Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on December 21, 2015 under American Indoor Football (AIF)

BASEBALL

Texas League: The city of Amarillo recently approved funding toward a new downtown baseball stadium and now plans to hire a group to assist in attracting an affiliated Double-A team in the Texas League rather than use the stadium for the city's current Amarillo ThunderHeads team in the independent American Association. This move hinges on whether the San Antonio Missions, a current Texas League member, is successful in building a stadium to Triple-A standards and obtaining a Triple-A franchise in the Pacific Coast League, thus making the Missions Double-A team available for relocation. Amarillo officials want an agreement for a Double-A team in place before stadium construction begins and, if that cannot be worked out, the stadium would be scaled back for an independent team. If the San Antonio Texas League franchise becomes available, other potential markets could also enter the bidding.

Desert League: The new Desert League of Professional Baseball is a fall independent league that will start play in August 2016 with teams playing a 60-game schedule into October. The league states that it is targeting first-year professional players and that this will not be a pay-to-play league. The Desert League has approved five cities to host teams: Yuma (AZ), San Luis (AZ), Brawley (CA), Adelanto (CA) and El Centro (CA). The league will also feature a travel team called the Imperial County Travelers.

Empire Pro Baseball League: The new independent four-team Empire Pro League is being organized from the remnants of last season's North County Baseball League (NCBL), which was started when the proposed East Coast Baseball League disbanded after failing to get off the ground for a 2015 season. The Empire Pro League will operate in the former NCBL markets of Old Orchard Beach (ME) and Watertown (NY) and those teams will keep their NCBL names - the Old Orchard Beach Surge and Watertown Bucks. Two other teams in New York State called the Rome City Explorers and the Albany Wild will also be part of the new league. The NCBL had a travel team called the Road City Explorers in 2015. Originally, the Empire Pro League was planned for a 2017 start, but that was moved up to 2016. Teams will play a 60-game schedule in the months of June and July.

U.S. Baseball League: The new owners of the baseball stadium known as Price Cutter Park in Ozark (MO) are reported to be planning to use it as the home for the new U.S. Baseball League in 2016. Two leagues called the Heartland of America Baseball League (HABL) and the Ozarks Professional Baseball League (OPBL) were competing in negotiations to purchase and use Price Cutter Park for all league games in 2015. The HABL never started play, while the OPBL ended up playing some games in other locations before shutting down in July 2015. New ownership for Price Cutter Park was announced in August 2015.

South Florida Winter League: The SFWL completed its inaugural 2015 season with four teams each playing 28 games from mid-October to mid-November 2015. Teams included the Coco Expo Wild, Clutch Performance Beach Dawgs, Florida Jets and the Villains. All games were played at the Cocoa Expo Center. A two-week spring season is also being planned for four teams in March 2016.

BASKETBALL

American Basketball Association: The ABA started its 2015-16 season with over 90 teams and recently announced a "Focus on Expansion" plan to try to expand into areas not yet covered by the league. Some of these areas include Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and western Canada. The ABA also announced a team called the Windy City Groove (Chicago) will be part of the ABA's Midwest Division for the remainder of the 2015-16 season. A team by the same name was part of the Midwest Professional Basketball Association's inaugural 2015 winter-spring season and plans to return this season. The MPBA has stated it is exploring legal action against the ABA organization.

National Basketball Association Development League (D-League): The NBA's Chicago Bulls have identified Great Lakes Bulls, Heartland Bulls and Windy City Bulls as the three nickname finalists for the name of its new D-League team that will operate in suburban Hoffman Estates next season. The NBA's Charlotte Hornets also plan to own and operate a D-League team next season and it will be based out of Greensboro (NC). The Hornets are deciding as to whether Greensboro Attack, Greensboro Buzz or Greensboro Swarm will be the name of their new D-League team. The NBA's Brooklyn Nets new D-League team will be called the Long Island Nets when it starts play next season. The Long Island Nets will play the 2016-17 season based in Brooklyn and move to a renovated Nassau Coliseum on Long Island for the 2017-18 season. With the addition of these three new teams, the D-League membership will total 22 teams. The D-League is working toward a total of 30 teams - one for each of the 30 NBA teams.

