Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
October 5, 2015 - Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL)
BASEBALL
International League: The Massachusetts markets of New Bedford, Springfield and Worcester have all expressed interest in hosting the Pawtucket (RI) Red Sox (PawSox) of the Triple-A International League, if the PawSox cannot work out a proposed move to Providence (RI). The PawSox still have five years left on a stadium lease and none of the three interested markets have stadium plans in place.
Great West League: The proposed new summer-collegiate GWL has confirmed it will start its inaugural 2016 season with six teams, four in California and two in Oregon. The Oregon teams will be the new Portland Pickles and the Medford Rogues from the West Coast League. The California teams will include three new teams called the Chico Heat, Lodi Crushers and a yet-to-be-named Sacramento team, along with the existing Marysville Gold Sox team, which has been part of the summer-collegiate Horizon Air Series.
Northwoods League: The Alexandria (MN) Blue Anchors team has dropped out of the summer-collegiate Northwoods League. The team played as the Alexandria Beetles from 2001 to 2012 until new ownership took over and changed the team to the Blue Anchors for the 2013 season.
Prospect League: The summer-collegiate Prospect League is in talks with the city of Lafayette (IN) about a possible team as early as next summer. The league has Indiana-based teams in Terre Haute and Richmond with a new Kokomo (IN) team to join in 2016.
BASKETBALL
Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional: Mexico's top professional basketball league known as the LNBP is listing 11 teams for its upcoming 2015-16 season that starts later this month. The league had 14 teams last season, but five teams (the Barretaros de Zacatecas, Gansos Salvajes de La Universidad Intercontinental, Halcones de Xalapas, Huracanes de Tampico and Titanicos de Leon) have not returned, but the league added two new teams called the Santos de San Luis Potosi and Indios de Ciudad Juarez.
Independent Basketball Association: The IBA started its 2015 Winter Rival Season last weekend and the same six teams from the 2015 spring season are listed in the standings. These six teams include the Grand Rapids (MI) Fusion, Kankakee County (IL) Soldiers, Kenosha (WI) Ballers, Lansing (MI) Capitals, St. Louis Trotters and Windy City Blazers. The 2015 winter schedule, which runs from late September to early December, currently does not list the Grand Rapids and Lansing teams and has Windy City playing all road games. The IBA has been playing both a winter and a spring season since starting in the fall of 2011.
New Era Basketball Association: The proposed 20-team NEBA recently announced it will start a national schedule starting in the spring of 2016. The league states it is the new official professional basketball summer league. The NEBA still posts a 2015-16 season schedule with some teams set to start play later this month.
Elite Basketball League: The new semi-pro EBL plans to start play later this month and recently announced plans to play a national schedule for its 2015-16 season. The league has several Arkansas-based teams such as the Ridge City Rippers (Walnut Ridge), Arkadelphia Bulldogs, Arkansas Dragons, Arkansas Showstoppers, Arkansas Elite and Delta Storm (Jonesboro), along with several recently added teams in Texas, Indiana, Kansas, New York and the Carolinas. It is uncertain as to how many teams will actually be part of the inaugural season, but the EBL currently lists 21 different team logos.
FOOTBALL
North American Indoor Football: The NAIF and X-League Indoor Football (X-League) will not move forward with a merger that was announced last month. The X-League has apparently folded and released its teams, some of which plan to join the American Indoor Football. The X-League started play in 2014 and had ten teams in the 2015 season, but has since lost some teams to other leagues.
American Indoor Football: The AIF announced it has created a new Western Division for the 2016 season and increased the league to 19 teams. As of now, the four-team Western Division includes the Corpus Christi Fury, New Mexico Stars (Rio Rancho), Pineywood Bucks (Henderson, TX) and Mile High Menace (Denver). The Corpus Christi Fury played two seasons (2013-14) in the Ultimate Indoor Football League before joining the X-League Indoor Football (X-League) for the 2015 season. The New Mexico Stars played its inaugural 2012 season as part of the Indoor Football League, moved to the Lone Star Football League for two seasons (2013-14) and were supposed be part of the Champions Indoor Football (CIF) for the 2015 season, but dropped out of the CIF just before the start of the season. The Stars sat out the 2015 season and then were part of the proposed new North American Indoor Football (NAIF), but later announced plans to join the X-League for the 2016 season. The Pineywood Bucks and Mile High Menace had been associated with the new NAIF over the past year. The Rio Grande Valley Sol (Hidalgo, TX), which was part of the 2015 X-League, was reported to be trying to join the AIF Western Division for the 2016 season.
Fall Experimental Football League: The FXFL started its second season this weekend, but it was reduced from four to three teams with the unexpected announcement that the Mahoning Valley Brawlers (Niles, OH) team would not be playing as planned in the 2015 season. The 2015 schedule has been reduced to just six games. The Florida Blacktips travel team will play three road games, the Brooklyn Bolts will play five games with three at home and the Hudson Valley Fort (Wappingers Falls, NY) will play four games with three games at home.
Legends Football League - USA: The women's LFL, formerly known as the Lingerie Football League, announced its new Austin-based team will be called the Austin Acoustic when it starts play in the 2016 season.
HOCKEY
National Hockey League: Representatives from the proposed Las Vegas and Quebec City expansion teams made presentations this week to the NHL as part of the third phase of the expansion process. A Las Vegas team would play at a new arena under construction, while a Quebec City team would play at the new 18,000-seat Videotron Center that recently held an NHL pre-season game. If the league decides to go through with expansion, a new team might not start play until the 2017-18 season.
SOCCER
Major Arena Soccer League: The MASL's Detroit Waza Flo team, which has been based in suburban Melvindale, will move to Flint (MI) and play home games at the Dort Federal Event Center starting with the 2015-16 season. The team will now be referred to as simply the Waza Flo. If the team is well-received at its new home, the team could add Flint to its name.
United Soccer League: The Austin Aztex of the Division-III USL announced the team will not play during the 2016 season as it continues to look for a new stadium for the 2017 season. The Austin Aztex moved up to the USL from the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League for the 2015 season and was granted a one-year waiver to play home games at a high school stadium.
North American Soccer League: The Division-II NASL announced a new chairman as the league goes through some changes. The league operated the Carolina RailHawks (Cary, NC) for most of the 2015 season after suspending the team's owner. The league plans to add teams in Puerto Rico and Miami in 2016 and other possible teams in the future, but the fate of the RailHawks is uncertain and the Minnesota United FC will most likely move up to the MLS in a couple of years. The NASL is also facing competition from Division-I Major League Soccer and the Division-III United Soccer League, which has been growing and has talked about applying for Division-II status.
National Premier Soccer League: The men's elite amateur NPSL recently announced two additional new teams called the North County Battalion (Carlsbad, CA) and the Birmingham (AL) Hammers have been added for the 2016 season. The Battalion will be placed in the West Region's Southwest Conference, while Birmingham will be placed in the South Region's Southeast Conference.
OTHER
Continental Indoor Lacrosse League: The CILL completed its 2015 season last weekend and had only eight participating teams after the Milwaukee Marauders dropped out just prior to the start of the season.
Dan Krieger is the creator of the Leagues, Teams & Nicknames 2014-15: "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 October 5, 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.
