Sports stats



Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
May 10, 2010 - American Indoor Football Association (AIFA)


BASEBALL

Pacific Coast League: San Marcos (CA), which is just north of San Diego, has been mentioned as a possible destination for the relocated Portland Beavers of the Triple-A PCL. The Beavers will be without a home in 2011, as its current ballpark is being converted to a soccer-specific stadium for a Major League Soccer expansion franchise. The Beavers' parent club, the San Diego Padres, is reportedly interested in buying its Triple-A affiliate and having the team play on the campus of Cal State-San Marcos. Another group in El Paso (TX) is interested in buying the Beavers and would have the team play in Tucson (AZ) until a new ballpark was built in El Paso.

Frontier League: The Frontier League's new Oakland County (MI) Cruisers franchise has confirmed it will play all but 21 games on the road in 2010, as financing has fallen through for a proposed new ballpark in the Waterford Township. Most of the teams "home games" will be played in the Michigan cities of Ypsilanti, Livonia, and Rochester Hills.

American Association: The group that owns the El Paso Diablos and Grande Prairie AirHogs of the independent AA has signed an agreement with the city of Topeka (KS) to build a new ballpark that could be ready for the 2012 season. There has been no official announcement as to which league will lease the new facility. The independent Northern League has also expressed interest in the Topeka market.

Mexican Baseball League (Liga Mexicana de Beisbol): A labor dispute with workers at the home field of the Mexican League's Oaxaca Guerreros has been settled. If this dispute had continued, the team would have had to relocate for the rest of the season and risked losing its franchise.

Puget Sound Collegiate Baseball League: The new six-team PSCBL has been formed in the Pacific Northwest for 2010. Players must pay to play for teams called the Hawks Prairie Cardinals, Lacey Saints, Nisqually Silver, Olympia Athletics, Tumwater Brewers, and West Olympia Linx.

Louisiana Summer Collegiate Baseball League: A proposed new Louisiana-based summer collegiate baseball league is trying to start for the 2011 season. Bossier City (LA) has been mentioned as one possible team location.

BASKETBALL

Premier Basketball League: The PBL's Manchester (NH) Millrats franchise has confirmed its plans to move to St. John (New Brunswick) for next season. The PBL wants to add more Canadian teams and previously expressed interest in the Ontario cities of Guelph and Hamilton, along with Moncton (New Brunswick).

Global Professional Basketball League2: The Canton Conquest franchise in the GPBL2 was renamed the Canton Airmen late last month, just prior to the start of the league's inaugural season. A team called the San Antonio Airmen had been part of a proposed GBPL2 South Division that is no longer listed.

FOOTBALL

United Football League: The UFL has announced its new Omaha-based franchise will be called the Omaha Nighthawks when its starts play in 2010. The league held a name-the-team contest with Mustangs, Spirit, Navigators, and Stags as suggested nickname choices. The UFL will start its second season this fall with a total of five teams. The league is still pursuing additional expansion teams for 2011.

Ultimate Indoor Football League: The proposed new UIFL has announced that Johnstown (PA) will be the first expansion market when the league starts in 2011. The city has had some previous indoor football teams called the Johnstown Jackals (2000 Indoor Football League), the Johnstown J-Dogs (2001 National Indoor Football League), and the Johnstown Riverhawks (2005 Atlantic Indoor Football League, 2006 American Indoor Football League, 2007 American Indoor Football Association).

American Indoor Football Association: The AIFA's Erie Storm franchise might have to change its nickname or work out a deal with Lake Erie College, whose sports teams use the Storm nickname. The college has filed a complaint against the use of the Storm nickname by the AIFA team. The Erie Storm franchise was called the Erie RiverRats prior to coming under new ownership and a new name for 2010.

Professional Indoor Football League: The organizer of the proposed new PIFL, not to be confused with the proposed Premier Indoor Football League, broke away from the new Regional Indoor Football League. The PIFL reportedly has 24 teams that will start league play in April 2011. A few teams will play some games in 2010, one of which will be the West Texas Rustlers (Midland) against the Louisiana Swashbucklers of the Southern Indoor Football League.

