SAL1 South Atlantic League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on August 10, 2015 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)


BASEBALL

South Atlantic League (SALLY): The Savannah (GA) Sand Gnats of the low Class-A SALLY plan to relocate to a new ballpark in downtown Columbia (SC) for the 2016 season and ownership announced the team will be renamed the Columbia Fireflies. The nickname comes from a species of firefly that is common to the area. Columbia was previously home to the Capital City Bombers in the SALLY, but that team moved to become the Greenville (SC) Drive for the 2005 season. The Sand Gnats started as the Savannah Cardinals in the 1984 season of the SALLY before changing to the Sand Gnats for the 1996 season. In other news, the owner of the league's Hagerstown (MD) Suns will not move forward on a proposed ballpark in Spotsylvania County, just outside of Fredericksburg (VA). With a July 31, 2015 deadline, the owner could not reach a deal with the county for the ballpark that required taxpayer funding.

International League: The ownership of the Pawtucket (RI) Red Sox in the Triple-A International League still hopes to move the team to a proposed new ballpark in Providence (RI) and is working on revised plans after an initial proposal requiring public funding was rejected.

Florida State League: Space Coast Stadium (Viera, FL), which is home to the Brevard County Manatees in the high Class-A FSL and the spring training home for the Washington Nationals, could become the new home to the U.S. Specialty Sports Association (USSSA). The Washington Nationals are moving their spring training facility from Viera to West Palm Beach in 2017 or 2018. The Brevard County Manatees have been looking at other locations like nearby Palm Bay or the team could work out a deal with the USSSA to remain in Viera. The USSSA, currently based in Kissimmee (FL) where it operates the Florida Pride women's softball team in the National Pro Fastpitch, would move the NPF games to Viera and also use the facility for various amateur baseball and softball tournaments.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association Development League (D-League): Several National Basketball Association teams have expressed interest in establishing new minor league affiliated teams in the D-League. The D-League has 19 teams to the NBA's 30 teams with 18 of the 19 D-League teams having some form of single affiliation with an NBA team. The Fort Wayne Mad Ants are the only D-League team without a single affiliation, but the NBA's Indiana Pacers appear close making the Mad Ants their affiliate. That would leave 11 NBA teams without official D-League affiliates. The NBA's Atlanta Hawks have expressed interest in a D-League team; the Charlotte Hornets have been scouting locations in the Carolinas for a future D-League team; the New Orleans Pelicans are considering sites in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast for a team; and the Brooklyn Nets want to establish a D-League team that could start play in the Brooklyn.

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced an expansion team called the Charlotte (NC) Dynasty will be part of the league's Mid-Atlantic Division for the 2015-16 season. The ABA had a Charlotte area (Concord) team called the Carolina Thunder in 2004-05 and that team became the Charlotte Krunk for part of the 2005-06 season. Another team called the Charlotte Crossovers played parts of two seasons (2009-11) in the ABA. The ABA also announced a new team called the PG Valor, based in Prince George County (MD), has joined for the 2015-16 season. The owner of the ABA's Steel City Yellowjackets, which was a Pittsburgh-based expansion team in 2014-15, is behind the ABA's new West Virginia Wildkatz (Fairmont) team. Another proposed new ABA team called the Huntington (WV) Hawkeyes is expected to become a rival for the Wildkatz.

FOOTBALL

North American Indoor Football: The proposed NAIF, which played a few games in 2015 and recently came under new ownership, announced a September 1, 2015 deadline for teams to join for the 2016 season. The league expects to announce its 2016 lineup of teams shortly after the deadline. A new Orlando-based team called the Florida Wildcats was recently announced and the Buffalo Lightning, a 2015 expansion team in American Indoor Football, was reported to be moving to the NAIF.

