Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
January 24, 2022 - Pioneer League (PL)
BASEBALL
Pioneer League: The independent Pioneer League, which is a partner league with Major League Baseball, announced the new team in Kalispel (MT) will be called the Glacier Range Riders when it starts play in the 2022 season. The league operated with eight teams last season and will grow to ten teams with the addition of the Glacier Range Riders to the Northern Division and the Northern Colorado Owlz (Windsor) to the Southern Division.
Triple-A West League: The Sugar Land (TX) Skeeters team, which is a member of the Triple-A West and now owned by Major League Baseball's Houston Astros, plans to announce next week a rebranding of the team to the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. The Skeeters became a Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros starting with the 2021 season after operating as an independent team for nine seasons (2012-20) in the Atlantic League.
Low-A East League: Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox have been considering a move of their Salem (VA) Red Sox team in the Low-A East League to Lowell (MA), but the cost of improvements to bring Lowell's LeLacheur Park up to MLB standards could be prohibitive. The ballpark was home to the Lowell Spinners team that lost its affiliation with the Red Sox when the former short-season Class-A New York-Penn League was shut down as part of the Minor League Baseball reorganization prior to the 2021 season. If the Red Sox leave Salem, the independent Atlantic League has expressed interest in the market.
BASKETBALL
Canadian Elite Basketball League: The commissioner of the men's professional CEBL stated he expects the league to start a new team in Winnipeg by 2024. The CEBL operated with seven teams last season and has added three expansion teams called the Montreal Alliance, Scarborough Shooting Stars (Ontario) and Newfoundland Growlers (St. John's) for the 2022 season.
Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacifico (CIBACOPA): Mexico's nine-team semi-pro CIBACOPA, or Pacific Coast Basketball League, which played about one week of its 2020 season before suspending play and eventually cancelling the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, has set March 17, 2022 as the date for the start of a proposed 2022 season.
The Basketball League: The minor professional TBL has grown from 29 to 43 teams for its 2022 season that will start in March. Ten teams called the Atlanta Empire, Columbus Condors (Ohio), Indy Express (Indianapolis), Midtown Prestige (Wichita), Omaha's Finest, Houston Push, Lewisville (TX) Leopards, San Diego Guardians, Vegas Ballers and West Coast Breeze (San Marcos, CA) did not return from 2021. The league's Albany (NY) Patroons will return after voluntarily sitting out last season, and the league has added 23 new teams called the Atlantic City (NJ) Gambits, Connecticut Cobras (Norwalk), Lehigh Valley Legends (Allentown, PA), Pennsylvania Kings (Lancaster), Reading (PA) Rebels, Central Alabama Jaguars (Montgomery), Tallahassee Southern Kings, Indiana All-Americans (New Castle), Kentucky Enforcers (Florence), Lebanon (IN) Leprechauns, Medora (IN) Timberjacks, Beaumont (TX) Panthers, Potawatomi Fire (Shawnee, OK), Rockwall (TX) 7ers, Sugarland (TX) Imperials, Cincinnati Warriors, Lansing Pharaohs, Toledo Glass City BC, Bakersfield Magic, Salem (OR) Capitals (former 2019 San Diego Waves team), SoCal Moguls (San Diego), Temecula (CA) Eagles and Vancouver (WA ) Volcanoes, which was previously announced as the Portland (OR) Storm expansion team.
Professional Basketball Association: The spring-summer PBA, which completed its inaugural 2021 season with 43 teams in 8 regional divisions across the United States, announced its 2022 Summer Season for both the PBA and the new women's Ladies Professional Basketball Association (LPBA) will run from May 1 through September and feature teams in 6 regional divisions (Northeast, Northwest, South, Midwest, Southwest and Southeast). The PBA is also giving teams the option to be part of a new Winter Season that will run from November 1, 2022 through March 2023.
