Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
February 21, 2022 - United States Football League (USFL)
BASEBALL
Empire Baseball League: The independent Empire League, which develops players for the independent leagues acting as partner leagues of Major League Baseball, will start its 2022 season on June 8 with four teams. Of the four teams from last season, the three New York-based teams called the Plattsburgh Thunderbirds, Saranac Lake Surge and Tupper Lake Riverpigs will return, while the New Hampshire Wild (Concord) will not. The league's fourth team will be a travel-only team called the Japan Islanders that will be comprised of Japanese players. The league recently announced plans to operate the Empire State Greys travel-only team as part of the Frontier League's 2022 season.
United Shore Professional Baseball League: The independent developmental USPBL recently posted its 2022 season schedule that will feature the same four teams from last season: the Utica Unicorns and Eastside Diamond Hoppers in the East and the Westside Woolly Mammoths and Birmingham Bloomfield Beavers in the West. Each team will play all games at the Jimmy John's Field in Utica (MI) from May 20 through September 3, 2022 followed by playoffs.
High Class-A Central League: The Peoria (IL) Chiefs of the High Class-A Central League announced the team will play three games in the 2022 season as the Peoria Orange Barrels, a tribute to local construction workers, and three games as the Peoria Pork Tenderloins, a tribute to this Midwest staple.
Prospect League: The Springfield (IL) Sliders of the summer-collegiate Prospect League has changed its name to the Springfield Lucky HorseShoes. The Sliders joined the league as a 2008 expansion team.
Independent League Baseball: The new summer-collegiate ILB, which was formed when 7 of 12 teams left the summer-collegiate Expedition League after the 2021 season, recently announced the addition of new teams called the North Platte (NE) Plainsmen and Gem City Bison (Laramie, WY) to grow to 9 teams. The league has created a tenth unaffiliated travel-only team called the Nebraska Prospects, based in Omaha, to balance the 2022 schedule.
Expedition League: The summer-collegiate Expedition League, which saw 7 of 12 teams defect to the new Independent League Baseball, has filed a lawsuit against the 7 defecting ILB teams for unpaid league dues and violation of affiliate agreements. The Expedition League was down to four teams with the additional loss of the Mining City Tommyknockers (Butt, MT), but has since added the new Red River Pilots (Grand Forks, ND). Due to travel restrictions last season, Grand Forks served as the 2021 home for the league's only Canadian team called the Wheat City Whiskey Jacks, based in Brandon (Manitoba).
BASKETBALL
East Coast Basketball League: The semi-pro ECBL started its 2022 season last weekend with 26 teams playing through May 2022. The alignment has the Mid-South Conference with four-team Northeast and Northwest divisions; the Southern Conference with five-team Southeast and Southwest divisions, plus one travel-only team; and a separate seven-team Mid-Atlantic Division. Gone from last season are the Hampton Roads Warriors, Georgia Fire, Philadelphia Cannons and Fredericksburg (VA) Grizzlies, while new teams include the NOVA Bulls (Alexandria, VA) and Lehigh Valley Flight (Allentown, PA). The High Point (NC) Lycans are now the Kannapolis (NC) Lycans and the Plaistow (NH) Shockers are now the Hartford (CT) Shockers. The new 2022 travel-only team is the Bishopville (SC) Devils.
Premier Basketball League: The semi-pro PBL started its 2022 schedule on January 8 with eight teams instead of the ten teams announced in December. Of those ten teams, the Beaver County (PA) Indians changed to the PA Royal Kingz and then dropped out of the East Division in late December due to scheduling issues at its home arena. Last month, the Elkhart (IN) Mavericks dropped out of the Midwest Division without playing a game due to the owner's health issues. The 2022 season started with a four-team East Division and a four-team Midwest Division, but earlier this month the Midwest Division's Chicago Raptors were removed from the remaining schedule after two losses followed by three forfeits.
FOOTBALL
United States Football League: The new eight-team springtime USFL will hold the player draft for its inaugural 2022 season on February 22, 2022. The 2022 regular season will run from mid-April to mid-June. Although all 2022 regular-season games will be held in Birmingham (AL), the league announced the 2022 playoffs and championship game will be held in Canton (OH) due to scheduling conflicts.
