Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
July 20, 2015 - Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL)
BASEBALL
Ozark Pro Baseball League: The new independent OPBL was apparently having financial and scheduling issues in the first week of its inaugural season. The league was trying to play some games this weekend in West Plains (MO), but it was uncertain as to whether all six league-run teams were involved.
South Atlantic League (SALLY): The owner of the Hagerstown (MD) Suns in the low Class-A SALLY has made a final offer as to how much funding the team will provide for a new stadium to be built for the Suns in Spotsylvania County (VA), just outside of Fredericksburg (VA). A vote on whether to accept the proposal is expected next week.
California League: The Modesto Nuts team in the Class-A California League was renamed the Modesto Dusters as part of a "What Could Have Been Night" this weekend. The Dusters nickname was runner-up to the Nuts nickname, which was selected from a name-the-team contest as part of a re-branding of the team prior to the 2005 season.
Major League Baseball: MLB is reported to be evaluating possible expansion by two teams in the next few years. Some of the locations mentioned for expansion included Charlotte, Las Vegas, Montreal, northern New Jersey, Oklahoma City, Portland (OR), San Antonio and the Mexican markets of Monterrey and Mexico City. Expansion at the MLB level would also require new farm teams in the minor leagues.
United League Baseball: The San Angelo (TX) Colts of the independent ULB, which was not playing this season due to a lack of teams, appear to be dead. The Colts' Chapter 11 bankruptcy was dismissed by a court in Texas last month and any remaining assets will be liquidated. The Colts played in the ULB's most recent season of 2014, but the team filed for bankruptcy and ended that season early. The San Angelo Colts played two seasons (2000-01) as part of the Texas-Louisiana League, four seasons (2002-05) in the Central Baseball League, five seasons (2006-10) in the ULB, two seasons (2011-12) in the North American League, and another two seasons (2013-14) in a reorganized ULB.
BASKETBALL
American Basketball Association: The ABA announced two more new teams called the Garland Hoyas (Dallas area) and the Florida All-Stars (Gainesville) have been added for the 2015-16 season. The ABA had the Texas Tycoons based in the Dallas area for a couple of seasons (2006-08), the Dallas Generals for part of the 2009-10 season and some proposed Dallas teams called the North Dallas Vandals, Dallas Impact and CP3 Texas Cagerz that never got off the ground. A Gainesville-based team called the Florida Makos was part of the 2010-11 ABA.
Central Basketball Development League: The CBDL announced the Shreveport (LA) Knights, Georgia Panthers and Bradenton (FL) GymRatz teams have been added for the 2016 season. The Knights were originally listed as a 2015 team. New teams in Louisiana and Mississippi will be announced soon.
National Basketball League of Canada: Despite the recent folding of the Halifax (Nova Scotia) Rainmen team, the commissioner of the NBL-Canada is optimistic about the league's future. The league is looking into possible new markets like Cape Breton (Nova Scotia), the Quebec cities of Montreal and Quebec City and the Ontario markets of Kitchener-Waterloo and Kingston. The league would like to expand to the West Coast of Canada, but that would likely require the addition of four teams at one time.
FOOTBALL
Champions Indoor Football: The CIF is expected to announce next week the addition of a new team called the Salina (KS) Liberty. The Liberty will replace the league's Salina Bombers team, which was suspended by the CIF near the end of the 2015 season for failure to meet league obligations.
Fall Experimental Football League: The FXFL, which was created last season to develop future talent for the National Football League, will return with four teams for a second season in the fall of 2015. Three teams will be partnered with minor league baseball organizations in the short-season Class-A New York-Penn League (NYPL) and will play home games at their respective baseball stadiums. The Brooklyn Bolts will return from last season and play at the home of the NYPL's Brooklyn Cyclones. The Mahoning Valley Brawlers will take the name of last season's non-returning Boston Brawlers team and play at the home of the NYPL's Mahoning Valley Scrappers in Niles (OH). The yet-to-be-named new Hudson Valley team will play at the home of the NYPL's Hudson Valley Renegades in Wappingers Falls (NY) just south of Poughkeepsie. A league-operated team called the Florida Blacktips, which failed to find a home in the Miami area last season and played as a travel team, will again play as a travel team in 2015. A 2014 team called the Omaha Mammoths will not return for the 2015 season. Each team is expected to play a five-game schedule from early October to early November.
