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NBL Canada National Basketball League of Canada

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
April 8, 2013 - National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada)


BASEBALL

Atlantic Baseball League: Construction of a new 5,500-seat ballpark in Loudoun County near Ashburn (VA) was approved for the ABL expansion team called the Loudoun Hounds. The facility is expected to be ready by mid-2014, if there are no delays. The Hounds' owner will also operate the expansion Virginia Cavalry soccer team in the Division II North American Soccer League when the facility opens.

Liga de Norte Mexico: Mexico's LNM is a minor pro baseball league with teams in the states of Baja California and Sonora. The league recently announced the six teams that will play in its 2013 season. These included the Aguiluchos de Mexicali, Algononeros de San Luis, Cerveceros de Tecate , Freseros de San Quintin, Marineros de Ensenada, Tiburones de Puerto Penasco and Toros de Tijuana. LNM teams have affiliations with teams in Mexico's top professional league called the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (Mexican Baseball League).

Liga de Norte de Sonora: Mexico's LNS is a minor pro baseball league with teams in the northern region of the state of Sonora. The league recently announced the same four teams from last season will return in 2013. These include the Rieleros de Empalme, Internacionales de Nogales, Rojos de Caborca and Vaqueros de Agua Prieta. Two teams in Mexico's top Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (Mexican Baseball League), the Saraperos de Saltillo and Rieleros de Aquascalientes, will be affiliated with the Rojos de Caborca and Internacionales de Nogales, respectively, in 2013.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball League of Canada: The NBL-Canada expansion team to be based in Ottawa has announced the team will be called the Ottawa SkyHawks when it starts play in the 2013-14 season. The team originally selected the Ottawa Tomahawks as its name, but made a quick change after backlash from the Native American community. Another NBL-Canada expansion team based in Ontario for the 2013-14 season will be called the Brampton A's.

National Basketball Association: The new ownership group trying to move the NBA's Sacramento Kings to Seattle for the 2013-14 season reported that there have been over 44,000 season ticket requests for a proposed Seattle-based NBA team. The city of Sacramento is making a push to try to keep the Kings with promises of a new arena and different ownership for the team. Both the Seattle-based group and representatives of Sacramento met with the league this past week, but a final decision on the proposed sale and relocation of the Kings is not expected until later this month.

Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacifico (CIBACOPA): The CIBACOPA (Pacific Coast Basketball League), Mexico's second professional basketball league next to the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP), started its 2013 season this past week with nine teams. Teams called the Coras de Tepic and Caballeros de Culiacan did not return, but the league added the Trigueros de Ciudad Obregon for 2013.

American Basketball Association: The owner of the ABA's Oakland County (MI) Cowboys plans to move the team to Grand Prairie (Alberta) with the team keeping the Cowboys nickname. The league has one current Alberta-based team called the Calgary Crush. The owner of the ABA's former Southwest Texas Mavericks team, based in Winnie (TX) just outside Beaumont, is considering a move of the Mavericks to Shreveport-Bossier City (LA) as part of the ABA. The Mavericks last played in the ABA for the 2010-11 season, but continued to operate as an independent team.

International Basketball League: The IBL has now listed the name of its new 2013 Seattle-based team as the Seattle Flight. The Flight is one of five, short-schedule "branding teams" for the 2013 season.

Central Basketball League: The new Midwest-based CBL has officially announced its inaugural season will start on April 13 with five teams called the Bowling Green Hornets, Dayton Air Strikers, Middle Tennessee Storm (Nashville area), River City Panthers (Peoria) and St. Louis Hawks. The Bowling Green team was originally announced as the Kentucky Bisons. The Dayton Air Strikers played in the winter of 2011 as part of the Premier Basketball League (PBL), moved to the International Basketball League for its 2011 spring season, and back to the PBL for its 2012 season. The Air Strikers announced a move to the Independent Basketball Association for its 2012-13 fall season, but dropped out before playing any IBA games. Other teams called the Chicago Stars/Las Estrellas de Chicago, Cincinnati Crusade and Kentucky Bluegrass Stallions had been listed as CBL members, but did not make it to the 2013 season.

