Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
November 23, 2015 - Professional Rugby Organization (PRO Rugby)

BASEBALL

American Association: The independent AA announced it will reduce from 13 to 12 teams for the 2016 season. The Southern Independent Baseball group, which owns both AA teams called the Amarillo Thunderheads and the Grand Prairie AirHogs, will combine the teams into one "Texas" team for the 2016 season with a team nickname to be announced later. The team will play half of its 50 home games in Amarillo and the other half in Grand Prairie for 2016. The league wanted to move to an even number of teams especially after a four-year run of an interlocking schedule between the AA and Can-Am League was discontinued for the 2016 season. The only change in divisional alignment for 2016 will involve the South Division that will go from five to four teams with the combination of Amarillo and Grand Prairie. The four-team North and Central divisions will remain the same as last season. The AA expects both the Amarillo and Grand Prairie teams to operate independently again in 2017.

Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League: The summer-collegiate Great Lakes League announced a new team called the Richmond (IN) Jazz will be part of the 2016 season. The Richmond RiverRats team in the summer-collegiate Prospect League announced last month the team was moving out of Richmond after seven seasons. The Great Lakes League also announced a new team called the Irish Hills Leprechauns will be part of the 2016 season. The team will play home games at Siena Heights University in Adrian (MI).

Great West League: The new summer-collegiate GWL, which plans to start play in 2016 with two teams in Oregon and four teams in northern California, announced the new Sacramento team will be called the Sacramento Stealth.

New England Collegiate Baseball League: The Laconia (NH) Muskrats team in the summer-collegiate NECBL announced the team will take on the new regional Winnipesauke Muskrats name starting with the 2016 season.

BASKETBALL

Champions League: Basketball's new Champions League plans to launch in 2016 with a proposed 16 teams each playing a 30-game schedule in July and August. The league plans to have teams stocked mainly with former National Basketball Association players, although the league is not affiliated with the NBA. A New York team was reported to be organized and other teams in Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Miami, Orlando, Philadelphia and Washington (DC) are said to be in development.

Eastern Basketball Alliance: The EBA states on its web site that play has been suspended for 2016. The league has been around in some form since 1996 and over the past few seasons has generally played a winter schedule from January to early April. The league has had various teams come and go over the years with the Harrisburg Horizon being the most stable member. Over the past couple of seasons, the EBA was trying to branch out with a Southern Division of teams in Georgia.

National Basketball Association Development League (D-League): As the NBA D-League tries to grow to 30 teams with each team acting as an affiliate for an NBA team, the city of Omaha (NE) has expressed an interest in hosting a future D-League team. NBA teams like the Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, which do not possess their own current D-League affiliate, have been mentioned as possibilities for an Omaha-based D-League team.

Central Basketball Development League: The CBDL announced the Savannah Cavaliers team, which was a proposed CBDL team announced for the 2015 season, has joined the league for the 2016 season.

FOOTBALL

American Indoor Football: The AIF announced schedules for some of its 2016 teams and currently lists 22 teams aligned into an eleven-team Northern Division and an eleven-team Southern Division. A recent addition to the Southern Division is the Albany-based Georgia Firebirds team, which was associated with the proposed North American Indoor Football (NAIF) and played as an exhibition/fill-in team for X-League Indoor Football (X-League) during the 2015 season. Before the X-League folded after the 2015 season, it had announced plans for an Albany-based 2016 expansion team called the South Georgia Heat. Another Southern Division team called the Steel City Menace (Pueblo, CO) is the former Denver-based Mile High Menace, which was associated with the NAIF before switching to the AIF and changing its name in a move to Pueblo. The Harrisburg-based Central PA Capitals, which operated as the York (PA) Capitals last season, are now listed as the Central Penn or Penn Capitals. Previously listed AIF teams that are not longer listed included the Buffalo Lightning and the ASI Panthers (Reading, PA).

Arena Football League: Although the AFL is currently down to eight teams for the 2016 season, the league is planning significant expansion for 2017 as it tries to work with owners in the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League to operate AFL teams in their markets. Sacramento, Washington (DC) and possibly San Antonio could have future AFL teams, along with as many as three teams in Mexico.

North American Indoor Football: The proposed NAIF, which plans to start its inaugural full season in 2016, announced a new team called the Tunica (MS) Stallions has joined the league.

Legends Football League: The indoor women's LFL, formerly known as the Lingerie Football League before re-branding in 2013, announced a new team called the New England Liberty based in Manchester (NH). The Liberty will be part of a four-team Eastern Conference in 2016 and will join the returning Atlanta Steam, Chicago Bliss and Omaha Heart. The Western Conference lost the Las Vegas Sin from last season, but the returning Los Angeles Temptation and Seattle Mist will join the expansion Austin Acoustic and Dallas Desire in 2016 as part of an eight-team league. The LFL had a team called the New England Euphoria that was announced for the first season of league play in 2009-10, but plans to play at a venue in Providence (RI) fell through and the team never started play.

HOCKEY

ECHL: The ownership of the ECHL's Evansville IceMen claimed this could be the team's last season in the city if a new lease for the 2016-17 season is not signed by December 1, 2015. The ownership has not been satisfied with the high cost of its arena lease and is seeking better terms from the city to prevent continual financial losses. The Evansville IceMen team has been around since the 2008-09 season and joined the ECHL from the Central Hockey League for the 2012-13 season.

Southern Professional Hockey League: The new SPHL team based in Roanoke (VA) will be called the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs when it starts play in the 2016-17 season. The Roanoke ownership had been involved with the SPHL's Biloxi-based Mississippi Surge, which played five seasons (2009-13) in the league before going dormant. Roanoke's most recent pro hockey teams were the Roanoke Express (1992-2004) in the ECHL and the Roanoke Valley Vipers (2005-06) in the United Hockey League.

SOCCER

North American Soccer League: The new ownership of the stadium used by the NASL's San Antonio Scorpions is more interested in a United Soccer League team for the stadium instead of an NASL team.

National Premier Soccer League: The men's elite-level NPSL announced a new team called Boston FC has joined and will be part of the Northeast Region's North Atlantic Conference when the team starts play in 2016. The Indy Eleven (Indianapolis) of the Division-II North American Soccer League announced it has assumed the league membership of the NPSL's Indiana Fire team, based in the Westfield area of Indianapolis, and will operate the developmental team as the Indy Eleven NPSL in the 2016 season. The Indiana Fire was a member of the NPSL for the past two seasons (2014-15).

National Women's Soccer League: The NWSL is expanding to ten teams in 2016 with the addition of the Orlando Pride and the league would like to add two teams in the next round of expansion with one of those possibly located in Canada. The NWSL includes several players allocated from the Canadian national team. No specific Canadian cities have been mentioned for expansion, but the men's Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer have previously expressed interest in the NWSL for a women's team.

OTHER

Professional Rugby Organization (PRO Rugby): The new PRO Rugby announced plans to start a professional 15-a-side rugby union league in North America with six United States-based teams starting competition in April 2016. Initial teams will be located in California, the Northeast and the Rocky Mountains with Canadian teams planned for the 2017 season. The PRO Rugby competition is sanctioned by the USA Rugby and World Rugby organizations. PRO Rugby announced the first two teams will be located in Sacramento and San Francisco. There has been speculation that Denver, Philadelphia and New York will also be home to 2016 teams in the inaugural season and Toronto could be one of the Canadian locations in 2017. Another rugby union league called the National Rugby Football League, which is not sanctioned by USA Rugby, has also been trying to organize for a 2016 start.

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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Professional Rugby Organization Stories from November 23, 2015

• Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
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