Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on August 9, 2021 under Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL)
BASEBALL
Coastal Plain League: As the Florence (SC) RedWolves of the summer-collegiate CPL move to a new stadium in May 2022, the team has been renamed the Florence Flamingos. The team took its new name for the last game of the 2021 season on July 31, 2021. The other nickname finalists were A-Bombs, Fighting Palmettos, Flapjacks and Magicians.
High-A Central League: The Grand Rapids-based West Michigan Whitecaps of the High-A Central League played a game this weekend as the Beer City Bung Hammers to celebrate the city's craft beer market. A bung is the plug that is hammered into the hole used to fill a beer barrel.
Double-A South League: The Pensacola Blue Wahoos of the Double-A South League will play a game as the Pensacola Crabzillas next week during the "Festival of Crabzilla" and will wear the self-proclaimed Worst Uniforms in Sports History. The Crabzilla is a huge crab-based sandwich served at the ballpark.
Liga Mexicana del Pacifico: The Charros de Jalisco (Guadalajara) team in Mexico's fall-winter LMP, or Mexican Pacific League, is in the process of being sold to the owners of the Mariachis de Guadalajara team in the summertime Liga Mexicana de Béisbol (Mexican Baseball League). As part of the sale the Charros LMP team is expected to be renamed the Caballos de Jalisco for the upcoming LMP season.
BASKETBALL
Women's National Basketball Association: Although the 12-team WNBA has not announced any plans for future expansion, officials in Oakland have granted permission to a potential WNBA ownership group for a team to play in the vacant Oakland Arena. The ownership group has apparently sent a bid to the WNBA for an Oakland-based expansion team.
The Basketball League: The minor professional TBL announced the addition of the Bakersfield Magic as another 2022 expansion team.
American Basketball Association: The semi-pro ABA announced a team called the Talladega (AL) Knights has been added as a 2022-23 expansion team.
Evolution Basketball Association: The semi-pro men's EVA started its inaugural 2021 season this week with ten teams aligned in a five-team North Division and a five-team South Division. Teams are based in Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado. The 2021 season runs through the first week of December 2021.
FOOTBALL
American Flag Football League: The tournament-based AFFL held a 32-team men's event in Indianapolis late last month to narrow the field to 8 teams for the final rounds to be held in Houston starting next weekend. A new eight-team women's division will also hold its 2021 season tournament in Houston during the second weekend of the men's final round. The AFFL was organized in 2017 with plans to have eight league-owned franchises starting 7-on-7 league-play in 2018, but it switched to a tournament-style format with 2018 and 2019 seasons. The 2020 season was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Canadian Football League: The nine-team CFL, which cancelled its entire 2020 season due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, started a shortened 2021 season that will run from August 5 through November 20 with each team playing a 14-game schedule instead of the traditional 18-game schedule. Since the league last played, the Edmonton Eskimos team, which was temporarily known as the Edmonton Football Team, was renamed the Edmonton Elks. The CFL continues to be aligned in a five-team West and a four-team East. The league still hopes to add a fifth East division team in Halifax (Nova Scotia), but progress on a new stadium for the expansion team has been slowed by the coronavirus (COVID-19).
West Coast Arena Football: The proposed WCAF, which plans to start play in 2022, has added the Anaheim Orcas and a team simply listed as the Rhinos to its previously announced four teams called the Bakersfield Pantheons, Fresno Fog, San Francisco Disruptors and Stockton Scorpions.
Indoor Football League: The IFL's San Diego Strike Force team, which sat out the 2021 season, is preparing to hold a tryout camp this month for the team's return in 2022. Another idle team for 2021 called the Oakland Panthers recently announced plans to move to San Jose for next season. The IFL also plans to add a Las Vegas area expansion team and the previously announced Columbus (OH) Wild Dogs expansion team for the 2022 season.
HOCKEY
Alberta Junior Hockey League: The junior-level AJHL, which is a member of the nine-league Junior-A Canadian Junior Hockey League, will grow to 16 teams for the 2021-22 season with the addition of the Blackfalds Bulldogs to the South Division. The AJHL played a shortened schedule last season, but for 2021-22 each team will play a 60-game regular-season schedule through March 2022.
National Women's Hockey League: The NWHL announced its 2021-22 season will feature the same six teams as last season with each team playing a 20-game schedule from November 6, 2021 to March 13, 2022. After playing a shortened two-week 2020-21 regular season in Lake Placid (NY), all teams will return to playing games at their home markets.
Federal Prospects Hockey League: The FPHL's Elmira (NY) Enforcers announced the team will not play in the upcoming 2021-22 season due to a lack of progress on lease negotiations with the operators of the city's First Arena. The team's players will be part of an upcoming dispersal draft but the players will return to the Enforcers for the 2022-23 season when the team hopes to return. The Elmira Enforcers joined the FPHL as an expansion team for the 2018-19 season.
Superior International Junior Hockey League: The SIJHL, which is a member of the nine-league Junior-A Canadian Junior Hockey League, will be adding a new team called the Sioux Lookout (Ontario) Bombers for the 2022-23 season.
Western States Hockey League: The junior-level WSHL, which is considered a Tier-II league under the Amateur Athletic Union's United Hockey Union and sat dormant for the 2020-21 season, announced some more new teams called the Edmonton Eagles, Utah Altitude (Salt Lake City) and Vernal (UT) Oilers have been added for the league's 2021-22 season.
SOCCER
Liga de Expansión MX: Mexico's second-division league called the Liga de Expansión, which is the developmental league for the first-division Liga MX, started the opening phase (Apertura) of its 2021-22 season late last month with 17 teams. All 16 teams from the 2020-21 Apertura/Clausura returned and the league added the Raya2 club, which is based in Guadalupe (Nuevo Leon) and an affiliate of the Rayados de Monterrey club in the Liga MX. Each team will play 16 games in the Apertura phase through November 21, 2021 with the Clausura phase starting in January.
Liga de Balompié Mexicano: Mexico's professional LBM (Mexican Soccer League), which operates outside the Mexican Football Federation, announced its second season will start on August 21, 2021 with eight teams each playing a 14-game schedule through November 20, 2021. The LBM started play in 2020 and had only 7 of 17 teams active by the end of the 2020 season. Six teams that participated in the 2020 season are returning and the league added two new teams called the Deportivo Real Tlamazolan and Halcones Queretaro, which recently changed its name from LimSoccer.
OTHER
National Pro Fastpitch: The women's NPF has shut down operations and it is uncertain if and when the league might resume play. The NPF was forced to cancel its 2020 and 2021 seasons due to the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and preparations for this summer's Tokyo Olympics. The NPF started play in 2004 and last played a 2019 season with six teams. The league currently lists five teams.
Dan Krieger is the creator of the Weekly Sports League & Franchise Report, which has been tracking changes in the sports world's leagues, teams and nicknames since April 2007.
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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.
