Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
November 9, 2015 - American Indoor Football (AIF)

BASEBALL

Atlantic League: The new independent Atlantic League team to be based in New Britain (CT) will be called the New Britain Bees when it starts play in 2016. The nickname won out over four other names: Hammer, Hard Hitters, Hornets and Stingers. A group in Virginia Beach (VA) is working to finalize the lease and construction details on a new 5,000-seat stadium that is to be built for a new Atlantic League team called the Virginia Beach Neptunes. Groundbreaking is expected to be in April 2016 with the stadium opening for play in 2017.

Frontier League: A developer in Parkersburg (WV) has donated the land for a proposed ballpark that could become home to a new Frontier League team, but funding for ballpark construction still needs to be worked out. The owner of the league's Washington (PA) Wild Things team is involved with trying to bring a team to Parkersburg, which had a former Frontier League team called the Ohio Valley Redcoats for six seasons (1993-98).

International League: A group in Worcester (MA) has identified a site on which a proposed new stadium could be built for the relocated Pawtucket (RI) Red Sox (PawSox) of the Triple-A International League. The new ownership of the PawSox has expressed interest in moving out of the older McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket and an attempted stadium plan in Providence (RI) was rejected in September 2015. The current PawSox stadium lease runs through the 2020 season.

Prospect League: The summer-collegiate Prospect League announced a new team based in the Chicago suburb of Lisle (IL) will be part of the league in the 2016 season. After one season in the Prospect League, the Jamestown (NY) Jammers announced the team is moving to the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League for the 2016 season. The PGCBL has several other teams based in the State of New York.

American Association: The Amarillo Thunderheads of the independent AA have expressed interest in operating a proposed new downtown ballpark that was recently approved by city voters. The city also sent informational packets on the new stadium to the independent Atlantic League, which has been looking for other Texas markets to go with its only team in Sugar Land, and the affiliated Double-A Texas League, which last had an Amarillo team in 1982. The Texas League market of San Antonio has been trying to build a new stadium for a possible Triple-A team and there has been speculation the San Antonio Missions Texas League team would then move to Amarillo.

BASKETBALL

Women's National Basketball Association: The WNBA announced the former Tulsa Shock team that is relocating to Dallas-Fort Worth for the 2016 season will be called the Dallas Wings. The Wings will play home games on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington. The Shock joined the WNBA as a 1998 expansion team called the Detroit Shock and then moved to Tulsa for the 2010 season.

National Basketball Association Development League (D-League): The National Basketball Association's Brooklyn Nets announced they will own and operate an NBA D-League team called the Long Island Nets starting with the 2016-17 season. The team will play home games at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for its first season and move to a renovated Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island for the 2017-18 season. The addition of Long Island brings the league to 21 teams with 12 of those teams being fully owned and operated by NBA teams. The D-League is working toward 30 teams, one for each of the 30 NBA teams, and is actively talking to NBA teams without their own D-League affiliate.

New Era Basketball Association: The men's NEBA, which plans to start a 2015 season next week and another season in early 2016, announced plans to launch a women's professional basketball league called the WNEBA in the spring of 2016. The league hopes to have 8 teams each playing a 16-game schedule.

Midwest Professional Basketball Association: The men's MPBA has taken over control of its two Chicago-based teams called the Chicago Force and Windy City Groove as the league prepares for its second season that will start in January 2016. The league could not come to an agreement with previous ownership for the 2016 season, so it exercised an option to assume control of both teams.

FOOTBALL

American Indoor Football: The Saginaw (MI) Sting, which was part of the 2015 AIF and decided to leave the league and join a new version of the Continental Indoor Football League, announced plans to return to the AIF for the 2016 season. The St. Louis Attack, which left X-League Indoor Football (X-League) after the 2015 season to join the AIF, has come under new ownership and the team has been renamed the River City Raiders for the 2016 season. This team started as the Missouri Monsters in the 2013 Ultimate Indoor Football League before becoming the St. Louis Attack in a move to the X-League for the 2014 season.

