Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on July 4, 2011 under National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada)

BASEBALL

California Winter League: After its second successful season in 2011, the CWL plans to expand from four to eight teams for its 2012 season that will again be held at Palm Springs (CA) Stadium. New teams called the Alberta Huskies, British Columbia Bombers, Oregon Lumberjacks, and Tokyo Dragons will join the returning teams called the Canada A's, Coachella Valley Snowbirds, Palm Desert Coyotes, and Palm Springs Chill.

Southern League: The Livingston Parish in the Baton Rouge (LA) area is still trying to find a revenue source to build a proposed ballpark for a Double-A Southern League team. The parish has a tentative deal with an ownership group that would purchase and relocate a Southern League team and lease the new ballpark starting in the 2013 season. The prospect of raising property taxes for ballpark funding was recently eliminated as an option.

Pecos League: The Pecos League had previously awarded a 2012 franchise to a team called the Abilene (TX) Blue Sox, but that has apparently fallen through after a deal to use the field at McMurry University could not be reached. The league had hoped to play some neutral site games in Abilene during the 2011 season. The league currently lists an unnamed Abilene franchise as part of a proposed 2012 Texas Division.

Frontier League: The mayor of Champaign (IL) plans to explore options for building a new ballpark that could eventually become home to a team in the Frontier League, which has the Normal (IL) Cornbelters about 50 miles to the northwest. Back in 2007, plans never moved forward on a possible Frontier League team that would have played at the renovated Illinois Field on the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign. A team called the Champaign-Urbana Bandits was based at Illinois Field, but the league and team lasted only the 1994 season. The latest proposal would be a separate off-campus ballpark since alcohol sales are not allowed on university properties.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball League of Canada: The new NBL-Canada is still trying to finalize its franchise locations for its inaugural 2011-12 season. Of the eight proposed first-season locations, the city of Barrie (Ontario) recently dropped out for the 2011-12 season. The group involved with a proposed Kingston (Ontario) franchise recently announced that it will now try to place a team in Moncton (New Brunswick) instead of Kingston for 2011-12. Kingston could still be considered for a 2012-13 team. The league plans to make a final announcement of its 2011-12 teams by mid-July.

National Basketball Association Development League: The Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association have purchased the Dakota Wizards (Bismarck, ND) of the NBA D-League and will fully control the team's basketball operations. Three other NBA teams both own and operate their NBA D-League affiliates, while four other NBA teams have one-to-one affiliations with four other NBA D-League teams. There was some speculation the Warriors' affiliate would be moved to San Jose (CA) in the future.

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced the addition the Staten Island (NY) Vipers as a 2011-12 expansion team. Two previously announced 2011-12 expansion franchises now have names. The northeast Arkansas (Jonesboro) team is now listed as the NEA Swag and the Myrtle Beach (SC) team is listed as the South Carolina Warriors.

Women's Blue Chip Basketball League: The new Pacific Northwest Division of the semi-pro WBCBL recently started play for the 2011 season and includes five teams-the Lakewood (WA) Panthers, Northwest Magic (Portland), Olympia (WA) Matrix, Seattle Express, and Tacoma Stars.

Women's Universal Basketball Association: The men's Universal Basketball Association plans to operate a five-team semi-pro women's league called the WUBA starting in December 2011. The five teams include the Atlanta Lady Assault, GIE Lady Disciples, Metro Atlanta Sparks, Southern Lady Generals, and Tennessee Lady Dragons. Except for the Metro Atlanta Sparks, four of the five teams had corresponding men's team in the 2010-11 UBA.

FOOTBALL

Stars Football League: The new professional outdoor SFL has started its inaugural 2011 summer season and apparently will have only four participating teams called the Daytona Beach Racers, Fort Lauderdale Barracudas, Michigan Coyotes (Detroit), and New Orleans Jazz. The league lists four other teams called the Las Vegas Gamblers, Charleston (SC) Admirals, Mobile Gladiators, and Little Rock Ironmen that could be added in the future, along with a possible Los Angeles team.

