Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on November 11, 2013 under Lone Star Football League (LSFL)
BASEBALL
Arizona League: With the Chicago White Sox pulling its Bristol (VA) White Sox affiliate out of the advanced-rookie Appalachian League after the 2013 season, the White Sox plan on placing an affiliate in the rookie-level Arizona League in 2014. Major League Baseball operates the Arizona League and the Gulf Coast League as summertime rookie-level or complex leagues that utilize MLB spring training facilities in Arizona and Florida. Only the White Sox and the Colorado Rockies did not have a team in either the Arizona League or the Gulf Coast League in 2013.
Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League: The Cooperstown (NY) Hawkeyes of the PGCBL requested a voluntary suspension for the 2014 season because it could not work out a deal for the local baseball field.
BASKETBALL
American Basketball Association: The ABA started its 2013-14 season last week and currently lists about 70 teams aligned into 12 divisions, along with 15 additional travel teams.
United Basketball League: The semi-pro UBL starts its 2013-14 season next week and has six participating teams-the Arkansas Bobcats (Little Rock), Arkansas Warriors (Little Rock), Central Texas Rhythm (Marble Falls), St. Louis Scorpions, Texas Bruins (Waxahachie) and Texas Wranglers (Addison).
FOOTBALL
Arena Football League: The AFL's new Portland (OR) franchise that will start play in 2014 has announced five potential names: Thunder, Enforcers, Sasquatch, Growlers and Stomp. The city's previous indoor football team that played three seasons (1997-99) in the original AFL was called the Portland Forest Dragons.
Lone Star Football League: The indoor LSFL has posted its 2014 schedule and announced the Abilene Bombers will sit out the season and try to return in 2015 after restructuring its management and ownership. Abilene joined as the Abilene Ruff Riders for the league's inaugural season in 2012 and changed to the Bombers last season. The LSFL had five teams last season, but have lost both Abilene and the Laredo Rattlesnakes. Two new teams called the Rio Grande Valley Sol (McAllen, TX) and the West Texas Wildcatters (Odessa) were added to keep the league at five teams.
Professional Indoor Football League: The PIFL announced a new team called the Nashville Venom has been added as the league's eighth and final team for the 2014 season. The Knoxville Nighthawks franchise, which joined for the league's inaugural season in 2012, will apparently not return. The PIFL had seven teams last season, but lose Knoxville and the Louisiana Swashbucklers. The league added the Nashville Venom and Trenton (NJ) Freedom as expansion teams, along with the Harrisburg Stampede from last season's American Indoor Football. Nashville had two previous indoor football teams called the Nashville Kats in the original Arena Football League. The first Kats team played five seasons (1997-2001) before moving to Atlanta as the Georgia Force. The second Kats team played three seasons (2005-07) before folding.
American Indoor Football: The AIF announced a tenth team called the New York Wolves (Calverton/Long Island) has been added for the 2014 season. The Wolves and recently added teams in Chicago and Cleveland had been associated with the proposed Imperial Indoor Football League.
American Football League: The proposed new outdoor AFL, which shut down back in 2011 before ever playing a game due to a lack of a television contract, will try again with a possible start in the fall of 2015. The league plans to have 20 teams across the United States.
HOCKEY
Central Hockey League: A group in Casper (WY) is still trying to develop a CHL franchise that could start play in the 2014-15 season.
Federal Hockey League: The minor professional FHL currently has only four teams for its 2013-14 season, but it is trying to add a new Massachusetts team called the Berkshire Black Bears for next season.
SOCCER
Major League Soccer: Although there has been nothing official, the MLS is expected to announce later this month its acceptance of Orlando as the location for the league's 21st franchise, possibly in time for the 2015 season. The team is expected to take the name of the Orlando City Lions FC, which currently plays as a member of the lower-level United Soccer Leagues PRO league and whose owner spearheaded construction of a new MLS-style stadium for the team.
United Soccer Leagues - PRO: The head of the USL stated that by 2015 all Major League Soccer teams are expected to partner with a USL PRO league team or operate a reserve team in the league. This past season, four MLS teams partnered with four USL PRO teams and used the USL PRO team as its reserve team rather than operating a team in the MLS Reserve League. The majority of the league's 13 teams were based in the East or Southeast with only Los Angeles and Phoenix in the West. Eventually, the league would like to create a six-team Western Conference and will move toward that goal with the addition of teams in Sacramento and Oklahoma City in 2014.
National Premier Soccer League: The men's NPSL announced the Gate City FC (Greensboro, NC) has joined for the 2014 season and will be part of the Mid-Atlantic Conference in the South Region. The previously announced Lansing (MI) team will be called the Lansing United.
Premier Arena Soccer League: The PASL-Premier, which is the developmental league to the Professional Arena Soccer League, will see its Northwest Conference expand to 11 teams for the 2013-14 season and will be split into North and South divisions. A new team called the Vancouver (WA) Tropics FC was recently announced for the South Division that will also include the South Sound FC, Tacoma Galaxy, Central Oregon Steelheaders, and Oregon Blacktails FC. The six-team North Division will include the Arlington Aviators, Burnaby Titans, Kitsap Pumas, Snohomish Skyhawks, Wenatchee Fire and WSA Rapids.
Dan Krieger is the creator of the "The Leagueology Almanac 2012-13", 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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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.
