Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
January 31, 2011 - North American League (NAmL)

BASEBALL

North American League: The owners of the Edmonton Capitals, which played in the 2010 Golden Baseball League and are now part of the new NAL, want to eventually return a Triple-A Pacific Coast League team to the city. The Edmonton Trappers last played in the PCL's 2004 season before the franchise was sold and became the Round Rock (TX) Express. Travel costs have been an issue with the PCL's return to Edmonton.

Can-Am League: A political group in Ramapo (NY) is trying to stop current construction on a new ballpark being built for the Ramapo-based Rockland Boulders team, which plans to start play in the 2011 season of the Can-Am League.

Southern League: The Livingston Parish in the Baton Rouge (LA) area is trying to lure a team in the Double-A Southern League to the area. Financing for a proposed ballpark still needs to be worked out.

Southwestern States League: The SWSL has three new teams called the Pioneers, Rhythm, and Buccaneers listed to go with the previously listed Broncos, Steel City Warriors, and Abilene Blue Sox. No home locations are listed for some of these proposed teams.

Atlantic Baseball League: The ABL continues to work on trying to place a franchise in Nassau County on Long Island (NY) as a rival for the its Long Island Ducks team that is based in Suffolk County. The league is also interested in a possible expansion franchise for Frederick (MD), which is the current home to an affiliated team called the Frederick Keys in the high Class-A Carolina League. The owner of the Keys is looking to sell the team and the team's lease expires in September 2011. At that time, the city could entertain offers from other leagues like the ABL.

United League Baseball: The ULB has lost three of its six teams from the 2010 season. The owner of the ULB lost an appeal to try to stop the city of Amarillo from evicting the league's Amarillo Dillas from the local ballpark due to unpaid rent. Amarillo has already replaced the Dillas with the Amarillo Sox of the American Association (AA). Nueces County (TX) recently evicted the ULB's Coastal Bend Thunder due to unpaid ballpark rent. This past year, the city of Laredo selected a group affiliated with the AA to operate a team in the city's new ballpark in 2012. The three remaining ULB teams-the San Angelo Colts, Edinburgh Roadrunners, and the Harlingen-based Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings plan to be part of the new North American League in 2011.

BASKETBALL

Premier Basketball League: The Vermont Frost Heaves of the PBL announced the franchise has not been able to keep up with expenses and has ceased operations. After playing two seasons (2006-08) in the American Basketball Association, the Frost Heaves joined the PBL for its 2009 season. The team split its home games between the cities of Barre and Burlington. With the loss of Vermont, the PBL eliminated the East and West divisions in the standings and the remaining seven teams were aligned into a single table.

International Basketball League: The IBL has listed the team alignment for its traditional spring-summer season. A five-team International Division will feature the Albany Legends, Edmonton Energy, Gary Splash, Kankakee Soldiers, and Oregon Waves. The six-team Continental Division includes the Bellingham Slam, Los Angeles Lightning, Olympia Reign, USA All-Stars, Vancouver (WA) Volcanoes, and West Coast Hotshots. The IBL will also have at least five partial-schedule "branding teams" in 2011.

Circuito Peninsular de Basquetbol (CIPEBA): The Mexican minor basketball league known as CIPEBA is finishing up its 2010-11 regular season on January 30. The league featured eight teams called the Club Cahuameros de Isla Mujeres, Delfines de Chetumal, Laguneros de Ciudad del Carmen, Olmecas de Tabasco, Petroleros de Ciudad Pemex, Tiburones Blancos de Ciudad del Carmen, Tucanes UMMA, and

Universidad Modelo.

FOOTBALL

Southern Indoor Football League: The owner of the Fort Myers-based Florida Stingrays is trying to join the SIFL for the 2012 season. The Florida Stingrays played in the 2008 season of the American Indoor Football Association. The Stingrays originally planned to be part of the Regional Indoor Football League for 2011, but the RIFL owner faced some legal issues and the league fell apart. The SIFL is reportedly considering four Florida markets for future expansion.

Professional Indoor Football League: The proposed PIFL has decided not to start play as planned for the 2011 season, but will wait until 2012. The head of the league faced some health issues and not all of the 18 teams reported to be in the planning stages for 2011 wanted to move forward.

