Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
June 6, 2011 - North American Lacrosse League (NALL)

BASEBALL

Pecos League: The Pecos League's list of possible 2012 expansion teams now includes the Silver City (NM) Spurs and the Clovis (NM) Pioneers, which tried to start up for the league's inaugural 2011 season.

West Coast League: If the Yakima Bears of the short-season Single-A Northwest League relocate to a proposed new ballpark in Vancouver (WA), the summer-collegiate WCL has expressed interest in placing a team in Yakima.

BASKETBALL

International Basketball League: The Beaverton-based Oregon Waves have been renamed the Portland Chinooks in the current IBL spring-summer season. A team called the Portland Chinooks played the first four seasons (2005-08) in the IBL, but a new owner took over the Portland market in 2009 and the team became the Oregon Waves. The former owner agreed to lease the Portland Chinooks name to the current Oregon Waves owners.

Atlantic Coast Professional Basketball League: The ACPBL has announced the addition of the North Jersey Pros for its second season in 2011-12. The Passaic-based North Jersey Pros played the 2010-11 season as part of the Eastern Basketball Alliance.

Iowa Basketball Exposure League: The IBEL has returned for its second season in 2011 and will play a week-long schedule from June 4 to June 11. The IBEL features three teams-the Central Iowa Hybrids, Des Moines Hydrogen, and Iowa Wind Turbines-each playing a four-game schedule at one location in the Des Moines area. Exposure Hoops USA, which operates the IBEL, is also starting a similar Boston Basketball Exposure League that will play in July 2011.

American Basketball Association: The ABA has announced it will place an expansion team in Myrtle Beach (SC) for the 2011-12 season.

Women's National Basketball Association: The WNBA has started its 15th season with the same 12-team alignment as last season. The Eastern Conference has the Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Indiana Fever, New York Liberty, and Washington Mystics. The Western Conference includes the Los Angeles Sparks, Minnesota Lynx, Phoenix Mercury, San Antonio Silver Stars, Seattle Storm, and Tulsa Shock.

Women's United States Basketball Association: The proposed WUSBA, which failed to start last season and planned to try again with a summer season starting in June 2011, has announced it will switch to a fall season that will run from August 30 to November 1, 2011. Instead of its originally announced 20 teams, the league will have 14 teams split into 4 divisions. The league had issues with some of the venues it planned to use this summer.

FOOTBALL

Southern Indoor Football League: Players from the semi-pro team called the DMV Hitmen, which is based in the Washington (DC) area and has been associated with the new Indoor Championship Football League, have been filling in as the Fayetteville Force franchise in the SIFL. The Force released its players due to financial problems and a sale of the Fayetteville franchise is trying to be worked out.

Indoor Football League: The owner of the Yakima Valley (WA) Warriors is reportedly in discussions about joining the IFL for the 2012 season. The Warriors were an expansion team in the 2010 season of the American Indoor Football Association. The owner had been trying to form a new league called the AIFA-West for the 2011 season, but when this did not materialize the Warriors suspended operations. The league's Oklahoma City Bricktown Brawlers released its players and the North Texas Crunch of the Independent Indoor Football Alliance will act as a replacement to complete the Brawlers' 2011 schedule.

Independent Indoor Football Alliance: The six-team IIFA now has the Edmond-based Oklahoma Energy listed as a 2012 expansion team. Other 2012 expansions teams include the Conroe (TX) Jaguars and the San Antonio Warriors, a team that had been listed as the San Antonio Lobos. A team called the Waco Twisters, which reportedly joined the IIFA when the Dallas Americans dropped out early in the 2011 season, is now listed as a non-league team.

HOCKEY

ECHL: The Loveland-based Colorado Eagles team has left the Central Hockey League and will switch to the ECHL for the 2011-12 season. The Eagles entered the CHL as a 2003-04 expansion team. The ECHL plans to increase from 19 to 20 teams for next season. The league lost the Victoria Salmon Kings, whose ownership will replace the ECHL team with a Victoria-based team in the major-junior Western Hockey League, but the league will add Colorado and the new Chicago Express expansion team for 2011-12.

