Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on February 28, 2022 under MLS NEXT Pro (MLS NEXT Pro)
BASEBALL
Pioneer Baseball League: For the second season in a row, the Rocky Mountain Vibes (Colorado Springs, CO) of the independent Pioneer League have entered into an affiliation agreement with the Acereros de Monclova team in Mexico's top Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (Mexican Baseball League), so the Vibes' roster will again consists of Acereros prospects for the 2022 season.
California Winter League: The CWL, which is an instructional and player showcase winter baseball league for independent teams that are looking at prospects for the summer season, recently completed its 2022 season with six teams called the Palm Springs Chill, Palm Springs Power, Oregon Lumberjacks, British Columbia Bombers, Canada A's and Alberta Grizzly. Teams played 16 to 18 games from January 21 through February 15, 2022 with all games played at Palm Springs Stadium.
BASKETBALL
American Basketball Association: The semi-pro ABA announced the Dayton (OH) Top Notch has been added as a 2022-23 expansion team.
Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacifico (CIBACOPA): Mexico's semi-pro CIBACOPA, or Pacific Coast Basketball League, has confirmed eight teams will participate in a 2022 season that will start next month. The league played with nine teams for 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. Of the nine teams from 2020, the Mantarrayas de La Paz (Baja California) will not return because its home arena is being used as a vaccination center. The Gigantes de Jalisco team has been taken over by the Astros de Jalisco team of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP) and the CIBACOPA team will also be called the Astros de Jalisco.
Liga Mexicana de Baloncesto Profesional Femenil: Mexico's top LMBPF, or Mexican Women's Professional Basketball League, started its 2022 season this weekend with 14 teams aligned in a seven-team Mexican Conference and a seven-team National Conference. The league operated with ten teams in 2021, but the Aztks del Estado de México and Marineras de Puerto Vallarta did not return. The league added six new teams called the Atleticas de Monterrey, Lenadoras de Durango, Regias de Monterrey, Teporacas de Chihuahua, Las Plebes de Mazatlan and Phoenix de Monterrey. Each team will play 24 regular season games through the first week of June 2022.
National Basketball League of Canada: The minor professional NBL-Canada started its 2021-22 season this week with four Ontario-based teams called the London Lightning, Windsor Express, Sudbury Five and Kitchener-Waterloo Titans. Each team will play a 24-game schedule through mid-May 2022 and it will include games against teams from The Basketball League, whose organizer was at one time the commissioner of the NBL-Canada. The NBL-Canada was forced to cancel the last third of its 2019-20 season and its entire 2020-21 season due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
National Basketball League - United States: The semi-pro NBL-US recently started its 2022 Winter Season with six Texas-based teams called the Baytown Bobcats, East Houston United, Galveston Islanders, Houston Hurricanes and Lake Houston Flight. The Kingwood Dragons team was replaced by the Houston Hurricanes. The NBL-US is also planning a Spring Season with Florida-based teams included.
FOOTBALL
Arena Football Association: The new AFA announced the schedule for its inaugural 2022 season that will feature six teams: the Wichita Force from the 2021 Champions Indoor Football (CIF); Texas Jets (Houston area) from the 2021 Lone Star Series; West Texas Warbirds (Odessa) from the CIF and 2021 Lone Star Series; North Texas Bulls (Fort Worth) from the 2021 American Arena League; the new Magnolia State Spartans (Philadelphia); and the Rio Grande Valley Dorados (Hidalgo, TX) from the 2019 International Arena Football League. The Rio Grande Valley Dorados will be a travel-only team in 2022.
The West Texas Warbirds will play three home games in Amarillo, which was home to the former CIF and 2021 Lone Star Series team called the Amarillo Venom. The season runs from April 9 to June 25, 2022.
United States Football League: The new springtime USFL held its player draft this week for the eight teams that will start play in April 2022 with all regular-season games played in Birmingham (AL).