Indoor Championship Football League: The proposed ICFL has pushed back the start of its inaugural season from April 2011 to December 2011. Many of the teams interested in the league were not ready for an April 2011 start. The ICFL is a developmental indoor football league for semi-pro players who want to advance to leagues at a higher level of play. The league will play 8-on-8 football with all games held at the Freestate Sports Arena in White Marsh (MD).

Independent Indoor Football Alliance: An independent indoor semi-pro team called the Dallas Americans plans to play a 2011 schedule mainly against teams from the IIFA. The IIFA's Conroe Jaguars, North Texas Broncos, North Texas Crunch, Southlake Pirates, Texas Krush, and Texas Pirates will each play one game against the Americans.

HOCKEY

Northern Professional Hockey League: Earlier this month the proposed new NPHL announced plans to play a 50-game season starting in 2011-12. No teams or locations have yet to be announced.

National Hockey League: Private investors appear willing to step forward to assist in some funding for a new Quebec City arena that could eventually become home to an NHL franchise. The Quebec Nordiques were members of the NHL from 1979 to 1995 and moved to Denver as the Colorado Avalanche.

SOCCER

United Soccer Leagues W-League: The USL W-League plans to add four new teams for the 2011 season. These include the Victoria (British Columbia) Highlanders, Fredericksburg (VA) Impact, Dayton (OH) Dutch Lions, and Los Angeles Strikers. Some of the non-returning team for 2011 are the Tampa Bay Hellenic, Hudson Valley Quickstrike Lady Blues, Washington Freedom Futures, Cleveland International Women, Chicago Red Eleven, Buffalo Flash, and Kalamazoo Outrage.

United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League: The USL PDL has added new teams called the River City Rovers (Louisville), Fredericksburg (VA) Hotspur, FC Jax Destroyers (Jacksonville), North Sound SeaWolves FC (Everett, WA), WSA Winnipeg, and Akron Metro FC for its upcoming 2011 season. The Real Maryland FC Monarchs also join the PDL from last season's USL Second Division.

North American Soccer League: The NASL has resubmitted its application for Division II status to the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) and has announced its 2011 regular season schedule for its eight teams-the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks (Cary, NC), FC Edmonton, FC Tampa Bay, Miami FC Blues, Montreal Impact, NSC Minnesota Stars, and Puerto Rico Islanders. Miami is expected to be renamed the Strikers prior to the 2011 season and the Carolina RailHawks could also be renamed as part of an ownership change.

Major League Soccer: The MLS announced its upcoming 2011 season schedule and league alignment. With the addition of the new Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers to the Western Conference, the league has moved the Houston Dynamo to the Eastern Conference to give each conference nine teams. The only other change was the Kansas City Wizards being renamed Sporting Kansas City for the 2011 season.

United Soccer Leagues I-League: The USL's new indoor league called the I-League plans to start play in the fall of 2011 and has announced a third new team called the Norfolk SharkX will be part of the inaugural season. The league previously announced the Rochester Lancers and a Syracuse-based team as first-season members.

Major Indoor Soccer League: The proposed outdoor soccer team called the Phoenix Monsoon plans to play some exhibition matches this summer and join the outdoor National Premier Soccer League for 2012. The Monsoon also hopes to play professional indoor soccer as part of the MISL for the 2011-12 season. A group in Wichita (KS) is hoping to revive an indoor soccer team as part of the 2011-12 MISL. The city had a longtime indoor soccer team called the Wichita Wings that folded in 2001.

OTHER

Major League Lacrosse: The outdoor MLL has announced its 2011 season schedule for this summer and lists the former Toronto Nationals team as the Hamilton (Ontario) Nationals. The official announcement on the move of the Nationals to Hamilton (Ontario) is expected next month. The Rochester (NY) Rattlers return to the MLL for the 2011 summertime field lacrosse season, as Rattlers' ownership purchased the Chicago Machine franchise from the league. A team called the Rochester Rattlers was a charter member of the MLL in 2001, but suspended operations after the 2008 season and most of the players became part of the expansion Toronto Nationals team in 2009. The Chicago Machine had been part of the MLL for five seasons (2006-10), but did not have a home venue in 2010. The Machine was a travel team and played all home games at different non-MLL locations.

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 31, 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.