Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on October 12, 2015 under Premier Hockey Federation (PHF)
BASEBALL
Atlantic League: The legal battle involving a proposed ballpark in Loudoun County (VA) for a possible Atlantic League franchise has been delayed about five months due to the illness of the head of the ballpark investment group, which has not been able to obtain financing to build the ballpark. The developer of the property that will be home to the ballpark is trying to remove the original group, so a new group can step in and move forward on building a ballpark.
Prospect League: The summer-collegiate Prospect League officially announced a new team will play in Lafayette (IN) for the 2016 season. The owner of the new Lafayette team also owns the league's Kokomo (IN) Jackrabbits and Jamestown (NY) Jammers teams. The ownership of the league's Richmond (IN) RiverRats announced the team will be relocating to a yet-to-be-determined city after seven seasons in the league.
South Atlantic League: Officials in Macon (GA), which previously had a team called the Macon Braves in the low Class-A team in the SAL before it move to Rome (GA) for the 2003 season, recently approved a feasibility study to determine if the city could support a minor professional baseball team. The summer-collegiate Coastal Plain League has expressed interest in placing a team in Macon
BASKETBALL
American Basketball Association: The ABA announced a new team called the Georgia Kingz, based in Augusta, will be part of the upcoming 2015-16 season that starts next month.
Tobacco Road Basketball League: The TRBL has posted its 2015-16 schedule and alignment that will feature five-team East and five-team West divisions of full-schedule teams, along with four sanctioned travel/exhibition teams. The East includes the returning Bull City Legacy (Durham, NC), the Cary (NC) Invasion, Lumbertown Showstoppers (formerly the Robeson County Showstoppers), Raleigh (NC) Revolt and Wilmington (NC) Seadawgs. The West includes the returning Auburn Pro Elite (formerly the D-Elite Flyers), Charlotte Elite, Greensboro (NC) Cobras, Huntersville (NC) HoopsForLyfe and Savannah Cavaliers, a 2014-15 exhibition team. Savannah is not listed on the current schedule and Auburn is listed for only six road games. The season runs from early November 2015 to late April 2016.
FOOTBALL
American Indoor Football: The AIF has added the Florida Tarpons, based just south of Fort Myers in Estero, and the Myrtle Beach (SC) Freedom to its new Southern Division for the 2016 season. The Florida Tarpons started play in the 2012 season of the United Indoor Football League, played the next two seasons (2013-14) as part of the Ultimate Indoor Football League and moved to the X-League Indoor Football for the 2015 season. The Myrtle Beach Freedom was announced this summer as a 2016 X-League expansion team, but moved to the AIF when the X-League recently ceased operations.
Indoor Football League: The IFL announced its 2016 regular season schedule that will feature ten returning teams and two new teams. The league also realigned the teams into divisions within the two conferences. The United Conference features a North Division with the Cedar Rapids Titans, Green Bay Blizzard and Minnesota Axemen (formerly the Bemidji Axemen) and a Midwest Division with the Iowa Barnstormers, Sioux Falls Storm and the new Minnesota Havok (Mankato). The Intense Conference will have a Central Division with the Colorado Crush (formerly the Colorado Ice), Nebraska Danger, and Wichita Falls Nighthawks and a West Division with the Billings Wolves, Tri-Cities Fever and the Spokane Shock, which joined the IFL from the Arena Football League. Each team will play 16 games from late February to late June 2016.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The 30-team AHL, which has each team affiliated with a team in the National Hockey League, started its 2015-16 season this week with some significant changes to its alignment. The league added five new California-based teams to a new Pacific Division and went from three to two divisions per Eastern and Western conference. The five new California teams were created by the relocation of five AHL franchises - the Oklahoma City Barons becoming the Bakersfield Condors, the Manchester (NH) Monarchs becoming the Ontario Reign, the Worcester (MA) Sharks becoming the San Jose Barracuda, the Adirondack Flames (Glens Falls, NY) becoming the Stockton Heat and the Norfolk Admirals becoming the San Diego Gulls. In addition, the St. John's IceCaps (Newfoundland), an affiliate of the NHL's Winnipeg Jets, were moved to Winnipeg to become the Manitoba Moose, while the Hamilton Bulldogs were moved to St. John's to become another version of the IceCaps.
Professional Inline Hockey Association: The PIHA started its 2015-16 season last month with the "Pros" division consisting of an Eastern Conference with an eight-team Atlantic Division and a Western Conference with a five-team Rocky Mountain Division. The PIHA "Semipro" division has a thirteen-team Atlantic Division and a seven-team Rocky Mountain Division. The PIHA started play in 2002 and features four skaters and a goalie per team with no checking or fighting. This past summer, the PIHA announced a Hawaii Division of four to six teams will be added this season at the "Semipro" level.
National Women's Hockey League: The new four-team professional NWHL started its inaugural 2015-16 season this weekend. Teams called the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale (Stamford) and New York Riveters (Brooklyn) will each play 18 games from October 2015 to late February 2016.
Canadian Women's Hockey League: The elite-level CWHL announced late last month that its Montreal Stars team has been renamed the Montreal Les Canadiennes for the 2015-16 season as part of a promotional and financial assistance partnership with the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens. The league's Calgary Inferno and Toronto Furies have similar partnerships with the respective NHL teams (Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs) in their cities. The five-team league also has teams called the Boston Blades and Brampton (Ontario) Thunder. The CWHL will start its ninth season next weekend.
SOCCER
United Soccer League: The Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer plans to announce the name of its 2016 USL expansion team at the end of the month. The new Union-owned USL team will serve as a development team for the MLS team and play home games at Lehigh University in Bethlehem (PA).
American Soccer League: The professional ASL, which completed its inaugural Fall-Spring 2014-15 season earlier this year, recently announced a Baltimore-based team called the IFK Maryland will be part of the league's second season that will now operate on a spring-summer schedule. The IFK Maryland club is affiliated with the Swedish soccer club called IFK Goteborg. The league has another Maryland-based team called the Evergreen Diplomats based in Hyattsville, about 30 miles southwest of Baltimore.
OTHER
American Ultimate Disc League: The professional AUDL announced two new expansion teams called the Austin Sol and the Dallas Roughnecks will join the league's South Division for the 2016 season. The addition of these teams finalizes the seven-team South Division, but the league stated there could still be changes in the East and Midwest divisions before the start of the 2016 season. There will be no changes to the six-team West Division, but the AUDL announced the Salt Lake City Lions team, which played in the West Division for the 2014 season and sat out the 2015 season, will not return after the league purchased back the franchise rights from the original owner.
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.
Premier Hockey Federation Stories from October 12, 2015
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
- Pride Takes First Game 4-1 - Boston Pride
- Whale Wins Opener - Connecticut Whale
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.
