Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on March 18, 2013 under Lone Star Football League (LSFL)
BASEBALL
Northern League: The group trying to revive the independent Northern League is moving forward with plans to have the league start play in May 2014. The league plans to have teams located in the Northeast, Midwest and southern Canada.
American West Baseball League: The new AWBL team to be located in Las Cruces (NM) has announced it will be called the Las Cruces Sun Rays when the league starts its inaugural season this summer. A proposed San Diego area team called the North County Cannons announced it will not be part of the AWBL after it failed to obtain a stadium lease at Cal State-San Marcos. In addition to the Las Cruces Sun Rays, the league has the Fullerton (CA) Flyers and the recently announced Nogales (AZ) Desert Ghosts as members. Other proposed teams in Long Beach, Mesa (AZ) and Yuma (AZ) failed to materialize.
New York-Penn League: The West Virginia state Senate approved a bill that will help finance a new stadium on the campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown (WV) that could become home to a short-season Class-A team in the New York-Penn League. The financing bill still needs approval from the Governor and the state House.
BASKETBALL
National Basketball League of Canada: The NBL-Canada is reportedly about ready to announce a new team based in Brampton (Ontario) for the 2013-14 season. The league also is said to be negotiating to sell its struggling Montreal Jazz team to a group that would move the team to Kitchener (Ontario). The NBL is exploring the possibility of switching from a fall-winter schedule to a summer season to avoid competition with hockey teams in its member cities. The league plans to ask for fan feedback on the issue.
International Basketball League: The Kitsap Admirals basketball team, which is based in Bremerton (WA) and is completing its inaugural 2012-13 season in the American Basketball Association, plans to play a short five-game schedule as a "branding" team in the IBL this spring. The team's owners plan to operate year round as part of the fall-winter ABA and the spring-summer IBL.
American Basketball Association: The ABA has announced new teams called the Lake City Kingdom Riders, based in Lake Charles (LA), and the Columbus-based Georgia Roadrunners have been added as expansion teams for the 2013-14 season. Apparently, these teams are replacing ABA teams called the Louisiana Gators (Lake Charles) and Georgia Bearcats (Columbus) that were listed as start-up teams for the 2012-13 season.
Women's Blue Chip Basketball League: The new Chicago-based Illinois Starlights team plans to be part of the WBCBL for its upcoming 2013 spring-summer season.
FOOTBALL
Continental Indoor Football League: A new CIFL affiliate team called the Flint (MI) Fury plans to join the league next season and is playing some CIFL games this season after the Kane County Dawgs were dropped by the league.
Lone Star Football League: The Texas-based indoor LSFL has started its second season with only five teams in 2013. The league began play in 2012 with six teams, but the Houston Stallions dropped out during the season. After the 2012 season, the league lost the Corpus Christi Hammerheads, Rio Grande Valley Magic (Hidalgo) and West Texas Roughnecks. The league added the New Mexico Stars from the 2012 Indoor Football League and the new San Angelo Bandits team. The three returning teams for 2013 include the Amarillo Venom, Laredo Rattlesnakes and Abilene Bombers, which changed its name from the Abilene Ruff Riders after the 2012 season. A proposed sixth team called the McAllen Toros was announced, but later dropped out for the 2013 season.
American Indoor Football: The AIF, which started play in 2012 with 12 teams, has started its second season with only five eastern teams in 2013. The league's five-team West Coast division from 2012 did not return. Of the seven teams in the 2012 East Coast division, the Cape Fear Heroes (Fayetteville, NC), Harrisburg Stampede and West Virginia Badgers returned. The Badgers were the Virginia Badgers in 2012. The league added two new teams called the Washington Eagles (Landover, MD) and the York (PA) Capitals. A proposed sixth team called the Roc City Thunder (Rochester, NY) dropped out due to the owner's health issues. The Thunder then came under new ownership, which will have the team playing an independent schedule in 2013 and joining the Continental Indoor Football League in 2014.
Canadian Football League: The CFL will host a 2013 regular-season game in Moncton (New Brunswick) as part of its Touchdown Atlantic program, which has been promoting the CFL game in the Maritimes with the goal of a possible CFL expansion team being added in the Atlantic Region in the future. Moncton hosted the two other regular-season Touchdown Atlantic games in 2010 and 2011 and is considered the frontrunner for an Eastern Division expansion team after Ottawa is added in 2014. Halifax (Nova Scotia) and Quebec City (Quebec) are the other two markets said to be under consideration for an eastern expansion team.
HOCKEY
National Hockey League: The NHL has officially announced its new realignment plan that will be implemented for the 2013-14 season. A Western Conference will feature two yet-to-be-named seven-team divisions and an Eastern Conference will feature two yet-to-be-named eight-team divisions.
SOCCER
Major League Soccer: The city of Elk Grove (CA) in suburban Sacramento is considering construction of a soccer stadium that could become home to an MLS expansion franchise. There are three proposals-an 18,000-seat or 15,000-seat stadium for an MLS team and an 8,000-seat stadium for a possible Division II North American Soccer League team. A group in the city of Sacramento was granted a 2014 franchise in the Division III United Soccer Leagues PRO and it has long-range plans to evolve into an MLS team.
Canadian Soccer League: The Toronto FC of Major League Soccer has decided to pull its two developmental academy teams out of the CSL for 2013, but there was no announcement as to where these teams will play. The CSL First Division Toronto FC Academy (U-18) and the Second Division Toronto FC Academy II (U-17) teams have been part of the CSL since the 2008 season. Toronto FC started as an MLS franchise in the 2007 season.
North American Soccer League: The Division II NASL plans to add two teams per year until it grows to 18 teams. By the 2013 Fall Season the league will have eight teams with the addition of the New York Cosmos and plans to add teams in Ottawa, Indianapolis and Loudoun County (VA) in 2014. The league has identified San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, Dallas and Chicago as potential markets.
National Women's Soccer League: The Seattle Reign FC of the new professional NWSL will field a team called the Seattle Reign FC Reserves in the 2013 Women's Premier Soccer League. The reserve team will be independently owned and operated by the Seattle area's Issaquah FC, which played its first season in the 2012 WPSL.
OTHER
North American Lacrosse League: The Baltimore Bombers team in the NALL has announced it is shutting down operations with only two games remaining in its 2013 schedule. The Bombers were a 2013 expansion team in the four-team league.
Dan Krieger is the creator of the "The Leagueology Almanac 2011-12", which tracks the changes in league alignments, franchise movements and team nicknames in today's sports world. The publication is currently available at www.amazon.com.
Lone Star Football League Stories from March 18, 2013
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
- Stars Shine In First Game Of The Season - New Mexico Stars
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.
