Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
July 27, 2015 - Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL)

BASEBALL

Ozark Pro Baseball League: The new independent OPBL has suspended play after playing some additional games last weekend in West Plains (MO). The league is reported to be waiting for additional funding before attempting to restart its inaugural season. The league had been trying to purchase the vacant stadium in Ozark (MO) to host games with its six league-operated teams. With no stadium deal in place, the league started with teams playing games earlier this month in West Plains and Harrison (AR).

Carolina League: The city of Kinston (NC) has approved a lease agreement with Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers to operate a high Class-A Carolina League team in the city's Grainger Stadium starting with the 2017 season. The Rangers are expected to purchase the league's Wilmington (DE) Blue Rocks team and move it to Kinston, which had a Carolina League team called the Kinston Indians that moved to Zebulon (NC) to become the Carolina Mudcats for the 2012 season. The ownership of the current Blue Rocks team is the prospective buyer of the Binghamton (NY) Mets team in the Double-A Eastern League with the Binghamton Mets expected to relocate and become a Double-A Eastern League version of the Wilmington Blue Rocks. The Binghamton Mets have ranked last in Eastern League attendance over the past five years.

BASKETBALL

Women's National Basketball Association: The ownership of the WNBA's Tulsa Shock announced plans to move the team to the Dallas-Fort Worth market and the league approved the move this week. The Shock joined the WNBA for the 1998 season as an expansion team called the Detroit Shock, which then moved to Tulsa for the 2010 season. The relocated team will play home games on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington. The WNBA announced it will form an expansion committee to study the possible addition of new teams. The ownership of the Golden State Warriors in the National Basketball Association has expressed interest in operating a WNBA team. The league has had as many as 16 teams in one season, but has had the same 12 teams since the 2010 season. The Atlanta Dream was the last WNBA expansion team and it joined for the 2008 season.

American Basketball League: A team called the Palm Beach Hurricane never started play in the 2015 season of the four-team ABL and has been replaced by a team called the Pompano Beach Piranhas. A team called the West Palm Beach Piranhas played in the league's inaugural 2013 season and was renamed the Palm Beach Hurricane for the 2014 season.

Central Basketball Development League: The CBDL continues to try to add teams for a 2016 season that could run from January through April. The league now reports it has interest from teams in Indiana, Dayton and Cincinnati. The league also reports it is trying to work out a partnership deal with a minor basketball league in Europe. The CBDL has played with only a handful of teams in its past two spring seasons that were both ended early without completion of the schedule.

National Basketball League of Canada: The commissioner of the NBL-Canada stated a new ownership group is interested in purchasing the Halifax (Nova Scotia) Rainmen franchise, which recently filed for bankruptcy, and starting a new team in Halifax for the 2015-16 season. Due to the uncertainty over the Halifax franchise and the loss of a potential rival, a group interested in bringing an NBL-Canada team to Sydney (Nova Scotia) for the 2015-16 season delayed submitting its application. It appears the Sydney group will move forward with its application with the possibility of new Halifax team being formed.

FOOTBALL

Champions Indoor Football: The CIF's new Salina (KS) Liberty team was officially introduced this week and it will begin play in the 2016 season. 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. The Salina Bombers started as a new team in the inaugural 2013 season of the former Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) and joined the CIF when the CPIFL and the Lone Star Football League merged for the 2015 season.

Indoor Football League: A new team called the Minnesota Havok, which will be based in Mankato about 80 miles southwest of Minneapolis, plans to join the IFL for the 2016 season.

HOCKEY

Federal Hockey League: The FHL's new team in Danbury (CT) for the 2015-16 season officially announced it will be called the Danbury Titans. The league's previously announced new team called the Stateline Whalers, based just west of Danbury in Brewster (NY), has changed its name to the Brewster Bulldogs. The city has a junior-level team called the Brewster Bulldogs in the Tier-III Metropolitan Junior Hockey League. The owner of last season's Berkshire Battalion team, based in North Adams (MA), is apparently moving that team to Dayton (OH) to replace the league's Dayton Demonz team. The owner of the Demonz stopped operating the team after the 2014-15 season, but is involved with the expansion Port Huron Prowlers and that team will inherit the protected player list from the Demonz.

Southern Professional Hockey League: The minor A-level SPHL announced its schedule for the 2015-16 season that will feature nine teams. All eight teams will return from last season and the league has added a new team called the Macon (GA) Mayhem. The Mayhem is the league's former Augusta (GA) RiverHawks franchise, which stopped playing after the 2012-13 season and relocated to Macon.

National Hockey League: The NHL had received requests for expansion applications from 16 different groups or individuals, but groups in Las Vegas (NV) and Quebec City (Quebec) were the only cities to actually apply for future NHL expansion by a deadline earlier this week. Both expansion locations have new arenas under construction that could house an NHL team. Expansion applications were expected from Seattle and Toronto, but they were never filed. The NHL's Arizona Coyotes and the city of Glendale have reached an agreement on an arena lease that will keep the team in the Phoenix area for the next two seasons. The city wanted to renegotiate the lease or try to force the team to relocate.

Metropolitan Junior Hockey League: The Tier-III junior-level MJHL, which has been known as the MET League over the past several years, announced it will no long use that name and will be referred to as the MJHL or the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League.

SOCCER

National Women's Soccer League: With the recent success of the Women's World Cup in Canada, many are hoping this could lead to the NWSL placing its first team in Canada in the near future. Vancouver (British Columbia) has been considered a likely location as a rival for current Northwest teams in Seattle and Portland, but the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer are not looking at sponsoring a women's team at this time. The NWSL includes national team players from Canada, Mexico and the United States.

American Soccer League: The eight-team professional ASL finished its inaugural 2014-15 fall-spring season last month with most teams based in the Northeast. The league plans to add three new Northeast Conference teams for next season, along with a new Southeast Conference of teams and a possible Western Conference for the 2015-16 season.

Western Indoor Soccer League: The Arlington (WA) Aviators announced the team will not participate in the second season of the elite-amateur WISL in 2015-16. The team's home venue closed earlier this year and it will need to find a new arena. The Aviators played two seasons (2012-14) in the Premier Arena Soccer League before moving to the new WISL for the 2014-15 season. The WISL completed its inaugural 2014-15 season with five teams located in the state of Washington.

OTHER

National Lacrosse League: The indoor NLL officially announced the Edmonton Rush will move to Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) for the 2016 season and the team will be called the Saskatchewan Rush. The team will play at SaskTel Centre, home to the Saskatoon Blades of the major-junior Western Hockey League. The Rush was unable to secure a long-term arena lease in Edmonton and decided to move.

Continental Indoor Lacrosse League: The semi-professional CILL recently announced its 2015 schedule that will feature nine different teams participating in five weekend tournaments in August and September. Tournaments will be held in Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Grand Valley (Grand Rapids), Cleveland and Chicago. All seven teams return from last season and the league added new teams called the Grand Valley State University Lakers (Grand Rapids) and the Indianapolis Copperheads. In 2012 and 2013, the league had a proposed Indianapolis expansion team called the Indy Swagger that never started league play. The CILL is entering its fifth season. The league started as the Midwest Indoor Lacrosse Association in 2011 and switched to the CILL for the 2013 season.

World TeamTennis: The WTT commissioner recently stated the league would like to expand from its current seven teams, but only if the right ownership groups are found. The league wants to find local ownership for its Boston Lobsters franchise by next season and if that does not happen there is a possibility the team could move to another city.

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.

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