IFL Indoor Football League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
November 1, 2010 - Indoor Football League (IFL)


BASEBALL

Frontier League: Construction on a 6,500-seat ballpark in Woodstock (IL) for the Frontier League's new McHenry County K-Nines franchise is not expected to start until the fall of 2011. The expansion team still hopes to start play in the 2012 season.

Northern League: With only four teams remaining, the Northern League is reportedly trying to add some expansion teams or possibly some teams from the Frontier League. A group of investors had been interested in placing a Northern League team in Omaha, which has a new downtown 24,000-seat stadium for the College World Series, but that deal has apparently fallen through after the league lost four teams to the American Association.

New York-Penn League: The Rochester Red Wings of the Triple-A International League have announced they will continue operating the Batavia Muckdogs of the Class-A NY-Penn League for the 2011 season. The Red Wings had announced in August that the club would end its three-year term of operating the Muckdogs after the 2010 season. The Muckdogs have been put up for sale and the Red Wings stand to gain a percentage of the final sale. If Rochester had ended its relationship with Batavia, the league would have had to take control of the franchise.

Golden Baseball League: The owner of the Tucson Toros in the GBL has officially announced the team will sit out the 2011 season. The Portland Beavers, the Triple-A Pacific Coast League affiliate of the San Diego Padres, will relocate to Tucson for at least the 2011 season. The new owner of the PCL team is working to build a new ballpark for the team in Escondido (CA) in time for the 2012 season.

Mexican-Pacific League: The fall-winter Mexican-Pacific League has started its 2010 season that runs through December. The league has the same eight teams as last season: the Aguilas de Mexicali, Algodoneros de Guasave, Caneros de Los Mochis, Mayos de Navajoa, Naranjeros de Hermosillo, Tomateros de Culiacan, Venados de Mazatlan, and Yaquis de Obreon. The league champion moves on to the Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) with other champions from the Dominican Winter League, Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League, and the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.

Puerto Rico Baseball League: The fall-winter PRBL has started its 2010 season that runs through December. The league again has five teams: the Criollos de Caguas, Gigantes de Carolina, Indios de Mayaguez, Leones de Ponce, and the new Senadores de San Juan. The Lobos de Arecibo did not return from last season, as that team was transferred to San Juan.

New England Collegiate Baseball League: After only one season in the league, the Bristol (CT) Collegiate Baseball Club of the summer-collegiate NECBL is moving to the city of Groton in southeastern Connecticut for the 2011 season. Bristol joined the league in 2010 after the relocation of the Pittsfield American Defenders. The team ran into intellectual property issues with its originally proposed nickname, the Bristol Nine, and was listed as the Bristol Collegiate Baseball Club in 2010.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association: The NBA appears to be open to the idea of contracting or eliminating certain franchises as a way of lowering costs. There is speculation that teams with attendance problems, such as the New Orleans Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies, and Charlotte Bobcats, could be considered for possible contraction in the future.

Eastern Basketball Alliance: The EBA has announced its 2010-11 season will start on November 6. The league currently has 13 teams listed in a six-team Northern Division and seven-team Southern Division. The league lost 9 of the 17 teams from last season with 3 of those teams-the Garden State Rebels, Norfolk True Hope Blazers, and Beltway Bombers-moving to the new Atlantic Coast Professional Basketball League. The EBA added five new teams called the North Jersey Pros (Pasaic), South Jersey Enterprise (Pine Hill), Carolina Gladiators, Portsmouth (VA) Cavaliers, and Winchester (VA) Storm. Last season's Salem (VA) Mustangs team was renamed the Old Dominion Mustangs.

Women's Eastern Basketball Alliance: The WEBA currently has six teams listed for its upcoming 2011 season. The Baltimore Starz, Harrisburg Lady Horizon, and Lady Destroyers return from last season, but the Maryland Lady Suns are not listed. There are two new teams called the D.C. Fire and South Jersey Lady Enterprise. The U.S. Army team is also listed and will play games against WEBA teams during the season.

American Basketball Association: The ABA has announced it will add an expansion team in Pittsburgh next season. The league has had previous Pittsburgh area teams called the Pennsylvania Pit Bulls (2004-05; originally the Pittsburgh Hardhats), Pittsburgh Xplosion (2005-06), and Pittsburgh Phantoms (2009-10). The ABA's Heartland Prowl, which was the Georgia Prowl last season, will be based in the central Florida city of Avon Park for the 2010-11 season. The 2011 expansion team for Little Rock is now listed as the Little Rock Lightning. The 2010-11 Southeast Division now has a new unnamed Jacksonville team listed. This past summer the Jacksonville Bluewaves, which were part of the 2010 World Basketball Association Exposure League, were supposed to join the ABA for the 2011-12 season.