Arena Football League: The AFL confirmed it has taken over operations of the New Orleans VooDoo and the first-year Las Vegas Outlaws for the remainder of the season. Both teams were suffering from poor attendance and financial issues. Each team had four games remaining on the schedule and they will play all remaining games except the one next weekend in Las Vegas between the Outlaws and VooDoo. The league is trying to find new ownership for both teams and a group seeking an AFL team for a Texas location has expressed interest in purchasing the VooDoo. The original AFL, which operated from 1987 through the 2008 season, had teams called the Las Vegas Sting for two seasons (1994-95) and the Las Vegas Gladiators for five seasons (2003-07). A New Orleans VooDoo team also played four seasons (2004-05, 2007-08) as part of the original AFL. The current VooDoo team joined this version of the AFL when owner of the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings shut down the team after the new AFL's inaugural 2010 season and started up the New Orleans VooDoo franchise for the 2011 season.
Indoor Football League: The IFL's Colorado Ice team, based in the Loveland area of the Denver market, has been renamed the Colorado Crush. The new name comes from Denver's former Arena Football League (AFL) team called the Colorado Crush, which played in the original AFL from 2003 through the league's last season in 2008. The Colorado Ice played two seasons (2007-08) in United Indoor Football (UIF) and joined the IFL when the UIF and Intense Football League merged to form the IFL for the 2009 season. The IFL operated with ten teams in 2015 and plans to add at least two more teams for next season.
HOCKEY
United States Hockey League: The Tier-I level USHL, USA Hockey's top junior hockey league, announced its schedule for the 2015-16 season that will feature the same 17 teams as last season. The league again granted dormancy for the 2015-16 season to the Indiana Ice team, which last played in the 2013-14 season, as it looks to build a new home arena in the Indianapolis area.
Ontario Hockey League: After filing for bankruptcy earlier this year, there was speculation the Erie (PA) Otters of the major-junior OHL would be sold and relocated. An ownership group recently announced a deal to purchase the Otters team from the current owner with plans to keep the team in Erie.
SOCCER
Major Arena Soccer League: The ownership of the 2015-16 MASL expansion team to be based in Cedar Rapids (IA) announced the team will be called the Cedar Rapids Rampage.
United Soccer League: The Division-III USL, formerly known as the USL PRO league, announced a new franchise called RGVFC will be based in the Rio Grande Valley starting with the 2016 season. The owner of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the National Basketball Association Development League (D-League) will also own the RGVFC. The RGVFC will be the USL affiliate of the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer with the Dynamo running the soccer operations. The D-League Vipers plan to move to a new arena in Edinburg (TX) in 2016 and a new soccer stadium is to be built nearby for the RGVFC.
Major League Soccer: It looks as though the Miami-based MLS expansion effort, which is being led by former MLS player David Beckham, will start negotiating with Miami officials to use land next to Marlins Park, home of Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins, to build a soccer-specific stadium. The Miami MLS group was unsuccessful in locating the stadium on a downtown waterfront site.
OTHER
National Lacrosse League: The Edmonton Rush of the indoor NLL is supposed to announce next week that the team will be moving to Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) for the 2016 season. The Rush was the league champion for the 2015 season and had been rumored to be leaving Edmonton over the past couple of years. The Edmonton Rush franchise started as the Syracuse Smash in the 1998 season and after three seasons (1998-2000) became the Ottawa Rebel. The Ottawa Rebel played three seasons (2001-03) in the NLL and went dormant for two seasons (2004-05) before restarting in Edmonton for the 2006 season.
Dan Krieger is the creator of the Leagues, Teams & Nicknames 2013-14: "The Leagueology Almanac" , 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.
Fall Experimental Football League Stories from July 20, 2015
- 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.
