Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on February 7, 2022 under Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL)

BASEBALL

Triple-A West League: Major League Baseball's Houston Astros officially announced its Sugar Land Skeeters (Texas) affiliate in the Triple-A West League has been renamed the Sugar Land Space Cowboys for the 2022 season. The Sugar Land Skeeters played nine seasons (2012-20) as part of the independent Atlantic League before becoming the Astros' Triple-A affiliate starting with the 2021 season.

Northwoods League: The Wausau-based Wisconsin Woodchucks team in the summer-collegiate Northwoods League has changed its name to the Wausau Woodchucks ahead of the 2022 season. The team was a charter member of the league in 1994 and played as the Wausau Woodchucks for its first five seasons (1994-98) before switching to the Wisconsin Woodchucks prior to the 1999 season.

BASKETBALL

American Basketball Association: The semi-pro ABA announced a team called the HBCU Movement, which will be comprised of Historically Black College University players and based in Houston, has been added as a 2022-23 expansion team.

Canadian Elite Basketball League: The minor professional CEBL announced its 2022 season schedule will feature ten teams each playing a 20-game schedule from May 25 to August 4, 2022. The CEBL had seven teams last season, but has added three expansion teams called the Montreal Alliance, Newfoundland Growlers (St. John's) and Scarborough Shooting Stars (Ontario).

Southern Basketball League: The new Texas-based semi-pro SBL started play this week with 12 teams all playing games at one location in Argyle (TX), about 30 miles north of Fort Worth. Five or six games will be held each Saturday from February 5 through April 2, 2022.

Women's American Basketball Association: The semi-pro WABA recently announced expansion teams called the Virginia Hearts (Ashburn), West Michigan Elite Stars (Grand Rapids area) and Cincinnati Reign have joined the league with plans to start play in the 2022 season.

FOOTBALL

American Arena League: The AAL, which came under new control after its 2021 season, announced the AAL and its proposed new developmental American Arena League 2 will not play a 2022 season, but will return in 2023. The AAL started its 2021 season with 14 teams, but not all teams completed the season and several teams left the AAL for other leagues after the 2021 season.

Arena Professional Football League: The new APFL announced the schedule for its inaugural 2022 season that will feature five teams called the Pennsylvania Union (Harrisburg), Charlotte Thunder, West Michigan Ironmen (Muskegon), Carolina Cowboyz (Spartanburg, SC) and the Jersey Ballaz (Trenton). Pennsylvania, Charlotte and Michigan were part of the 2021 American Arena League (AAL), while Carolina, a travel-only team in 2022, was part of the 2020 AAL. The Jersey Flight was part of the 2021 National Arena League and has come under new ownership as the Jersey Ballaz in the 2022 APFL. The eight-week APFL schedule will run from April 16 through June 4, 2022.

National Football League: The NFL's Washington Football Team, formerly the Washington Redskins, announced the team's new name is the Washington Commanders. This NFL franchise started as the Boston Braves in the 1932 season, changed to the Boston Redskins the following season, and relocated to become the Washington (DC) Redskins for the 1937 season. Due to objections to the Redskins nickname from certain Native American groups and team sponsors, the team was temporarily called The Washington Football Team for the 2020 and 2021 seasons while a new nickname was selected.

HOCKEY

Professional Women's Hockey Players Association: The tour-based PWHPA recently announced the third stop on its 2021-22 Secret Dream Gap Tour will be in Ottawa on February 26 to 27, 2022. The event will feature four teams: Team adidas (Minnesota), Team Bauer (Boston), Team Harvey's (Montreal) and Team Sonnet (Toronto).

National Collegiate Development Conference: The 13-team Tier-II junior-level NCDC, which is part of the independent United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL), announced the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (PA) Knights will join the NCDC for the 2022-23 season as part of the league's South Division. The Knights are operating Tier-III teams in the USPHL's Premier and Elite divisions for the 2021-22 season.

SOCCER

Canadian Premier League: Canada's Division-II professional CPL announced its 2022 season will feature the same eight teams as last season with each team playing 28 games from April 7 through October 9, 2022. Teams will again be aligned in a single table format.

National Premier Soccer League: The men's elite amateur NPSL announced the Ozark FC, based in Northwest Arkansas, has relocated to the Kansas City area (Overland Park, KS) and was renamed the Sunflower State FC. Four soccer clubs in central Pennsylvania announced they will support two new 2022 NPSL teams called the Hershey FC and the Central Pennsylvania United U-23. The NPSL also announced the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals and the Oakland Soccer Club have been added for the 2022 season.

National Independent Soccer Association: The Chicago House AC and the New Amsterdam FC (New York City) of the Division-III professional NISA announced they are exploring the start of a new league that will start in 2023 and feature an open system with relegation and promotion. The NISA stated it has come to a departure agreement that will allow the Detroit City FC to leave the league so it can join the Division-II USL Championship for 2022, as previously announced.

USL Championship (United Soccer League): The group known as Rhode Island Pro Soccer is bringing a Division-II professional USL Championship team to a new soccer stadium that is under construction in Pawtucket (RI). The Pawtucket team plans to start play in 2023 and it has started soliciting fans for potential team names.

USL W-League (United Soccer League): The Long Island Rough Riders organization, which operates a men's team in the pre-professional USL League Two, announced it will start a Long Island Rough Riders women's team in the pre-professional USL W-League for the league's inaugural 2022 season. The USL W-League confirmed at least 43 teams for its inaugural 2022 season with teams currently aligned in seven regional divisions. The five-team Southeast, six-team South Atlantic, eight-team Metropolitan, six-team Heartland, eight-team Great Lakes and six-team Deep South have been confirmed, while a current four-team Mid-Atlantic is still to be finalized.

United Women's Soccer: The pro-am UWS recently announced the Sporting Nebraska (Omaha) and FC Birmingham (Alabama) have been added for the 2022 season.

USL League One (United Soccer League): Back in October 2021, a group called Lexington Pro Soccer was awarded a franchise in the men's Division-III professional USL League One for the city of Lexington (KY). The team is expected to start play at a college facility in 2023 as plans for a proposed 6,000-seat soccer stadium are being worked out. The group stated the team's name and logo, which will most likely be related to horses, will be announced sometime next month.

OTHER

Major League Rugby: The professional MLR started its fifth season this weekend with 13 teams aligned in a six-team Eastern Conference and a seven-team Western Conference. The MLR played with 12 teams last season and added the expansion Dallas Jackals team to the Western Conference for this season. Each team will play 16 matches through June 5, 2022. The MLR plays the rugby-union style with 15 players aside.

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.

Canadian Elite Basketball League Stories from February 7, 2022

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

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.