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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
October 25, 2021 - ECHL (ECHL)


BASEBALL

Pioneer Baseball League: The PBL, which completed its first season in 2021 as an independent league and one of Major League Baseball's "partner leagues", announced plans to hold a prospects combine with the California Winter League (CWL) next month in Macon (GA). The PBL had eight teams in the 2021 season and plans to expand by two more teams for 2022. The CWL plays a four-week winter season in January and February with all games played at a complex in Palm Springs (CA). Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the CWL held some exhibition games in 2021 instead of its normal season. The CWL still lists itself as the "Official Winter League of the Frontier League".

The Western League: The independent Pecos League's short fall-season TWF started its 2021 season this week with only two teams called the Bakersfield Blues and Salina Stockade. The teams are only playing 12 games through November 18, 2021. All games are played at Sam Lynn Park in Bakersfield (CA).

Arizona Complex League: Major League Baseball's pure rookie-level Arizona Complex League, previously known as the Arizona League, completed its 2021 season last month with 18 teams aligned in six-team East, Central and West divisions. The season ran from mid-June to mid-September with most of the games played at MLB spring training complexes. The league did not play in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Florida Complex League: Major League Baseball's pure rookie-level Florida Complex League, previously known as the Gulf Coast League, completed its 2021 season last month with 18 teams aligned in five-team East and North divisions and an eight-team South division. The season ran from mid-June through mid-September with games played at MLB spring training complexes. The league did not play in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Empire Baseball League: The independent Empire League recently announced it will hold a Fall Instructional Showcase League in Fort Myers (FL) from November 10 to December 12, 2021.

BASKETBALL

American Basketball Association: The semi-pro ABA announced a team called the Dunedin (FL) Flight has been added as a 2022-23 expansion team.

Canadian Elite Basketball League: The Edmonton Stingers, the champion of the 2021 minor professional CEBL, will be participating in the Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA) competition that will run from December 2021 to August 2022 and feature 12 teams aligned in 4 groups. Group play will reduce the field to eight teams that will then compete in single-elimination games leading to a championship. In addition to one team from Canada, there will be three teams from Argentina, three from Brazil, two from Uruguay, and one team each from Chile, Nicaragua and Puerto Rico.

The Basketball League: The minor professional TBL recently announced the Kentucky Enforcers team from the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati market has been added as a 2022 expansion team. The Enforcers have been around since 2016 and played in several leagues. The Enforcers were part of the 2019 North American Basketball League and have played some games this year as part of the Official Basketball Association's 2021 Fall League.

Women's American Basketball Association: The WABA held a four-team 2021 championship tournament this weekend in Augusta (GA) to end a shortened 2021 season. The 2021 season started in August, but as of September 20, 2021, the league decided to end the regular-season due to various restrictions that teams were facing from the coronavirus (COVID-19). Thirty teams participated in the 2021 season with teams playing anywhere from 5 to 11 regular-season games.

FOOTBALL

Indoor Football League: The IFL's current league map shows 16 teams with the Columbus (OH) Wild Dogs expansion team listed as starting in 2023 instead of 2022. All 11 teams from last season are expected to return in 2022. The three teams called the San Diego Strike Force, Quad City Steamwheelers and Bay Area Panthers (formerly the Oakland Panthers team that relocated to San Jose) will return. The IFL will also add the Vegas Knight Hawks as a 2022 expansion team.

United States Football League: It looks like Fox Sports is getting involved in the proposed revival of the USFL and wants to use Birmingham (AL) as a possible site for all games in the first season that would start on April 15, 2022. The teams would move to individual cities, including Birmingham, after the first season. The league could also go by a new name-the National Spring Football League.

HOCKEY

ECHL: The minor professional ECHL, which had only 14 of its 26 teams participating in the 2020-21 season, started its 2021-22 season this week with 27 teams. The Brampton Beast (Ontario) decided to withdraw from the league, but the ECHL added two expansion teams called the Trois-Rivieres (Quebec) Lions and the Iowa Heartlanders (Coralville). The 13-team Eastern Conference features a six-team North Division and a seven-team South Division, while the 14-team Western Conference has a seven-team Central Division and a seven-team Mountain Division.

Canadian Premier Junior Hockey League: After sitting out the 2020-21 season due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the CPJHL was set to start the 2021-22 season with only four teams but announced this week the cancellation of its entire season without playing a regular-season game due to a lack of players. One of the league's four proposed teams dropped out last month and a replacement team called Universal College was scheduled to play only four road games.

Professional Women's Hockey Players Association: The PWHPA recently announced the first stop on its Secret Dream Gap Tour for 2021-22 will be held in Truro (Nova Scotia) next month and feature the organization's teams from Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Boston, which was previously the team based in New Hampshire.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer: The MLS, which took over trying to sell the league's Real Salt Lake and has been working with local management to operate the team this season, hopes to finalize a sale by the end of the year and confirmed there are no plans for moving the team to a different location.

National Independent Soccer Association: The NISA, which operates a Division-III men's professional league, started play with its amateur-level NISA Nation last month with six teams in a Northeast Region. The NISA Nation is for independent teams looking to eventually develop into NISA professional teams and hopes to add other regions in the future. The inaugural NISA Nation season runs through November.

USL League Two (United Soccer League): The men's pre-professional USL League Two announced the St. Croix SC, based in Stillwater (MN) east of St. Paul, has been added to the league for the 2022 season.

USL W-League (United Soccer League): The new women's pre-professional USL W-League announced the Midwest United FC, based in the Grand Rapids (MI) area, has been added for the league's inaugural 2022 season. The Midwest United FC was part of United Women's Soccer in the 2021 season.

United Women's Soccer: The Kansas City (KS) Courage of the pro-am UWS will be adding a lower-level team to the UWS League Two for the 2022 season. Another Kansas City (KS) area team called the Sunflower State FC (Overland Park) will also be joining the UWS League Two for the 2022 season.

OTHER

Premier Rugby Sevens: The new Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s) held its inaugural pilot tournament in Memphis earlier this month as it tries to develop a men's and women's seven-player rugby league, possibly starting in 2022. The tournament included four teams (Loonies, Headliners, Loggerheads and Experts) that had both men's and women's teams competing, while two other teams (The Experts and Locals) had only men's 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.


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