Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on January 24, 2011 under North American League (NAmL)

BASEBALL

North American League: The new NAL has replaced the proposed Tijuana Embajadores team in its Western Division with a team called the Henderson (NV) Roadrunners. The league's Schaumburg (IL) Flyers, a 2010 Northern League team, were given an extension until next month to complete a sale that should help the team pay overdue rent at its home field.

Ultimate Baseball League: The proposed UBL has announced that its first team will be based in Canton (OH) when the league starts play in June 2011. The UBL plans to start with four to eight teams from New York to Georgia and east of the Mississippi River.

California League: The owners of the High Desert Mavericks took control of the Class-A Cal League franchise last year with plans to relocate and re-brand the team in a new market. The Chico (CA) market has been mentioned as a possible future location.

New England Collegiate Baseball League: The NECBL team known simply as the Bristol (CT) Collegiate Baseball Club in 2010 has moved to the Groton/Mystic (CT) area and will be called the Mystic Schooners in 2011. Last season the Bristol team ran into intellectual property issues with its proposed name, the Bristol Nine, and was forced to change its name.

BASKETBALL

Iowa Basketball Exposure League: The Des Moines-based IBEL, which played a short season last June with three teams, is now part of an organization known as Exposure Hoops. In addition to a 2011 IBEL season, Exposure Hoops plans to start the new Boston Basketball Exposure League in June 2011.

Atlantic Coast Professional Basketball League: After announcing last week that the Virginia Avengers will replace the Washington (DC) GreenHawks, the ACPBL stated that the Avengers do not have a home venue and will not be part of the league as planned. The new ACPBL team replacing Washington will be the Tri-City Suns, also based in the D.C. metro area. The Tri-City Suns started play last season in the American Basketball Association and had been listed as part of the ABA's 2010-11 Northeast Division.

International Basketball League: The Gary (IN) Splash and Kankakee (IL) Soldiers were two of the four teams in the IBL's inaugural 2010-11 Winter Division. Both teams also plan to play in the league's 2011 regular spring-summer season. Other participating spring-summer teams are the Los Angeles Lightning, Vancouver Volcanoes, Bellingham Slam, Edmonton Energy, Albany Legends, and Oregon Waves.

Texas Professional Basketball League: The TPBL has started its 11th season with at least six teams: the Abilene Heat, Cypress Synergy, Texas Hurricanes (Dallas), Houston A-Z, San Angelo Chaparrals, and San Antonio Airmen.

Basketball Northwest Foundation: The BNF originally planned to hold a 2010-11 season with four teams called the Everett (WA) Longshoremen, Seattle Zhen Gan, Vancouver (WA) Explorers, and Washington Raptors. The BNF reports that it received a number of invitations to play internationally this year, so it will not be playing a domestic season in 2011. These four teams were listed as part of the American Basketball Association's Northwest Division for the 2009-10 season.

Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacifico (CIBACOPA): Mexico's Pacific Coast basketball league known as CIBACOPA is expected to start its 2011 season in March with ten teams. The South will include the Caballeros de Culiacan, Coras de Tepic, Pioneros Los Mochis, Frayles de Guasave, and Ostioneros de Guaymas. The North will include the Bomberos de Mexicali, Mineros de Cananea, Fuerza Guinda Nogales, Tijuana Zonkeys, and Rayos de Hermosillo. The league had 12 teams last season, but it appears as though the Lobos de Mazatlan and Trigueros de Ciudad Obregon will not return in 2011.

FOOTBALL

Lingerie Football League: The LFL plans to announce a Midwest-based expansion team next week that will start play in the 2011-12 season along with two other expansion teams in Las Vegas (Sin) and Cleveland (Crush). The LFL operated with ten teams in its 2010-11 season.

Arena Football League: The Milwaukee Iron franchise in the AFL plans to re-brand the team as the Milwaukee Mustangs for the upcoming 2011 season. A team called the Milwaukee Mustangs was part of the original AFL from 1994 to 2001. The Milwaukee Iron was a 2009 expansion team in the last season of arenafootball2 and switched to the new AFL last season.

