Sports stats



AFL Arena Football League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
August 17, 2015 - Arena Football League (AFL)


BASEBALL

California League: The Modesto Nuts of the high Class-A California League were renamed the Modesto Cruisers for a three-game series this weekend as part of a "What Could Have Been?" promotion. Cruisers was one of the nickname choices under consideration when the team was re-branded prior to the 2005 season.

Pacific Coast League: The Fresno Grizzlies of the Triple-A PCL were renamed the Fresno Tacos for a game last week to celebrate a taco-truck showdown hosted at the stadium during the game.

United Shore Professional Baseball League: Environmental cleanup contracts were approved for the future site of a stadium in Utica (MI) that will become home to teams in the proposed new USPBL. The league hopes the stadium will be ready to start play next summer with three teams.

American Association: The Grand Prairie (TX) AirHogs of the independent AA could have some competition in the Dallas-Fort Worth area if a proposed new stadium as part of a retail and entertainment project in Cleburne (TX), about 50 miles to the southwest of Grand Prairie, is approved. Voters will have to decide the public portion of financing in November. Known as Cleburne Station, the project would have a railroad theme and include a minor-league baseball stadium called the Cleburne Depot. Although it is uncertain as to what league a team would play in, the Cleburne Railroaders has been proposed as the name from a former 1906 Texas League team. About 25 miles north of Cleburne in Fort Worth, supporters of the dormant Fort Worth Cats from the former United League Baseball hope the team can be revived in a new league for 2016. The Cats' former home, known as LaGrave Field, would have to change hands as its current owner is more interested in redevelopment of the land than operating a baseball stadium.

Carolina League: Officials in the city of Fayetteville (NC) want to move forward on a new downtown ballpark that could become home to a team in the high Class-A Carolina League or the low Class-A South Atlantic League (SALLY). A former SALLY team called the Fayetteville Generals became the Cape Fear Crocs for the 1997 season and moved to become the Lakewood (NJ) BlueClaws for the 2001 season.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball League of Canada: An announcement on the proposed new Nova Scotia teams in Halifax and Sydney is expected soon. The league is optimistic a team will return in Halifax to replace the defunct Halifax Rainmen for the 2015-16 season. Once that is set, the league will look to secure new ownership for its Moncton Miracles (New Brunswick) team and work toward bringing the Sydney expansion team to Cape Breton Island for this season.

American Basketball Association: The ABA announced the Atlanta Aliens team will return for the 2015-16 season as a travel-only team. The Aliens joined the ABA for the 2011-12 season but played only a couple of ABA games early in last season.

American Professional Basketball League: The APBL reports the league will return for a fourth season starting in mid-October without teams called the Philly Destroyers and Metro All Stars (Washington, DC).

Central Basketball Development League: The CBDL reports it is trying to start a team in Daytona Beach (FL) for the 2016 season.

AmeriLeague: The creator of a semi-pro basketball team called the Las Vegas Dealers wants to recruit high school All-American players and other pre-college talented prospects for the proposed eight-team AmeriLeague that hopes to start in October 2015. The league plans to have all eight teams playing games against European clubs starting with the 2016-17 season. Initially, all games will be played in Las Vegas and other selected cities.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football League: With the AFL regular season ending last weekend, the league officially announced the folding of the New Orleans VooDoo and Las Vegas Outlaws franchises. Neither team has ownership in place and the league was operating both teams since mid-July. The league was now down to only ten teams. The Outlaws had qualified for the playoffs, but were replaced by the Portland (OR) Thunder. The AFL hopes to find new ownership for the New Orleans VooDoo in time for the 2016 season. The league's Spokane (WA) Shock is considering its options for next season and is considering a move to the Indoor Football League for next season. The ownership of the Iowa Barnstormers (Des Moines) left the AFL for the IFL after the 2014 season due to the IFL's lower cost structure.

American Indoor Football: The AIF officially announced the addition of new teams called the Triangle Torch (Raleigh, NC), Central Florida Jaguars (Lakeland, FL) and the Philadelphia Yellow Jackets for the 2016 season. Raleigh was home to the Carolina Cobras for three seasons (2000-02) in the original Arena Football League before moving to Charlotte. A team called the Raleigh Rebels played all road games in the 2005 Atlantic Indoor Football League and was part of the 2006 American Indoor Football League. The Rebels then became the Carolina Bombers, but the Bombers folded before a proposed 2007 season as part of the World Indoor Football League. A proposed Raleigh-based team called the Carolina Aviators failed to get off the ground in the 2012 United Indoor Football League.