Basketball Northwest Foundation: Four BNF-operated teams called the Everett Longshoremen, Seattle Zhen Gan, Vancouver (WA) Explorers, and Washington Raptors are no longer part of the American Basketball Association's Northwest Division. These teams played a limited number of its scheduled games in the 2009-10 ABA season. The BNF has these four teams listed as part of a schedule that runs from early December 2010 to late February 2011. The BNF mentions three other teams called the Portland Stumpers, Walla Walla Aggies, and Wenatchee Wonder that will be added for the 2011-12 season. The BNF also plans to start a women's basketball league in the 2011-12 season.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football League: The owner of the AFL's Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz has officially announced the team will not play in the 2011 season. A new Oklahoma City franchise plans to start play in the Indoor Football League for its 2011 season. The Yard Dawgz were part of arenafootball2 for six seasons (2004-09) and switched to the new AFL in 2010 when the af2 disbanded after its 2009 season.

Indoor Football League: After the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz announced they would not return to the Arena Football League in 2011, the IFL announced that an ownership group, which also owns the IFL's Midland-based West Texas Roughnecks, will operate a new IFL franchise in Oklahoma City in 2011. The IFL announced its 2011 season will run from mid-February to mid-June. The 22-team league will have a United Conference with a three-team Atlantic Division, a four-team Great Lakes Division, and a four-team Great Plains Division. The Intense Conference will have a three-team Mountain West Division, a four-team Lonestar Division, and a four-team Pacific Division. Five of the non-returning teams from last season, the Billings Outlaws, Rochester Raiders, San Angelo Stampede Express, Maryland Maniacs, and West Michigan Thunderhawks, have been allowed to enter a dormant status for 2011 with plans to restart in 2011.

Southern Indoor Football League: The SIFL has reportedly acquired the remnants of what was the 2010 American Indoor Football Association Eastern Conference (AIFA East). The 2010 AIFA Western Conference recently announced that it would operate as a separate league in 2011 as the AIFA West.

National Football League: The NFL hosted a regular-season game in London, England on October 31. The league plans to hold more games in Europe and could consider adding an expansion franchise in London sometime in the future.

HOCKEY

All American Hockey League: Before even playing a game in the 2010-11 AAHL season, the league announced that its new Madison (WI) Ice Muskies franchise has been relocated to Wooster (OH) as the Wooster Korn Kings. The owner of the AAHL's Lapeer Loggers will also operate the Korn Kings.

Federal Hockey League: The new FHL has started its inaugural 2010-11 season with six teams: the 1000 Islands Privateers (Alexandria Bay, NY), Akwesasne Warriors (Ontario), Broome County (NY) Barons, Danbury (CT) Whalers, New York Aviators (Brooklyn), and Rome (NY) Frenzy. The 60-game season runs until mid-March 2011.

SOCCER

United Soccer Leagues PRO: The Rochester Rhinos have announced the club will be part of the USL PRO league in 2011. The Rhinos had been a member of the USL, but switched to join the North American Soccer League for the 2010 season. The NASL did not receive Division II sanctioning for the 2010 season from the United States Soccer Federation, so the Rhinos became part of a USSF-operated Division-2 Pro League in 2010 that consisted of both NASL and USL teams. The Austin Aztex club, which was one of the USL teams in the 2010 USSF-operated pro league, has relocated to Orlando (FL) and will operate as Orlando City SC in the 2011 USL PRO league. The Orlando club will have a direct affiliation with the Stoke City club in the English Premier League. There is a possibility the league could place a team in South Florida (Broward County) that could be represented by the Haiti national team. The USL PRO league is expected to operate at the USSF Division III level in 2011 with teams playing in four main regions throughout the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. The league reportedly has 12 teams on board with another 6 to be announced in early November.

Southern Premier Soccer League: The Rio Grande Valley Bravos soccer club, which was part of the 2010 United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League, previously announced plans to switch to the new SPSL in 2011. The club has been renamed the Rio Grande Valley Ocelots and plans to draw players from McAllen (TX) and Brownsville (TX). The six-team SPSL started its inaugural 2010-11 season earlier this month.

Women's Premier Soccer League: The WPSL is planning to add teams in Seattle and Vancouver (British Columbia) for the 2011 season. The league had the Seattle Synergy club that lasted only the 2009 season and a team called the Vancouver Angels that played in the 2000 season. The WPSL is trying to form a Northwest division with existing teams called the Spokane Black Widows and Portland Rain.

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.



Indoor Football League Stories from November 1, 2010


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