Beautiful Ballers League: The new BBL is a national pro fantasy women's basketball league sponsored by Reebok and plans to start play in June 2013. Three teams called the Minnesota Mist, Atlanta Peaches and Orlando Lady Cats that were previously associated with the proposed new Bikini Basketball Association have left that league to join the BBL. Other BBL teams are the Los Angeles Dolls, New Orleans Spirit, Brooklyn Diamondz and Miami Suns (originally the Tropics).

Bikini Basketball Association: Several proposed teams and markets that had been associated with the proposed new BBA have left to join the new Beautiful Ballers League. The BBA teams called the Minnesota Mist, Atlanta Peaches and Orlando Lady Cats moved to the new BBL. The BBA then announced a new team called the Las Vegas Fantasy would be part of its inaugural season in 2013. The BBA had three other teams called the Illinois Heart (Chicago), Miami Spice and Philadelphia Diamonds.

FOOTBALL

Ultimate Indoor Football League: The UIFL's new Sarasota Thunder travel team that was added for the 2013 season is apparently having financial issues after playing only one road game. A game last week against the Corpus Christi Fury was cancelled and the league's Dalton-based Georgia Rampage played a game earlier this week with the semi-pro outdoor Georgia Bulldogs, who filled in for the Sarasota Thunder.

Legends Football League-United States: The 12-team women's LFL-US, formerly called the Lingerie Football League, started its 2013 season last weekend. After playing a fall-winter 2011-12 season, the LFL-US sat idle until returning with a spring season in 2013. After the 2011-12 season, the Orlando Fantasy dropped from the league, while the Toronto Triumph joined the new LFL-Canada for its inaugural season in 2012. The Tampa Breeze relocated to Jacksonville and kept the Breeze nickname. The league added new teams called the Omaha Heart and Atlanta Steam to replace the loss of Orlando and Toronto. The league is in negotiations to add a team in Pittsburgh for the 2014 season.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues officially announced the NHL's Vancouver Canucks have agreed to by the Blues' Peoria Rivermen AHL affiliate. It is still uncertain if the team will relocate or remain in Peoria for the 2013-14 season.

Eastern Elite Junior Hockey League: The eight southeastern junior hockey teams that comprised the Tier III EJHL-South league, which has been affiliated with the Tier III Eastern Junior Hockey League for the past two seasons, will go on its own for the 2013-14 season as the newly renamed Eastern Elite Junior Hockey League.

North American Hockey League: The Tier II junior-level NAHL has been trying to add some eastern teams and is reported to be close to an agreement in which five teams from the Tier III Eastern Junior Hockey League will enter into an affiliation with the NAHL for the 2013-14 season.

SOCCER

North American Soccer League: The Division II NASL has started its 2013 Spring Season with seven teams. Of the eight teams from last season, the Puerto Rico Islanders did not return and the Minnesota Stars FC was renamed the Minnesota United FC Loons. Other teams include the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks (Cary, NC), FC Edmonton (Eddies), Fort Lauderdale Strikers, San Antonio Scorpions and Tampa Bay Rowdies. The league will play a split season in 2013 with a Fall Season to start in August. An eighth team called the New York Cosmos will be added for the 2013 Fall Season.

United Soccer Leagues - PRO: The Antigua Barracuda team in the Division III USL PRO league has received some financial assistance that will allow it to start developing a roster for the 2013 season. The team's first game is scheduled for next weekend. The team has had financial difficulties over the past two seasons in the league and is still seeking more financial support to make it through the 2013 season.

United Soccer Leagues - W-20: The USL announced that its Super-20 Women soccer league for elite players under 20 years old has been re-branded as the W-20 for the 2013 season. The league will be aligned operationally with the USL W-League to provide development opportunities for players at the lower-level W-20 league. The 2013 W-20 season will feature 23 teams in four regional divisions with 6 of those teams serving as reserve teams for W-League clubs.

OTHER

Major Series Lacrosse: The Ontario Lacrosse Association has approved the move of the Ajax Rock in the Senior-A MSL, an elite-level summertime indoor lacrosse league based in Ontario, to Oakville for the upcoming 2013 season. The team will be called the Oakville Rock. The Ajax Rock had moved up from the Senior-B level to the elite-level Senior-A back in 2010, but struggled to attract fans.

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.



National Basketball League of Canada Stories from April 8, 2013


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.


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