National Hockey League: The NHL's Atlanta Thrashers franchise is in the process of being sold and it will move to Winnipeg (Manitoba) for the 2011-12 season, subject to final approval by the league. The Thrashers joined the NHL as a 1999-2000 expansion team. This is the second NHL franchise to leave Atlanta, as the Atlanta Flames moved to Calgary (Alberta) after eight seasons (1972-80) in the league. Winnipeg was previously home to the NHL's Winnipeg Jets team from 1979 to 1996, but it moved to Phoenix to become the Coyotes. The new Winnipeg team is not expected to use the Thrashers nickname, but it could resurrect the Jets nickname. The new Winnipeg team is also expected to take Atlanta's spot in the Eastern Conference Southeast Division for the 2011-12 season. Possible realignment the following season could see Winnipeg move to the Western Conference and the Detroit Red Wings to the Eastern Conference.

Federal Hockey League: The FHL has added another new team called the Niagara Falls (Ontario) Nationals for its second season in 2011-12. A new team previously announced for Danville (IL) will reportedly be called the Danville Dashers. The Cape Cod Barons team, which was the former Broome County (NY) Barons team that moved to Hyannis (MA) during the 2010-11 season, has been renamed the Cape Cod Bluefins for the 2011-12 season. The FHL previously expressed interest in the Lewiston (ME) market, which recently saw the shutdown of the Lewiston Maineiacs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League: The QMJHL has purchased the Lewiston (ME) Maineiacs and dissolved the franchise. The league will operate with 17 teams in 2011-12, but will return to 18 teams for the 2012-13 season by adding an expansion franchise in Sherbrooke (Quebec). Ironically, a QMJHL team called the Sherbrooke Castors moved to Lewiston to become the Maineiacs for the 2003-04 season.

America West Hockey League: After the Billings (MT) Bulls, Bozeman (MT) IceDogs, Helena (MT) Bighorns, and Missoula (MT) Maulers were suspended from the Tier III Junior-A Northern Pacific Hockey League (NorPac), the four teams plan to announce the creation of a new Junior-A league called the America West Hockey League for the 2011-12 season. The four former NorPac teams will be joined by the Great Falls (MT) Americans, which was announced last July as a 2011-12 NorPac expansion team, and a yet-to-be-named sixth team.

SOCCER

Women's League Soccer: The new WLS, which was originally called Women's Major League Soccer, has started its inaugural 2011 season. The six team Elite Division includes the Chicago Breeze, Cincy Saints, Cleveland 23, FC Indiana, Fort Wayne SC, and Indiana Invaders FC. The WLS also has a Division 2 with teams called Evansville, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Michigan City, and Westfield.

Southern Premier Soccer League: After completing its inaugural fall-winter 2010-11 winter season, the SPSL is currently playing its inaugural 2011 Summer Cup season that runs until late August. Three of the six summer teams-the Regals FC, Corpus Christi Fuel, and Club America Academy-were part of the league's inaugural 2010-11 winter season. Three other new teams called the Rio Grande Valley Ocelots (Brownsville, TX), Houston Hurricane, and Fort Worth Innertunnel are also part of the Summer Cup. After the Summer Cup schedule, the SPSL plans to concentrate on operating as a fall-winter league with teams playing a 40-game season in 2011-12.

OTHER

Canadian Lacrosse League: The all-Canadian professional indoor lacrosse league known as CLAX lists four initial franchise locations-Montreal and the Ontario cities of Oshawa, Peterborough, and Ohsweken. Several other Ontario cities are under consideration and groups in British Columbia have expressed interest. The CLAX plans to start play in November 2011 and plans to use arenas with a seating capacity of 3,000 or more.

North American Lacrosse League: The NALL has announced that Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (PA) area will be the location for one of the league's first teams. The Pennsylvania cities of Hershey and Reading were also rumored to be in line for NALL teams. The indoor NALL plans to start play in January 2012.

Major League Lacrosse: The outdoor MLL's proposed 2012 expansion team based in Charlotte (NC) has narrowed the list of six possible team nicknames to three-Hounds, Legion, and Monarchs. The team name will be revealed on June 21.

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.

North American Lacrosse League Stories from June 6, 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.