Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
March 25, 2013 - Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)
BASEBALL
Atlantic Baseball League: The sale of vacant Skyland Park in Sussex County (NJ) was finalized this past week and a few leagues including the ABL appear to be interested in placing a team there. The ABL had been considering the ballpark for a team in a proposed feeder league called the ALPB2, but there could be interest from the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League and the proposed new Northern League.
American Association: Two American Association teams will play a pre-season exhibition game in Joplin (MO) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the city's baseball stadium. The league has expressed interest in adding a team in Joplin, but either a new stadium would need to be built or the current stadium would need to be renovated.
Major League Baseball: A group has been formed that plans to initiate a feasibility study this year for the possible return of MLB to Montreal (Quebec). The Montreal Expos team joined MLB as a 1969 expansion team and relocated to Washington (DC) for the 2005 season. The Expos played 22 of its 81 home games in Puerto Rico in both the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
Arizona Fall League: Major League Baseball's AzFL has announced the relocation of its Phoenix Desert Dogs team from the Phoenix Municipal Stadium to the Camelback Ranch facility in Glendale (AZ) starting with the 2013 fall season.
BASKETBALL
International Basketball League: The International Basketball League has announced the teams and schedule for its upcoming spring-summer season that will run from early April to early July 2013. It looks as though the league will have only five full-schedule teams each playing 19 games. These teams include the Bellingham (WA) Slam, Portland (OR) Chinooks, Salem (OR) Sabres, Vancouver (WA) Volcanoes and the Japan Nippon Tornadoes travel team. The Salem Sabres, which played its initial fall-winter season in the 2012-13 American Basketball Association, will play year-round in both the fall-winter ABA and spring-summer IBL. The Sabres take the place of the IBL's Salem Soldiers team that played a full-schedule in 2012. The Edmonton Energy and Orlando Venom were full-schedule IBL teams in 2012, but did not return. The IBL will also have five partial-schedule teams or "branding teams" in 2013. These will include the Olympia (WA) Reign, a 2012 IBL full-schedule team; the Kitsap Admirals (Bremerton, WA), a team that was part of the 2012-13 ABA and will also play year-round; the East Bay Pit Bulls (San Francisco area), another team that was part of the 2012-13 ABA; the Lone Star Strikers (Houston area), a 2012-13 member of the fall-winter Universal Basketball Association; and a yet-to-be-named Seattle team. Of the four IBL "branding teams" from 2012, the Oregon Waves, West Coast Hotshots and Yamhill Highflyers did not return, while the Jersey G-Force switched to the spring season of the newly merged International Basketball Association-Premier Basketball League (IBA-PBL).
FOOTBALL
Developmental Indoor Football League: Although the Cheyenne (WY) Warriors will not be playing in the 2013 Indoor Football League as planned due to the recent death of its owner, an indoor team by the same name will be part of the new semi-pro DIFL that is trying to start up later this month. The league plans to have six to eight teams and recently announced the Northern Colorado Wolfpack (Greeley) and the Rocky Mountain Thunder (Denver) will be part of the 2013 season.
American Professional Football League: The North Texas Crunch (Fort Worth) of the semi-pro indoor APFL announced its 2013 schedule that will feature teams called the River City Mudcats (Waco), DFW Texans (Dallas), Bell County (TX) Koyotes, and South West Missouri VooDoo (Springfield).
Continental Indoor Football League: In addition to proposed new teams for 2014 called the Roc City Thunder (Rochester) and Flint (MI) Fury, the CIFL stated a potential owner in Fort Wayne (IN) has paid league dues to play in 2014 and the league has had discussions with a group wanting to place a team in Kalamazoo/Grand Rapids for the 2014 season. The league reports other current indoor teams have inquired about joining the CIFL in 2014.
Arena Football League: The newer version of the AFL, which started play in 2010, has started its 2013 season with 14 teams. The league had 17 teams in 2012, but lost the Kansas City Command, Milwaukee Mustangs and Georgia Force (Atlanta) in the off-season. For 2013, a seven-team National Conference has the Chicago Rush, Iowa Barnstormers and San Antonio Rush in the Central Division, along with the Arizona Rattlers, San Jose SabreCats, Spokane Shock and Utah Blaze in the West Division. A seven-team American Conference includes the Cleveland Gladiators, Philadelphia Soul and Pittsburgh Power in the East Division, along with the Jacksonville Sharks, New Orleans VooDoo, Orlando Predators and Tampa Bay Storm in the South Division.
Women's Indoor Football League: The proposed new WIFL being developed by Blanchette Sports Holdings plans to start play in March 2014 and has announced its first teams will be in a Florida Division consisting of Sarasota, Tampa, Lakeland, Orlando and Miami. The WIFL is seeking ownership for teams in this division and plans to announce other divisions and teams in the near future.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The owner of the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues was reported to be considering a sale of its Peoria Rivermen AHL affiliate. One possible scenario had the Vancouver Canucks purchasing the Peoria franchise and moving it to Abbotsford (British Columbia) where the league's current Abbotsford Heat franchise, an affiliate of the Calgary Flames, moves to another location. The Blues would then enter an affiliation with the Chicago Wolves, whose affiliation with Vancouver runs through the 2012-13 season.
Eastern Junior Hockey League: With four teams from the Tier III EJHL trying to form a new league for the 2013-14 season, the remaining EJHL teams, along with teams from some other Tier III leagues, could enter into an affiliation with the Tier II North American Hockey League for the 2013-14 season.
Central Hockey League: A decision is expected soon as to whether the CHL will have a team in Casper (WY) next season or possibly in 2014-15. Although there have been questions about the ownership status of the Bloomington Blaze, the league expects the team to return for the 2013-14 season.
SOCCER
Canadian Soccer League: With the announcement that Toronto FC of Major League Soccer decided to pull its two developmental academy teams out of the CSL for 2013, the CSL added a new SC Burlington team for its upcoming 2013 season. It is still uncertain as to how many teams will participate in the CSL. Last month the Canadian Soccer Association de-sanctioned the CSL as a member league and announced plans to sponsor a national semi-pro soccer league structure based on geographic regions. The CSL is trying to get this decision overturned.
United Soccer League - Major Indoor Soccer League: The owner of the MISL's Wichita Wings, which just completed its second season in the league, has put the franchise up for sale.
United Soccer League - PRO League: The USL PRO league has started its 2013 schedule and has 13 teams aligned into a single table. The league had 11 teams last season, but has added two new teams called the VSI Tampa Bay FC and the Phoenix FC Wolves. There has been some recent concern about the league's Antigua Barracuda club, which has yet to file a roster with the league for the 2013 season.
OTHER
National Lacrosse League: The 2014 expansion deadline for the nine-team indoor NLL has passed, so the league will have to wait until 2015 or 2016 to add any new teams. The NLL has expressed an interest in adding more cities. Prior to the 2013 season, the NLL held pre-season exhibition games in Montreal and the Vancouver area, two markets that were previously home to NLL franchises.
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.
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Continental Indoor Football League Stories from March 25, 2013
- 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.