Supreme Indoor Football: The owner of the new SIF, which currently includes the Cape Fear Heroes (Fayetteville, NC) as its only team, hopes to have eight teams in two divisions for the 2016 indoor season. Names of the other teams should be announced next month. The SIF owner has also established a new national governing body for indoor football called the Indoor Football Alliance that also includes a new version of the Continental Indoor Football League.

Fall Experimental Football League: The outdoor FXFL, which is trying to become a developmental league for the National Football League, cancelled the last of a total of six games on the 2015 schedule. The season ended with the Brooklyn Bolts playing in all five games (4-1), the Hudson Valley Fort playing three games (0-3) and the Blacktips travel team playing in two games (1-1). An announced fourth team called the Mahoning Valley Brawlers (Niles, NY) was dropped just prior to the start of the 2015 season.

HOCKEY

Federal Hockey League: The A-level FHL started its 2015-16 season this weekend with six teams. Of the six teams from last season, the league lost four teams, added four other teams and had one team relocate. Only the Danville (IL) Dashers remain the same from last season. The Steel City Warriors (Belle Vernon, PA), Danbury (CT) Whalers, Watertown (NY) Wolves and Dayton Demonz did not return for the 2015-16 season. The Watertown Wolves went dormant due to arena renovations. The four new teams added for 2015-16 included the Berlin (NH) River Drivers, Brewster (NY) Bulldogs (originally called the Stateline Whalers), Danbury Titans and Port Huron (MI) Prowlers. The Berkshire Battalion moved from North Adams (MA) and took over the Dayton market as the Dayton Demolition for the 2015-16 season.

SOCCER

North American Soccer League: A potential ownership group is trying to bring a team called the Chicago Sting into the Division-II NASL in time for the 2017 season. The president of the league's current Indy Eleven team in Indianapolis is assisting the new Chicago group. A previous soccer team called the Chicago Sting played ten seasons (1975-84) as part of the original top-level NASL and eventually ended its history as an indoor soccer team in 1988. The owner of the NASL's San Antonio Scorpions has reached an agreement to sell its stadium to the city and Bexar County. The stadium will then be leased to Spurs Sports & Entertainment, which owns the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. The new group plans to expand and upgrade the stadium to lure a Major League Soccer franchise to the city.

Major League Soccer: A feasibility study ordered by the Sacramento Republic FC of the United Soccer League stated that Sacramento would be a viable market for a MLS team. MLS is interested in the Sacramento market, but it is uncertain when a franchise would be awarded. The league seems more interested in finalizing new stadium construction for previously awarded expansion franchises in Miami and Minnesota.

United Soccer Leagues "" W-League: The USL announced that its women's W-League, which has been around since the 1995 season, has ceased operations and will not return for a 2016 season. After growing to as many as 41 teams in the 2009 season, the W-League operated with 18 teams in the 2015 season and stated there was an insufficient number of teams for next season. The W-League started as the United States Interregional Women's Soccer League with its first full schedule in 1995, after several teams participated in a short 1994 trial season. The league was then split into two separate leagues called the W-1 League (elite-level players) and the W-2 League for five seasons (1998-2001). The W-League, along with the Women's Premier Soccer League, was considered the second tier of women's soccer behind the National Women's Soccer League. For the 2006 season, the USL started a Super-20 league for female players between 17 and 20 years old and that league was renamed the W-20 League, as it became more closely affiliated with the W-League starting with the 2013 season. The USL has not ruled out the possibility of the W-League's return in the future.

OTHER

Premier Series Lacrosse: The semi-pro PSL started its inaugural short season last month with four teams called the Admirals, Bombers, Rangers and Snipers after different aspects of the United States military. All games will be played at The Rink at Lehigh Valley in Whitehall (PA) over three weekend events in October and November. A championship series is planned for December in Hingham (MA). The PSL teams will be made up of mostly American-based players.

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.

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