Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on May 2, 2011 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
BASEBALL
Atlantic Baseball League: The independent ABL has started its 2011 season and had two changes from last season. The Newark Bears left to join the Can-Am League for 2011, so the league is using a travel team called the Road Warriors to keep the number of teams at eight. The Road Warriors were last used by the league in the 2006 and 2007 seasons. The league plans to add the Loudon (VA) Hounds and the Sugar Land (TX) Skeeters in 2012. The ABL also hopes to add three additional Texas-based teams in the future to create a four-team Southwest Division. The Road Warriors took Newark's spot in the Freedom Division, which also includes the Lancaster (PA) Barnstormers, Somerset (NJ) Patriots, and York (PA) Revolution. The Liberty Division has the Bridgeport (CT) Bluefish, Camden (NJ) Riversharks, Long Island Ducks, and Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.
BASKETBALL
International Basketball League: The IBL announced plans to add another East Coast team to go with its current Albany (NY) Legends team. The new team will be based in the Hoboken/Jersey City (NJ) area and might be called the New Jersey Titans.
Continental Basketball Association: A new version of the CBA, which played its last season in 2008-09, states that a team called the Syracuse Snow Leopards is its founding team and that it is seeking regional teams in the northeastern United States and Canada. The league plans to start play in January 2012 and will use international (FIBA) rules.
Premier Basketball League: The three former Canadian PBL teams-the Saint John (New Brunswick) Mill Rats, Quebec Kebs, and Halifax (Nova Scotia) Rainmen-announced their departure from the league last week and are working toward forming a new Canadian basketball league for next season. In addition to Moncton (New Brunswick), the teams have met with a group in London (Ontario). Other Ontario cities like Mississauga and Oshawa could be considered, along with other locations like Sydney (Nova Scotia) and Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island) in the Maritimes region of Canada.
Women's United States Basketball Association: The new WUSBA still plans to start its inaugural season in June 2011 and states it will have 20 teams in the southeastern United States that will be split into 4 five-team divisions called the Southern, Piedmont, Atlantic, and Appalachian. The WUSBA failed in an attempt to start play in June 2010.
National Basketball Association: The owners of the NBA's Sacramento Kings have a May 2 deadline to file a possible relocation request with the league. The Kings proposed a move to Anaheim, but the city of Sacramento is still trying to come up with a new arena plan to keep the team.
American Basketball Association: The ABA has announced it will add a new Hartford-based team called the Connecticut Topballerz and another new team based in Rochester (NY) for the 2011-12 season. The ABA had a previous team called the Rochester RazorSharks for two seasons (2005-07), but it left for the Premier Basketball League. The league's previously announced team for the Greenville/Washington (NC) area is now listed as the East Carolina Trojans. The ABA plans to host a Canadian Basketball Festival in July 2011 and plans to introduce four Ontario-based teams in Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, and Oshawa as part of its ABA-Canada expansion initiative. The ABA has had prior Canadian teams like the Montreal Matrix/Royal, Quebec Kebekwa (Kebs), and Calgary Drillers and previously tried to get teams established in Vancouver, Edmonton (Cheetahs), and Ontario (Red Wolves).
FOOTBALL
Ultimate Indoor Football League: The UIFL has announced its second expansion team for 2012 will be the Florida Tarpons based in Estero, near Fort Myers. The Tarpons and the previously announced Rome (GA) River Dogs will be part of a proposed South Division in 2012.
Continental Indoor Football League: The CIFL has cancelled the remaining three games on the schedule of the Port Huron (MI) Predators after the owner left the team. Port Huron was an expansion team for the 2011 season. The CIFL had lost a previous Port Huron franchise called the Port Huron Pirates that had played two seasons (2006-07).
Lingerie Football League: The new LFL Toronto-based franchise for the upcoming 2011-12 season will be called the Toronto Triumph. After the 2011-12 season, the Triumph will then become one of the teams in the LFL's Canadian league that plans to start with six teams in 2012. Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg are under consideration as the other Canadian markets.
Southern Indoor Football League: The SIFL had problems with its Mobile Bay Tarpons and Fayetteville (NC) Force franchises this past week. Mobile Bay cancelled its game last weekend and the franchise folded after the owner left the team. Players on the Fayetteville Force had not been paid and there was a chance the team's season was over. The Fayetteville owner, who also owns the league's Trenton Steel franchise and is trying to find local ownership for the Force, eventually addressed issues with the player payments.
Indoor Championship Football League: The new ICFL announced that a team called the Delshore Riptide will be part of the league's inaugural season in December 2011. The league will play through March with teams based in the Mid-Atlantic area. Some other teams associated with the ICFL include the Delmarva Bayriders, Baltimore Bombers, Metro Nemesis, and Virginia Spartans.