FOOTBALL
American West Football Conference: The semi-pro indoor AWFC announced the Yakima (WA) Canines team has been suspended for the 2022 season for failing to meet certain league standards. A league-operated travel-only team called the Washington Elite has been formed to play the games that were on Yakima's original road schedule.
Champions Indoor Football: With the CIF removing the Wichita Force franchise last week, the league issued a revised 2022 season schedule that will have the remaining eight teams each playing a ten-game schedule from late February to early June. In addition, each team will play a non-league game in 2022.
Fan Controlled Football: The 7-on-7 indoor fan-interactive FCF, which is the first fan-controlled professional sports league with fans electronically calling plays, received significant funding through sponsorship deals that will allow it to add four new teams for a second season in 2022. The unofficial new team names are the Team Knights of Degen, Team 8oKi, Team Bored Apes and Team Gutter Cats to go with the four returning teams called the Zappers, Glacier Boyz, Wild Aces and Beasts.
Futbol Americano de Mexico: Mexico's American-style springtime football league known as the FAM, which was forced to shorten its 2020 season and cancel its 2021 season due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), plans to return with a 2022 season featuring nine teams to include a new team called the Parrilleros de Monterrey.
Liga de Futbol Americano: Mexico's top professional American-style outdoor football league known as the LFA (American Football League), which shortened its 2020 season and cancelled its 2021 season due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), plans to hold a 2022 season with seven teams each playing a six-game schedule from early March through April.
XFL: The XFL is reported to be in discussions about a possible team in St. Louis when the league makes its return in 2023. The St. Louis BattleHawks was one of the most successful teams in the previous 2020 eight-team version of the XFL, which was cut short due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
HOCKEY
Premier Hockey Federation: The six-team women's professional PHF, formerly the National Women's Hockey League, announced plans to invest $25 million over the next three years to include increased player salaries and benefits. The PHF also plans to add a seventh team in Montreal and potential additional teams in the United States. Some of these changes could meet the demands of the tour-based Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, which was formed two years ago by players boycotting the NWHL with hopes of creating one sustainable women's professional hockey league, possibly backed by the men's National Hockey League.
SOCCER
National Independent Soccer Association: The Division-III men's professional NISA announced it has accepted the application for membership from the 1000 Oaks FC (Westlake Village, CA) and the team is expected to start play in the 2023 season.
Liga MX: Mexico's top men's pro soccer league known as Liga MX started the closing phase (Clausura) of its two-part 2021-22 Apertura/Clausura season earlier this month with the same 18 teams that played in the opening (Apertura) phase. The Clausura phase runs until May 1 with each team playing 17 games. Each Liga MX club has an associated women's pro team in the Liga MX Femenil, which also started its Clausura phase earlier this month with the same 18 teams playing a 17-game schedule until May 2, 2021.
USL League Two (United Soccer League): The men's pre-professional USL League Two announced the Cleveland Force SC and Springfield (IL) ASC have joined for the league's 2022 season.
USL W-League (United Soccer League): The Racing Louisville FC of the National Women's Soccer League announced it will place a women's developmental team in the pre-professional W-League for the league's inaugural 2022 season. The group that operates Racing Louisville FC also owns the Louisville City FC in the men's Division-II USL Championship. The W-League also announced the FC Miami City, which has had a men's team in the pre-professional USL League Two since 2014, and Eagle F.C. (Mechanicsburg, PA) have joined for the 2022 season.
OTHER
Major League Pickleball: The new Major League Pickleball held its inaugural season over four days (November 5-8, 2021) at the Dreamland outdoor entertainment center in Dripping Springs (TX). The event featured eight teams (Chimeras, BLQK, The Lions, Pickle Ranchers, Discovery Warriors, Team Clean, ATX Pickleballers and Team Rally) each consisting of two men and two women and competing for a $150,000 prize pool. Each team played a game against the other seven teams in a round-robin tournament with the top two teams competing in the Pickleball Finals.
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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