Indoor Football League: The IFL's Spokane (WA) Shock was unable to fulfill financial obligations to obtain an arena lease for the upcoming 2022 season, so the league has terminated the team. The Spokane Shock has been removed from the West Conference, which now has seven teams, while a Midwest Conference remains at seven teams. The IFL has adjusted the 2022 schedule to account for the loss of the Shock. The owner of the Spokane Shock stated he will consider joining the National Arena League, but the team would need a home arena and the NAL announced its official 2022 schedule this week for six teams, not including the Shock.
United Football League: The proposed new outdoor spring-summer UFL, which evolved from the failed National Gridiron League that never played a game, has cancelled tryouts for a 2022 season and will now start in the spring of 2023 with 14 teams. The UFL had 12 proposed teams aligned in 4 regional divisions, but now lists 14 teams aligned in seven-team Eastern and Western conferences. A team called the Birmingham (AL) Steeldawgs is gone, but new teams called the Louisville Firebirds, Oklahoma City Wranglers and Charleston (SC) Pirates have been added.
HOCKEY
Southern Professional Hockey League: The SPHL's Fayetteville (NC) Marksmen will be rebranded as the Carolina Reapers for one game next month as a tribute to the area's Reaper Pepper, considered to be the hottest pepper in the world.
Junior Women's Hockey League: After cancelling its 2020-21 season because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the JWHL is playing a 2021-22 season with its top U-19 Division that features five teams from Canada and three teams from the United States.
Premier Hockey Federation: As part of an announcement about roster expansion and salary cap increases for the rest of the 2021-22 season, the six-team women's professional PHF confirmed the league will expand to eight teams for the 2022-23 season. The PHF has mentioned Montreal as the location for a seventh team and another new team could be based in the United States.
SOCCER
Major League Soccer: MLS started its 2022 season this weekend with 28 teams aligned in a 14-team Eastern Conference and a 14-team Western Conference. The expansion Charlotte FC was added this season as the league's 28th team and Nashville SC was moved from the Eastern Conference.to the Western Conference. Each team will play a 34-game regular-season schedule until early October 2022. MLS will expand to 29 teams in 2023 with the addition of the St. Louis City SC. Las Vegas has been mentioned as the frontrunner for the league's 30th team and an announcement about that team is expected this season.
MLS NEXT Pro (Major League Soccer): The new Division-III professional MLS NEXT Pro, which was created as a developmental and reserve league for Major League Soccer, announced its 2022 season will feature 21 teams each playing a 24-game schedule from March 25 to September 18, 2022. The teams will be aligned in a ten-team Eastern Conference with a five-team Northeast Division and a five-team Central Division, along with an eleven-team Western Conference with a six-team Frontier Division and a five-team Pacific Division. The MLS NEXT Pro will act as a bridge between the MLS NEXT academy league and the MLS, and teams will be comprised of both amateur and professional players. Twenty of the MLS NEXT Pro teams have direct affiliations to MLS teams, while one team is considered an independent team. MLS teams that operated reserves teams in the Division-II USL Championship and Division-III USL League One, or had affiliations with teams in those leagues, are moving those teams to the MLS NEXT Pro league. Eight other MLS teams are expected to place teams in the MLS NEXT Pro league for 2023.
United Women's Soccer: The Chicago area's Illinois Premier soccer club announced it will field a team in the 2022 UWS pro-am league and a reserve team in the 2022 UWS League Two.
OTHER
Premier Ultimate League: The women's professional PUL ultimate frisbee league announced its 2022 season schedule will feature 12 teams each playing a six-game schedule from April 2 to June 5, 2022. Teams will be aligned in three four-team East, Midwest and South divisions. The PUL played its inaugural spring-summer season in 2019 with 8 teams and expanded to 12 teams for a 2020 season that was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). A shortened 2021 season included only 9 of the league's 12 teams participating in 3 different three-team regional tournaments in August and September. All nine teams from last season will return, along with the three teams that sat out last season.
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.
MLS NEXT Pro Stories from February 28, 2022
- This Week in Sporting: February 28, 2022 - Sporting Kansas City II
- Sporting KC II Signs Tijani Fatah, Curtez Kellman, Cole McLagan and Dembakwi Yomba - Sporting Kansas City II
- 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.