United Basketball League: The semi-pro UBL is preparing for its tenth season that will start in February 2016. The league announced it will add new teams in Baton Rouge (LA), Dallas, Dexter (MO), Little Rock, Monroe (LA), Tulsa and Waterloo (IA).

FOOTBALL

Supreme Indoor Football: The Buffalo Lightning indoor football team, which played its first season in 2015 as part of American Indoor Football, announced it will be part of the new SIF for the 2016 season. As of now, the SIF includes three teams: the Buffalo Lightning, Cape Fear Heroes (Fayetteville, NC) and the Kentucky Knights (Owensboro).

American Indoor Football: The AIF announced it has added the Northshore Gators, based in Slidell (LA), as a 2016 expansion team. The Northshore Gators were previously affiliated with North American Indoor Football. The Gators have been added to the Southern Division, but the league remains at 23 teams as the Pineywood Bucks (Henderson, TX) are no longer listed.

North American Indoor Football: The NAIF recently announced the seven teams that will be part of the league's first full season in 2016 and has now posted the 2016 schedule. Teams are scheduled eight to nine games from mid-March to mid-June 2016. The league includes five Texas-based teams, a team from Mexico and a travel-only team based out of Kearney (NE). The NAIF is also planning a developmental team based in Puerto Rico.

Indoor Global Football League: The proposed new IGFL plans to start play in March 2016 and currently lists three member teams: the Florida Wildcats (Orlando), Louisiana Bobcats (Lake Charles) and South Florida Thunder (West Palm Beach). The league's Florida Wildcats were once announced as a member of the proposed North American Indoor Football. The IGFL is organizing a team of USA Stars that will play an international game called the Unity Bowl in Brazil against a Brazilian team in March 2016.

HOCKEY

National Hockey League: The developer of a proposed new arena in Virginia Beach (VA) is hoping the venue becomes home to an NHL team or a National Basketball Association franchise. The NHL has been talking about possible expansion, but it is uncertain if Virginia Beach would be considered. Virginia Beach is part of the Hampton Roads area, which lost out in the NHL's round of expansion in the late 1990s with a proposed team to be called the Hampton Roads Rhinos. The Hampton Roads area had been home to the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League for the past several years, but that team moved to San Diego and was replaced by a Norfolk Admirals team in the lower-level ECHL for the 2015-16 season. The NHL is interested in the Seattle market for possible expansion, but a new arena would be needed. The NHL recently rejected plans by an investment group to renovate the city's KeyArena so it could become home to an NHL expansion team.

American Inline Hockey League: The AIHL started its 2015-16 season last weekend and again has an Elite level of teams and a lower Minor level of teams. The Elite level has 16 teams aligned into Pacific North, New England, Pacific South/Southwest and Mid-Atlantic divisions. The Minor level has 26 teams aligned into Pacific North, New England, Pacific South and Atlantic divisions. The AIHL started play in the 2008-09 season.

SOCCER

United Soccer League: The USL's Pittsburgh Riverhounds have entered into an affiliation agreement with the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer for the 2016. The Riverhounds will be used by the Crew for developmental and reserve players. The Crew had been affiliated with the USL's Austin Aztex, but that team will sit out the 2016 season as it looks for a new home venue. The Riverhounds were affiliated with the Houston Dynamo of the MLS in 2014, but did not have an MLS affiliation in 2015.

Premier Arena Soccer League: The PASL, which serves as the reserve/developmental league for the Major Arena Soccer League, has started its 2015-16 indoor season. The current standings list 20 teams aligned into a six-team Midwest Division, a five-team Rocky Mountain Division, a four-team South Central Division and a five-team Southwest Division.

OTHER

World TeamTennis: The owner of the Austin Aces in the WTT is moving the team to Newport Beach (CA) where the team will be called the Orange County Breakers for the 2016 season. The owner purchased the league's previous WTT franchise called the Orange County Breakers after the 2013 season and moved the team to Austin where it lasted only two seasons. The status of the league's Sacramento-based California Dream is uncertain as it faces a lawsuit from a vendor for an unpaid bill. The Dream completed its first season in the league after the Texas Wild (Irving) moved to Sacramento for the 2015 season. The WTT had a former long-time member called the Sacramento Capitals that was part of the league from 1986 through the 2013 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.

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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.