HOCKEY
Central Hockey League: The status of some of the CHL teams for the 2011-12 season is uncertain. The Bossier-Shreveport (LA) Mudbugs and Allen (TX) Americans, along with some other southern-based CHL teams, could be moving to the Southern Professional Hockey League. The ownership of the Bloomington (IL) Prairie Thunder was having tax lien issues, the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees were having ownership issues, and the Colorado Eagles have been rumored to be moving to the ECHL.
Southern Atlantic Hockey League: The new junior-level SAHL was created from teams that were part of two Tier III Junior-B leagues in 2010-11, the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League and the Southeast Junior Hockey League. The SAHL applied for status as a Tier III Junior-A league for 2011-12. The Tier III Junior-A Eastern Junior Hockey League recently announced an affiliation with the SAHL and the seven-team SAHL will operate under the "EJHL South" banner in 2011-12.
Western Hockey League: The major-junior WHL recently announced a sale and relocation of the Chilliwack (British Columbia) Bruins to Victoria (British Columbia) for the 2011-12 season. Some of the team nicknames offered by the new owners include the Capitals, Dragons, Force, Royals, Tide, and Thunder. The Victoria WHL team will play in the same arena that has been used by the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL since the 2004-05 season. Although the ECHL team is not expected to return in 2011-12, the new WHL team will still have to share the market with the Victoria Grizzlies, which is a member of the Junior-A British Columbia Hockey League.
Great Lakes Junior Hockey League: The Tier III Junior-A GLJHL has announced a new team called the Kalkaska (MI) Roughnecks has activated its membership for the 2011-12 season.
SOCCER
North American Soccer League: The NASL's new San Antonio Scorpions team, which plans to start play in 2012, has found a home field for next season and plans to build a new stadium by the 2013 season.
United Soccer Leagues PRO: The Sevilla soccer club of Spain's La Liga has severed ties with the Sevilla FC Puerto Rico team in the USL PRO league and the USL PRO team may be forced to cease using the "Sevilla" name. Two months prior to the league's inaugural season, the Sevilla FC Puerto Rico team needed an emergency financing plan due to a serious medical crisis involving the team's owner. In addition to Sevilla FC, the 2011 USL PRO league has two other Puerto Rican teams called the River Plate Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico United. All three Puerto Rican teams in the USL PRO league participate simultaneously in the season of the first division Puerto Rican Soccer League.
Canadian Soccer League: A team called the KW United FC, which represents Kitchener-Waterloo (Ontario), will be part of the CSL's Second Division in 2011 and will prepare to apply for entry in the league's First Division in the future. The new Ottawa-based First Division team in the 2011 season will be called the Capital City FC.
United Soccer Leagues W-League: The Jacksonville-based FC JAX Soccer organization, which started the FC JAX Destroyers men's team in the 2011 USL Premier Development League, plans to start a women's team as part of the 2012 USL W-League.
Women's Premier Soccer League: The Chicago Red Stars organization, which elected to take a hiatus from Women's Professional Soccer in 2011, has announced that a team called the Chicago Red Stars will be part of the WPSL for its 2011 season. The men's FC Dallas team in Major League Soccer will fund a women's team called FC Dallas in the 2011 WPSL.
Women's League Soccer: The WLS, originally called Women's Major League Soccer, plans to start its inaugural elite-level season in 2011 with six teams. The team previously listed as the South Bend (IN) WFC is now listed as the Indiana Invaders FC.
OTHER
American National Rugby League: After losing 7 of its 11 teams from the 2010 season to the new USA Rugby League for the 2011 season, the AMNRL is moving forward with a 2011 season that will feature six teams. Returning from last season are the Aston Bulls, Connecticut Wildcats, New York Knights, and Northern Raiders. The Bucks County Sharks return to the AMNRL for 2011 after sitting out the 2010 season and the league has added a new team called the Delaware Vipers. Another new team called the Chicago Stockyarders will be involved in some AMNRL events in 2011, but will not be playing a full league schedule. As part of its "Hawaii Expansion" program, the AMNRL has partnered with the Hawaii Rugby League and plans to launch an AMNRL Hawaii Conference with a six-team competition on the islands of Maui and Oahu in 2011. Participating teams include Maui, Kona, University of Hawaii, Islanders, Spears, and Harlequins.
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 2010-11 edition is available at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/leagues-teams-nicknames-the-leagueology-almanac-2010-11/15228513. Dan can be contacted at dankrieger@leaguesteamsnicknames.com.
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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.