Lakeland had an indoor team called the Lakeland ThunderBolts that played two seasons (2005-06) in the former National Indoor Football League and went dormant after playing the 2007 as part of the American Indoor Football Association. The Lakeland Raiders played in the 2012 United Indoor Football League, along with the 2011 and 2013 seasons in the Ultimate Indoor Football League, before moving to the X-League Indoor Football for the past two seasons (2014-15) as the Florida Marine Raiders. Philadelphia currently has the Philadelphia Soul indoor football team, which played five seasons (2004-08) as part of the original AFL and returned in 2011 to be part of the current version of the AFL that restarted play in 2010.

HOCKEY

Federal Hockey League: The low level professional FHL recently announced the schedule for its sixth season of operation in 2015-16. The league will have six teams that include four expansion teams called the Berlin (NH) RiverDrivers, Brewster (NY) Bulldogs, Danbury (CT) Titans and Port Huron (MI) Prowlers, along with the returning Danville (IL) Dashers and the relocated Berkshire Battalion (North Adams, MA), which is now the Dayton (OH) Demolition. Teams will each play a 56-game schedule from early November 2015 to early April 2016. The Berlin RiverDrivers recently announced a one-year affiliation with the Evansville (IN) IceMen of the ECHL.

Canadian Women's Hockey League: The elite-level CWHL announced its 2015-16 schedule last month and it will feature the same five teams as last season. The Brampton Thunder, Boston Blades, Calgary Inferno, Montreal Stars and Toronto Furies will each play a 24-game schedule from mid-October 2015 to late February 2016.

National Women's Hockey League: The new four-team NWHL, which plans to start play this fall as a pro women's hockey league with players being paid, announced its inaugural 2015-16 schedule that will have each team playing 18 games from early October 2015 to late February 2016. Teams will include the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale (Stamford) and New York Riveters (Brooklyn).

SOCCER

North American Soccer League: The Division-II NASL plans to grow from 11 teams to 13 teams next season with the addition of teams in Puerto Rico and Miami. The NASL says it is on course to grow to 17 teams by the 2017 season. League officials have been advocating a process of promotion and relegation to and from Major League Soccer in the future. A new tiered structure has been mentioned that could also possibly involve the Division-III United Soccer League and the unofficial fourth-tier National Premier Soccer League in promotion and relegation.

Major Arena Soccer League: The MASL has confirmed at least 20 teams that will be part of the upcoming 2015-16 season. The ownership group trying to bring the new Hartford City FC outdoor team into the Division-II North American Soccer League officially announced a Hartford City FC team will play indoor soccer as part of the MASL's 2015-16 season. Two other MASL expansion teams called the Cedar Rapids (IA) Rampage and the Soles de Sonora (Hermosillo, Mexico) will also start play in 2015-16. The league had 23 teams last season, but only 17 are returning. Six teams called the Rochester Lancers, Tulsa Revolution, Wichita B-52s, Hidalgo La Fiera FC, Monterrey Flash (Mexico) and Oxford City FC of Texas (Beaumont) will not return. The MASL stated two other possible expansion teams in Cincinnati and Tijuana (Mexico) could also be approved in time for the season's start in November 2015. Teams called the Cincinnati Saints and Toros Mexico (Tijuana) had hoped to be part of the MASL's inaugural 2014-15 season, but were unable to find home venues that were suitable for league requirements.

United Soccer League: The Division-III USL announced a new team called FC Cincinnati will join the Division-III league for the 2016 season. The Cincinnati area has been home to prior teams at various levels of the United Soccer Leagues. The Cincinnati Riverhawks played the 1997 season as part of the USL Premier Development League (PDL) and six seasons (1998-2003) as part of the Division-II USL A-League. The Cincinnati Kings played three seasons (2005-07) in the USL Second Division, a Division-III league, and seven seasons (2008-12) in the USL PDL. A team called the Cincinnati Dutch Lions has been part of the USL PDL for the past two seasons (2014-15). The USL is operating with 24 teams this season and plans to add a total of five new teams for the 2016 season. The Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer is expected to announce a new USL franchise that could be located in Lehigh Valley, most likely Allentown (PA). This would end the team's affiliation with the USL's Harrisburg City Islanders.

OTHER

Major League Ultimate: The MLU men's professional ultimate Frisbee league recently completed its third season and reports it might consider adding a women's pro division in the future.

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.

Check out the Arena Football League Statistics



Arena Football League Stories from August 17, 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.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central