to return to those markets in the future. The league reports it is in negotiations with potential franchise ownership groups in San Jose, Las Vegas, Houston, Phoenix, Vancouver, Detroit, Washington (DC), Carolina, Buffalo, Cleveland/Columbus, Toronto, New Orleans, and New Jersey. For 2010-11, Baltimore and Orlando are expected to be part of the Eastern Conference with the Chicago Bliss moving to the Western Conference.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The Springfield Falcons of the AHL are looking for local investors to either purchase the franchise or join with the current ownership to keep the team in the city. If local investors do not emerge and attendance does not increase, the ownership will consider putting the team up for sale to one of the out-of-town groups interested in moving the team out of the city. The Falcons signed a one-year affiliation deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets for 2010-11. The Falcons have been part of the AHL since the 1994-95 season.

North American Hockey League: The Tier II junior-level NAHL plans to add six expansion teams for its 2010-11 season: the Fresno Monsters, Dawson Creek (British Columbia) Rage, Chicago Hitmen, Aberdeen (SD) Wings, Austin (MN) Bruins, and a yet-to-be-named New Mexico team. The league was actively trying to expand its West Division, which will include Fresno and Dawson Creek. The NAHL has also announced its North American Prospects Hockey League for lower-level Midget and Bantam players will include 46 teams in 2010-11.

ECHL: The new owners of the Greenville (SC) ECHL franchise, which is the relocated Johnstown Chiefs franchise, have announced the signing of a lease agreement for the 2010-11 season. The franchise will receive a new name in the near future.

Metropolitan Junior Hockey League: A new team called the Florida Junior Blades will be part of the Florida Division in the 2010-11 season of the Junior-B level Met League. The Blades will be based in Estero (FL) and will use the Germain Arena, which is home to the Florida Everblades of the ECHL.

SOCCER

United Soccer Leagues - Super-20 Leagues: After announcing plans last week to expand its Super-20 Leagues into the Northwest, the USL has announced the addition of a Rocky Mountain Division for its women's 2010 Super-20 Leagues. Participating clubs will include the Boulder County Force, Colorado Force, Colorado Rush, Pride Soccer Club, and Real Colorado. The Super-20 Leagues bridge the gap between youth and adult soccer and allows 17- to 20-year-old players to compete at an elite level. The USL Super-20 Leagues is also exploring men's and women's expansion into the Great Lakes, Midwest, and Southeast regions.

United Soccer Leagues - Premier Development League: The Rio Grande Valley Bravos FC, which was based in McAllen (TX) for its inaugural 2009 PDL season, will move to Brownsville (TX) for its 2010 home games.

Major League Soccer: The Houston Dynamo of the MLS has announced a deal for a soccer-specific stadium to be built for the team in time for the start of the 2012 season. The Dynamo currently plays at the University of Houston's Robertson Stadium and has been working toward construction of a soccer stadium since the club moved to Houston from San Jose for the 2006 season.

United States Soccer Federation Division-2 Professional League: The 12-team USSF second division pro league has started its inaugural 2010 season. The USL Conference includes the Austin Aztex, NSC Minnesota Stars, Portland Timbers, Puerto Rico Islanders, Rochester Rhinos, and Tampa Bay Rowdies. The NASL Conference has the Crystal Palace Baltimore, Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC Blues, Montreal Impact, AC St. Louis, and Vancouver Whitecaps. The USSF formed an agreement with the United Soccer Leagues (USL) and the North American Soccer League (NASL) to operate the 2010 second division league that includes teams from both organizations. The season runs from the second week of April to early October with teams playing 30 games.

Dan Krieger is the creator of the Leagueology™ almanac known as "Leagues, Teams & Nicknames", which tracks the changes in league alignments, franchise movements and team nicknames in today's sports world. The latest 2009-10 edition is available at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/leagues-teams-nicknames-2009-10/6534940. Dan can be contacted at dankrieger@leaguesteamsnicknames.com.

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North American Soccer League Stories from April 19, 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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