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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
February 14, 2011 - United Football League (UFL 1)


BASEBALL

Frontier League: The status of the Frontier League's Kalamazoo Kings franchise is still uncertain and the team's owner has yet to confirm the Kings will play in the upcoming 2011 season. There has been speculation that the Schaumburg Flyers of the North American League could be evicted from its home field later this month and the Schaumburg market will shift to the Frontier League and replace Kalamazoo. Recently, a potential buyer who wants to purchase a franchise in either California or the Midwest has expressed interest in the Kalamazoo Kings.

Southern League: The ownership of the Chattanooga Lookouts in the Double-A Southern League is exploring opportunities to sell the team. In the past few years groups outside the Chattanooga area, such as those in Biloxi (MS), Baton Rouge (LA), and Panama City (FL), have been working on ballpark projects for a possible relocated Southern League team.

Southwestern States League: The SSL has apparently added two more teams in Meridian (ID) and Ontario (OR) as part of a proposed North Division. The league now has a Northern Division with teams called the Wildcats, Buccaneers, and The Buzz, while a Southern Division has the Rhythm, Broncos, and Pioneers.

Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League: After only one season in the ACBL, the Torrington (CT) Titans have announced the team will not be part of the 2011 season. The Titans started play in 2010 after the Peekskill Robins of Westchester County (NY) moved to Torrington.

Futures Collegiate Baseball League: The Nashua (NH) team in the new Futures Collegiate Baseball League will be called the Nashua Silver Knights when the league starts its inaugural season in 2011.

Great Plains Baseball League: After playing its inaugural season in 2010, the summer-collegiate GPBL has been renamed the Midwest Collegiate League. The new name defines the geographic area where the league plans to expand in 2012 and 2013. Most of the 2010 teams were from northern Illinois or the Chicago area.

BASKETBALL

World Basketball Association Exposure League: The list of WBA Exposure League teams for its upcoming 2011 season has three new prospective cities listed-Columbus (GA), Easley (SC), and Fayetteville (TN). The list also has five returning teams from last season that includes the Decatur (GA) Court Kings, Franklin (TN) Knights, Gwinnett (GA) Majic, Jacksonville (FL) Bluewaves, and Marietta (GA) Storm.

American Basketball Association: The ABA has announced it will add a second Chicago-based franchise to its North Central Division next season. The league's current Chicago Steam franchise has been part of the league since the 2008-09 season.

National Basketball Association: Two developers have proposed separate new arena projects in Las Vegas that could involve a possible NBA franchise. One developer has proposed a 40,000-seat events center for the University of Las Vegas basketball team and a possible relocated NBA team. The other has proposed a new football stadium, arena, and ballpark and was targeting an NBA or a National Hockey League franchise for the arena.

Women's Blue Chip Basketball League: The semi-pro WBCBL has announced a new team called the Columbus (GA) Lady Wings will be part of the upcoming 2011 season.

FOOTBALL

United Football League: The UFL has announced it will return for its third season in August 2011 with only five teams-the Hartford Colonials, Las Vegas Locomotives (Locos), Omaha Nighthawks, Sacramento Mountain Lions, and the Virginia Destroyers. The league had planned to operate with six teams in 2011 with the addition of the Virginia Destroyers expansion team, but the Orlando-based Florida Tuskers franchise, which had been part of the league for the past two seasons, was relocated to Norfolk as the Virginia Destroyers. The UFL was unable to secure a suitable sixth market in time for the 2011 season.

HOCKEY

Federal Hockey League: The FHL has adjusted the schedule for the remainder of its inaugural 2010-11 season and reduced the number of games each team will play. The Rome (NY) Frenzy has played its last game of the season, but the league plans to have the team return next season, possibly in another city. The league's remaining northern teams (1000 Islands Privateers and Akwesasne Warriors) will end their seasons on February 20, while the three southern teams (Cape Cod Barons, Danbury Whalers, and New York Aviators) will finish on March 2. The FHL also announced two new teams in northern Vermont and Illinois will be added for the 2011-12 season.

National Hockey League: A deal for funding a new arena in Quebec City appears to have been worked out and it could eventually become home to a relocated NHL franchise. The arena is expected to be completed in 2015. The Quebec Nordiques were members of the NHL from 1979 to 1995 and moved to Denver as the Colorado Avalanche.

SOCCER

North American Soccer League: The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) granted the NASL a one-year provisional sanctioning to operate as a Division II league for the 2011 season. In order to continue as a Division II league beyond 2011, the NASL will have to find new owners for the Atlanta Silverbacks and Carolina RailHawks teams that are currently being financed with the assistance of Traffic Sports USA, which also owns the league's Miami FC Blues team. The league-operated NSC Minnesota Stars will also need new owners by next season and the league will need to make sure it has a replacement for the Montreal Impact team that is moving up to Major League Soccer in 2012. One possible replacement is a new team called the San Antonio Scorpions that has announced plans to join the NASL for the 2012 season.

Women's Premier Soccer League: The WPSL has started to announce some of its teams for the upcoming 2011 season. With the return of the five teams from last season, the Sunshine Conference will add two new teams in Tampa Bay and Jacksonville to increase to seven teams in 2011. The Tampa Bay Hellenic has switched to the WPSL after three seasons (2008-10) in the United Soccer Leagues W-League. A new Spokane-based team will join the WPSL in 2011 and replace the Spokane Black Widows team that lasted only the 2010 season. The South Jersey United has become affiliated with the Chelsea FC of the English Premier League and will be called the Chelsea Metro in 2011. The league's East Conference will feature an eight-team Northeast Division and an eight-team Mid-Atlantic Division. The Northeast Division will feature the Boston Aztecs Breakers Reserves, the semi-pro affiliate of the Boston Breakers in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), along with its Boston Aztecs U-23 collegiate player team. The Mid-Atlantic will have the New York Fury, which is the semi-pro affiliate for the Philadelphia Independence in the WPS, along with its Long Island Fury collegiate player team. The WPSL had 55 participating teams in 2010 and plans to have over 60 teams in 2011.

Professional Arena Soccer League: A new Topeka-based indoor soccer team called the Kansas Magic is exploring the possibility of becoming a franchise in the PASL-Pro league for next season. The Magic is scheduled to play an exhibition game against the league's Illinois Piasa team in Topeka on April 30, 2011.

National Star Soccer League: Some of the Northwest-based soccer clubs that were unhappy with last season's NSSL have met to discuss a new regional semi-pro league with up to nine clubs based in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The league could be called the Pacific Northwest Soccer League. Another California-based regional league is called the American Soccer League and nationally these groups might use the American Professional Soccer League as its name.

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.



United Football League Stories from February 14, 2011


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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