Arena Professional Football League: After posting its 2022 season schedule earlier this month for five teams, the proposed new APFL added a sixth team called the Vermont Brew (Middlebury), which was on the schedule as part of the Elite Indoor Football for a 2020 season that was cancelled. The APFL is back down to five teams as the Jersey Ballaz (Trenton) announced this week the team is leaving the league and will announce its plans for 2022 in the near future.
Elite Indoor Football: The developmental EIF has posted its 2022 season schedule that will feature six teams playing from April 9 through June 18, 2022. The 2022 teams include the Alabama Empire (the former Birmingham Ravens under new ownership), Atlanta Furious, Bay Area Generals, Peach State Cats (from the 2021 United Arena League), Southern Renegades and Southern Steam.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The AHL's Milwaukee Admirals will play two games next month as the Milwaukee Fish Fry as a tribute to the traditional fish fries held in Wisconsin.
United States Hockey League: The Sioux Falls (SD) Stampede of the Tier-I junior-level USHL played their game this weekend as the Sioux Falls Fighting Wiener Dogs as dozens of dachshunds participated in the 15th annual Wiener Dog Races during the intermissions.
Professional Women's Hockey Players Association: The PWHPA announced the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals will act as the sponsor for the PWHPA's fourth stop on its 2021-22 Secret Dream Gap Tour to be held March 3 to March 6, 2022 at the MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington (VA). The event will feature four teams: Team adidas (Minnesota), Team Bauer (Boston), Team Sonnet (Toronto) and Team Scotiabank (Calgary).
SOCCER
Premiere Ligue de Soccer du Quebec: Major League Soccer's CF Montreal announced it will place its reserve team in the men's division of Canada's Division-3 PLSQ (Premier Soccer League of Quebec) for the 2022 season. The PLSQ men's division will have 12 teams in 2022 with 9 returning teams and the addition of CF Montreal, CS Saint-Laurent and CS Lanaudiere-Nord. The PLSQ women's division will have 12 teams in 2022 with 10 returning teams and the addition of the Rapides de Chaudière-Ouest and a team representing Quebec Women's Excellence Program.
United Women's Soccer: The pro-am UWS announced the Arkansas Comets (Springdale) and the Arkansas Wolves (Benton) have been added to the Central Conference for the 2022 season. The Wolves played three games in 2021 as a provisional UWS League Two team.
USL Championship (United Soccer League): The city of Fort Worth is trying gauge interest from residents about support for a proposed new 10,000-seat soccer stadium that could become home to a relocated team in the Division-II professional USL Championship and possibly a team in the new women's Division-II professional USL Super League that plans to start play in 2023. The new owners of the USL Championship's Austin Bold FC want to move the team to a major city in Texas and are considering Fort Worth. The city of Fort Worth has identified a potential site for the new soccer stadium.
Women's Premier Soccer League: The elite-level WPSL announced it will operate with 137 teams in 2022 with 108 returning teams and 29 expansion teams across the United States. The league is aligned in four regions that include a 35-team West, a 40-team Central, a 27-team East and a 35-team South. Each region is further aligned into regional conferences with some conferences further aligned into divisions. Some of the latest teams added for the 2022 season include the MASS KICK FC (Los Angeles), Beadling SC (Pittsburgh), FC Omega (Washington, DC), TN Force FC (Knoxville), FC Dayton and the Chattanooga FC, which returns after a three-season absence.
OTHER
Western Ultimate League: The women's professional WUL recently announced its 2022 season schedule that will feature seven teams called the San Francisco Falcons, San Diego Super Bloom, Los Angeles Astra, Arizona Sidewinders (Mesa), Oregon Onyx (Portland), Seattle Tempest and Utah Wild (Salt Lake City). Each team will play six games in the 2022 season, which will be a mix of traditional home versus away games along with three four-team weekend-long special events to be held in Arizona, San Diego and Utah. The regular season will run from March 11 to May 1, 2022 followed by playoffs.
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.
United States Football League Stories from February 21, 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.