Regional Indoor Football League: The first two games of the RIFL's 2010 season had to be cancelled. The RIFL's Delmarva Bayriders were to play the Maryland Monsoon, but Maryland folded prior to the game. Both of these teams were previously associated with the Premier Indoor Football League. The RIFL's Sarasota Scorpions were forced to cancel its game against the Clearwater Rebels in Tampa because the Rebels had not filed the proper insurance paperwork.

Independent Women's Football League: The IWFL has started its 2010 season with 19 Tier I teams and 27 Tier II teams. Each tier has a Western Conference with Pacific-West and Midwest divisions, along with an Eastern Conference that includes Northeast and Southeast divisions. The IWFL played its first full season back in 2002. For its 2008 season, the IWFL started its three-tier alignment based on competition by market, roster, and team budget size. Tier I includes the largest markets and roster sizes; Tier II has the medium-size markets and rosters; and Tier III is the six-player division, which was formerly called the "Sixxes" and has been idle since 2007. There are currently eight Tier III teams listed, but no schedule has been posted. Three of the league's 2010 Tier II teams-the Binghamton Tiger Cats, H-Town Cyclones (Houston), and Memphis Belles-were part of the 2009 Women's Football Alliance. Over the past several seasons, the IWFL also had an "X-Team" designation for teams playing a shorter exhibition schedule during a particular season as a way to test their market.

Women's Spring Football League: The Oklahoma City Lightning has apparently left the Women's Football Alliance after only one game and has joined the new WSFL for its inaugural 2010 season. Players on the WSFL's Omaha-based River City Raiders will be part of the Lightning for 2010, as the Raiders plan to restructure for 2011. The Lightning played one season (2002) as part of the Independent Women's Football League and six seasons (2003-08) as part of the defunct National Women's Football Association. The Lightning sat out the 2009 season before joining the WFA for 2010.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The AHL has approved the sale of its dormant Iowa Chops (Des Moines) franchise to the owners of the league's Texas Stars, which is based in the Austin area and an affiliate of the Dallas Stars. The AHL granted the Texas Stars a limited membership for the 2009-10 season under the condition it complete the purchase of an AHL franchise within one year. There has been speculation that the AHL's new team based in Oklahoma City next season will be called the Barons.

National Hockey League: The failure of a proposed sale of the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes franchise to one potential buyer has led to speculation the franchise could eventually be sold to another group that would move the franchise back to Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix after the 1995-96 season.

All American Hockey League: The AAHL has announced plans for its 2010-11 season with all four teams-the Battle Creek Revolution, Chi-Town Shooters, Evansville IceMen, and West Michigan Blizzard-indicating they will return. Expansion was also discussed during a recent league meeting and will be addressed in the next 30 days.

International Hockey League: The IHL says it will return with six teams for the 2010-11 after the loss of the Muskegon (Lumberjacks) market to the Tier-I Junior-A United States Hockey League. The Flint Generals franchise was rumored to be leaving the IHL after the Tier-II Junior-A North American Hockey League recently announced it will operate a Flint-based team for its 2010-11 season. The IHL stated it plans to have new ownership in place for the Flint Generals for 2010-11.

North American Hockey League: The Tier-II Junior-A NAHL has announced its Marquette (MI) Rangers team has been relocated to Flint (MI) for the 2010-11 season and the team will be called the Michigan Warriors. The Rangers joined the NAHL as an expansion team for the 2006-07 season. There has been no word on the fate of the Albert Lea (MN) Thunder for the 2010-11 season. The league was forced to take over the team during the 2009-10 season, but apparently has not yet found a buyer.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer: The MLS has announced that Montreal will become home to the league's 19th franchise in the 2012 season. The current owner of the Montreal Impact, formerly of the United Soccer Leagues First Division and current member of the United States Soccer Federation D-2 League, will own the Montreal MLS franchise. The owner hopes to keep the Montreal Impact name as a member of the MLS. The league currently has 16 teams and will add the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps for the 2011 season. The league is also focusing on a 20th franchise, which could be a second team added to the New York City market by 2013. The league was also considering southeastern markets, possibly Atlanta or one in the state of Florida.

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.



American Indoor Football Association Stories from May 10, 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.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central