Stadius Football Association: The proposed new SFA has been announced as a new indoor football league that plans to start play in 2012 with 10 to 16 teams based in the Midwest. The SFA reports it has received interest from some Continental Indoor Football League teams like the Cincinnati Commandos, Marion Blue Racers, Dayton Silverbacks, and Fort Wayne FireHawks, which sat out the 2011 CIFL season. The SFA claims the Northern Kentucky River Monsters, which left the Ultimate Indoor Football League after its 2011 season, have also expressed interest in the SFA. Other markets being targeted by the league include Erie (PA), Huntington (WV), Chicago, Rockford (IL), Peoria (IL), Bloomington (IL), Corbin (KY), Louisville (KY), Kalamazoo (MI), Lansing (MI), Toledo (OH), and Canton (OH).

Southern Indoor Football League: A team called the Tennessee Gamblers, based in the city of Knoxville, plans to seek entry into the SIFL for the 2012 season.

United Women's Football League: The new UWFL proposes to be a women's indoor football that will start play in 2012. One report has the league being operated by the outdoor Women's Football Alliance. An outdoor league also called the UWFL played a shortened season back in 2002.

Southern Outdoor Arena Rules Football League: The new semi-pro SOARFL consists of eight-man teams playing outdoor football on a 50-yard field with indoor football rules. Some SOARFL teams called the Alabama Hawks, Auburn Minutemen, Chattahoochee Valley Vipers, and Georgia Tigers have started play over the past two months. Additional teams called the Atlanta Venums, Florida Cheifs (?), and Winston-Salem Red Wolves have joined and could play some exhibition games in 2011. Eventually, the SOARFL plans to field teams in three divisions called the Southern, Eastern, and Western.

HOCKEY

National Hockey League: The prospective buyer of the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes has decided not to move forward with a purchase of the franchise. The NHL has owned the franchise since purchasing the Coyotes out of bankruptcy in 2009. Another potential buyer, which wanted to move the Coyotes to Winnipeg, eventually purchased and relocated the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg for 2011-12. The NHL plans to keep Winnipeg in the Southeast Division for 2011-12, but is considering realignment plans for 2012-13.

North American Hockey League: The owner of the Michigan Warriors in the Tier II Junior-A NAHL will rename the team the Flint Warriors, if 1,500 season tickets are sold for the upcoming season and fans agree. The Warriors relocated to Flint for the 2010-11 NAHL season.

American Hockey League: The AHL's San Antonio Rampage will be affiliated with the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League in 2011-12, while the AHL's Chicago Wolves will be affiliated with the NHL's Vancouver Canucks. The new AHL team in St. John's Newfoundland, which will be an affiliate of the NHL's new Winnipeg Jets franchise, is considering possible team names. Some potential nicknames include the Capitals or Caps, Jets, or Drillers.

Minnesota Junior Hockey League: The Tier III Junior-A MnJHL plans to add a team in Owatonna (MN) for the 2012-13 season. A team called the Owatonna Express of the Tier II Junior-A North American Hockey League recently left town to become the Odessa (TX) Jackalopes for 2011-12. The new MnJHL team could take Owatonna or Steel County in its name.

Major League Roller Hockey: The MLRH plans to add a European Division for its upcoming 2011-12 season. The Leicester Dragons in England will be the league's representative for teams in the United Kingdom and Europe. The champion of the European Division will be part of the MLRH playoffs in March 2012.

SOCCER

Southern Premier Soccer League: A new Montgomery County (TX) team based in the Shenandoah area of Houston will be part of the SPSL's second fall-winter season in 2011-12. The yet-to-be-named team will be operated by Sports Culture. The SPSL had six teams participating in its inaugural 2010-11 season and is currently operating a six-team Summer Cup Series. The SPSL plans to concentrate on its fall-winter league with teams playing a 40-game schedule.

Ontario Women's Soccer League: The Provincial Division of the OWSL, which is considered to be one of the top women's soccer leagues in the country, has started its 2011 season with 18 teams split into a 9-team Provincial South and a 9-team Provincial Central. New teams for 2011 are the Guelph Royals and the Scarborough-based GS United.

OTHER

National League Lacrosse: The indoor NLL will hold a 2012 pre-season game in the Vancouver (British Columbia) area between the Toronto Rock and Washington Stealth in December 2011. The league has expressed interest in returning a franchise to Vancouver in the next few years. The NLL had a team called the Vancouver Ravens that lasted three seasons (2002-04) before suspending operations.

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.

National Basketball League of Canada Stories from July 4, 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.