American Indoor Football Association - West: The AIFA-West will not start play as planned in the spring of 2011, but hopes to return in 2012 with 8 to 12 teams. The league was down to only three potential teams-the Reno Barons, Yakima Valley Warriors, and the Stockton Wolves, which were last season's San Jose Wolves. A potential fourth team called the Tucson Thunder Kats suspended operations in November 2010 and a proposed replacement team in Oregon never materialized. The Yakima Valley Warriors ceased operations for 2011, while Reno and Stockton could play some independent games in 2011.

Canadian Football League: The CFL has approved an expansion draft plan to stock the new Ottawa franchise that hopes to start play for the 2013 season.

Stars Football League: The proposed Stars League is considering the addition of the Charleston (SC) market for its inaugural 2011 spring season. The league currently has six teams listed.

Women's Spring Football League: The WSFL is preparing for its first full season of play and has announced a team lineup of 15 teams in 4 regional divisions. The Northeast Division has the Baltimore Burn and Steel City (Pittsburgh) Renegades; the Mid-States Division has the Clinton County (OH) Chaos, Indiana Speed (Indianapolis), Louisville Belles, West Virginia Bruisers (Huntington), and West Virginia Wildfire (Charleston); the Heartland Division has the Arkansas Rampage (Fayetteville), Columbia (MO) Enforcers, Minnesota Lady Slippers (Minneapolis), Topeka Mudcats, and Twin City Smash (Council Bluffs, IA); and the Southwest Division includes the Arizona She-Devils (Tucson), Nevada Desert Heat (Las Vegas), and Ventura (CA) Black Widows. The WSFL had six teams playing some games in 2010.

HOCKEY

All American Hockey League: Since the AAHL was down to only two remaining teams-the Battle Creek Revolution and Chi-Town Shooters-a new league-operated team called the Michigan Moose was created to play some games for the remainder of the 2010-11 schedule.

Federal Hockey League: The six-team FHL is playing its inaugural season and plans to expand in the near future. One new team could be located in Vermont next season along with three other possible locations to be announced shortly.

SOCCER

United Soccer Leagues PRO League: After the announcement last week by the San Antonio Scorpions to start play in the 2012 North American Soccer League, the USL PRO League and its San Antonio expansion ownership group announced plans for a venue that could become home to a future San Antonio-based USL PRO league team.

North American Soccer League: The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) has withdrawn its provisional sanctioning of the NASL as a Division II league for 2011. The league plans to reapply for Division II status prior to a USSF meeting next month. The AC St. Louis club, which was part of the NASL and a USSF-operated league in 2010, has apparently shut down operations.

Major League Soccer: The MLS commissioner recently addressed supporters in Miami who want to bring an MLS franchise back to South Florida and stated that for now the Miami market is not ready for the MLS. The Miami Fusion franchise played in the MLS for four seasons (1998-2001) before being shut down by the league. The league is looking to add a 20th team in the near future and it appears that a group called the New York Cosmos has the inside track on that expansion franchise.

National Star Soccer League: The league states that it has gone through some administrative changes, but will play a 2011 season. The league lists the "New Teams 2011 Season" as follows: Athletic Fugas (Dallas), Brasil FC America (Keller, TX), Capital City FC (Olympia, WA), Quad City Eagles FC (Quad Cities, IL/IA), Seattle Stars FC, Atletico Junior (Boston), Austin Millenium, Deportivo Azteca (Victoria, TX), Panthers FC (Miami), Salinas (CA) United FC, San Antonio Select FC, Tacoma FC, Tigres Carolina (Charlotte, NC), FC Gainesville (FL), Union Birmingham FC, Atlanta United FC, Limonenses FC (Broward, FL), Palmaidas FC (North Miami), Omega FC (West Palm Beach), Las Vegas FC, Ciudad Arce FC (Bronx), Los Vaqueros FC (Dodge City, KS), Lincoln (NE) Fire, PSA Elite SC (San Bernardino, CA), and NY Hempstead Stars.

OTHER

World Team Tennis: The WTT has announced its 2011 season will be played during the month of July and will include the same ten teams as last year.

Major League Lacrosse: The outdoor MLL has announced that teams in Charlotte (NC) and Columbus (OH) will be added for the 2012 season. The league's upcoming 2011 summer season will feature six teams. The official announcement on the move of the league's Toronto Nationals team to Hamilton (Ontario) for the 2011 season has been postponed until early next month.

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.

North American League Stories from January 24, 2011

• 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.