Fall Experimental Football League: The new 2016 FXFL team to be operated by the Hudson Valley Renegades baseball team of the short-season Class-A New York-Penn League will be called the Hudson Valley Fort. The Fort will play out of the Renegades stadium in Fishkill (NY), just south of Poughkeepsie. The FXFL will own the team, but the Renegades will handle game operations and stadium upkeep. Two of the FXFL's other teams, the returning Brooklyn Bolts and the Mahoning Valley Brawlers, are also playing home games out of NY-Penn League stadiums. The league's fourth team called the Blacktips will return again as a travel-only team known as the Florida Blacktips. The Hudson Valley Fort basically replaces last season's Omaha Mammoths team, while the Mahoning Valley Brawlers replace last season's Boston Brawlers. Each team is expected to play a five-game schedule from early October to early November.

Arena Football League: The AFL announced the New Orleans VooDoo and Las Vegas Outlaws have ceased operations at the conclusion of the regular season. Las Vegas has been replaced in the playoffs by the Portland Thunder.

HOCKEY

North American Hockey League: With the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights starting a new team in the Tier-II junior-level NAHL for the 2015-16 season, the Knights organization will place its Tier-III teams in the Eastern Hockey League and the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League in a dormant status for 2015-16. The Knights are part of a new four-team East Division of teams in the NAHL, which is the only Tier-II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey.

Federal Hockey League: The owner of the FHL's Watertown (NY) Wolves has assured the team will return for the 2016-17 season after being forced to sit out the 2015-16 season due to arena renovations that will not be completed until mid-January 2016. The team failed in an attempt to find a suitable temporary location for the 2015-16 season.

United States Premier Hockey League: The USPHL organization has finalized the teams and alignments for its four Tier-III junior divisions for the 2015-16 season. The top Premier Division will have 12 teams, the Elite Division will have 20 teams, the new Midwest Division will have 22 teams and the USP3HL (formerly the Empire Division) will have 19 teams.

SOCCER

Liga MX: Mexico's top soccer league known as Liga MX started its 2015-16 two-part (Apertura/Clausura) season a couple of weeks ago and again has 18 teams. After being promoted to the Liga MX last season, the Leones Negros (Guadalajara) club was relegated to the Ascenso MX relegation league, while the Dorados de Sinaloa club was promoted from the Ascenso MX to the Liga MX for the 2015-16 season.

Ascenso MX: The Ascenso MX soccer league, which is the second-level relegation league to Mexico's first division Liga MX, grew to 16 teams for its 2015-16 two-part (Apertura/Clausura) season with the addition of new teams called the Cimarrones de Sonora (Hermosillo, Sonora) and FC Juarez (Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua). A lower-level club called Loros Universidad de Colima had been promoted to the Ascenso MX, but its stadium was not ready and the Sonora team took its place. The Dorados de Sinaloa club was promoted to the Liga MX, while the Universidad de Guadalajara (Jalisco) club was relegated to the Ascenso MX. The Estudiantes de Altamira moved to become the Cafetaleros de Tapachula (Chiapis), while the Irapuato club was sold and moved to become the Murcielagos FC in Los Mochis (Sinaloa).

United Soccer Leagues "" Premier Development League: The PDL announced a new team based in Statesboro (GA) on the campus of Georgia Southern University will be part of the league for the 2016 season. The team will hold a name-the-team contest.

OTHER

Continental Indoor Lacrosse League: The CILL started its 2015 season this weekend with five of the nine teams participating in the first of five weekend events scheduled for August and September. In addition to new teams called the Grand Valley State University Lakers and the Indianapolis Copperheads joining this season, the CILL recently announced a team called the Minnesota Ox will play a limited number of exhibition games against CILL teams with plans to join the league full-time next season.

Major Lacrosse League: The outdoor MLL announced it will add a ninth team called the Atlanta Blaze for the 2016 season. The Blaze will play home games at Kennesaw State University where the league held a 2013 regular-season game and the 2014 and 2015 league championship games. Earlier this year, the indoor National Lacrosse League moved its Minnesota Swarm franchise to the Atlanta area. The MLL has also expressed interest in expansion to Houston, which was home to the league's 2015 all-star game.

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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South Atlantic League Stories from August 10, 2015


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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