Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
March 7, 2022 - National Arena League (NAL)
BASEBALL
Minor League Baseball (MiLB): Although Major League Baseball has locked out its players and delayed the start of the 2022 season, MiLB reports this will not affect the 2022 seasons of its 120 affiliated teams that are spread across 11 leagues at four different levels (Triple-A, Double-A, High-A and Low-A).
Atlantic League: The independent Atlantic League's Lancaster (PA) Barnstormers will pay tribute to Lebanon County (PA), just to the north of the city, and rename the team for one weekend of home games in early July 2022. As part of a name-the-team contest, the Barnstormers are currently accepting suggestions for the temporary Lebanon team name and the top three names will be announced for fan voting.
Double-A Central League: The Frisco (TX) RoughRiders of the Double-A Central League will be renamed the Dallas Black Giants for three games in the 2022 season as a tribute to the former Negro League team that played under that name in the early to mid-1900s.
Double-A Northeast League: The Akron RubberDucks of the Double-A Northeast League will be renamed the Akron Homers for one game on May 28, 2022, as a tribute to the team's pigeon mascot named Homer. The league's Portland (ME) Sea Dogs will be renamed the Maine Bean Suppahs for a game in August 2022 as a tribute to the old New England tradition of bean suppers. The team will also bring back tributes to other food-related team names this season with the Maine Red Snappers (the red hot dog) and the Maine Whoopee Pies (the official state treat).
BASKETBALL
The Basketball League: The minor professional TBL started its 2022 season this weekend and has grown from 29 to 44 teams. Ten teams called the Atlanta Empire, Columbus Condors (Ohio), Indy Express (Indianapolis), Midtown Prestige (Wichita), Omaha's Finest, Houston Push, Lewisville Leopards, San Diego Guardians, Vegas Ballers and West Coast Breeze (San Marcos, CA) did not return from 2021. The league's Albany (NY) Patroons returned after voluntarily sitting out last season, and the league has added 24 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), Huntsville Hurricanes, San Diego Sharks and Vancouver (WA) Volcanoes, which is the previously announced Portland (OR) Storm expansion team. Teams are aligned in a nine-team Northeast, seven-team Southeast, six-team Lower Midwest, nine-team Central, seven-team Upper Midwest and six-team West. Several TBL teams are playing games against teams from the National Basketball League of Canada this season and some of those inter-league games started last month.
National Basketball Association: The former NBA player who has been trying to build a 23,000-seat arena and a surrounding development in Las Vegas for a potential NBA expansion team has received financing for the project and hopes to break ground in October. Las Vegas and Seattle have been mentioned as potential NBA expansion markets, but the league is not currently considering expansion.
Professional Basketball Association: The PBA, which completed its inaugural 2021 spring-summer season with 43 men's teams across the United States, is planning for both a men's PBA and a Ladies PBA in 2022. A Summer Season will run from May to August 2022 and teams will have the option of participating in a Winter Season from October 2022 to March 2023. A current league map shows men's teams in 60 potential markets and women's teams in 25 potential markets. The league has added some additional new PBA and LPBA teams over the past several weeks. New men's teams include the Seven Cities Vets (Hampton Roads, VA), Mississippi Hawks, Las Vegas Royals, Steel City Kings (Brighton, PA), MSP Pride (Minnesota), Montgomery Knights, San Diego Surf, Palm Beach Cougars, New Jersey Bishops and BLTN Ballers (Dallas-Fort Worth). New women's teams include the Mississippi Magnolias, Montgomery Lady Warriors and Las Vegas Tyrants.
FOOTBALL
Arena Professional Football League: The new APFL confirmed the Trenton-based Jersey Ballaz will be a part of the league's inaugural 2022 season. A revised 2022 schedule was posted this week for only four teams to include the Jersey Ballaz, Charlotte Thunder, West Michigan Ironmen (Muskegon) and the Reading (PA) Raptors. Gone from the original five-team schedule posted last month are the Pennsylvania Union (Harrisburg) and the Carolina Cowboyz travel-only team. The Reading Raptors played in the 2021 Elite Indoor Football and were added to the latest APFL schedule. The APFL announced the addition of the Vermont Brew (Middlebury) last month, but the team stated this week it has postponed play for 2022.
United States Football League: A group of owners and executives from the original USFL, which operated for three seasons (1983-85), is suing FOX Sports and the current USFL for trademark infringement and false association. The current USFL is using the same league name for its planned start on April 16, 2022, and its eight teams are named after former USFL teams.
American Spring Football League: The proposed ASFL has been in development for several years, but the league's organizer recently stated the league will begin in 2023 with eight or nine teams in medium-sized markets that have large stadiums. Initial teams will be located in the Midwest and Southeast.
National Arena League: After the Spokane (WA) Shock was removed from the Indoor Football League last week and the team's owner indicated plans to join the NAL, the NAL announced it will not be accepting the team into the league for the 2022 season.
HOCKEY
Federal Prospects Hockey League: The group trying to bring an FPHL team called the Mississippi Sea Wolves to Biloxi for the 2022-23 season has reached a lease agreement for the city's Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center. The team has also started selling season tickets for the 2022-23 FPHL season. The FPHL has not yet made an official announcement on the Mississippi Sea Wolves joining for next season. A new Elmira (NY) team is also trying to join for the 2022-23 season.
SOCCER
National Premier Soccer League: The men's elite-level NPSL announced the alignment for its upcoming 2022 season that will feature 93 teams in four regions (East, Midwest, South and West). Each region is further divided into regional conferences: Keystone, Mid-Atlantic, North Atlantic and Sunbelt in the East; Rust Belt, Great Lakes and North in the Midwest; Gulf Coast, Heartland, Lone Star and Sunshine in the South; and Golden Gate and Pacific in the West.
League1 BC (British Columbia): Canada's new Division-3 pro-am League1 BC, which will start play in May with seven teams, announced an application process for teams looking to join for the 2023 season. New clubs will be licensed to operate teams in both the men's division and the women's division.
League1 Ontario: Canada's Ontario-based Division-3 pro-am League1 Ontario announced the Burlington FC has acquired the license of the league's 1812 FC Barrie and will operate both men's and women's team in the 2022 season.
Northwest Premier League - Indoor: The women's elite-level amateur NWPL started its ten-week indoor season on February 12, 2022 with five teams based in the state of Washington. Teams include the Oly-Pen Force (Bremerton), Oly Town Artesians (Olympia), Snohomish County, Tacoma Galaxy and the Whatcom Waves (Bellingham). The NWPL has been around since 2016 as an outdoor league and had some indoor teams start play as a women's division of the Western Indoor Soccer League in 2020. The WISL did not play a 2021 season and returned in 2022 as a men's-only league. The NWPL women's indoor teams moved to the first NWPL-Indoor league in 2022.
OTHER
Professional Bull Riding - Team Series: The PBR announced it will hold a ten-event 2022 PBR Team Series with eight teams called the Ariat Texas Rattlers (Fort Worth), Arizona Ridge Riders (Glendale), Austin Gamblers, Carolina Chaos (Winston-Salem, NC), Kansas City (MO) Outlaws, Missouri Thunder (Ridgedale), Nashville Stampede and Oklahoma Freedom (Oklahoma City). Each team will host a weekend bull riding event and western lifestyle festival event in their respective city with two neutral-site events to be held in Cheyenne (WY) and Anaheim. The 2022 season will run from the first event in Cheyenne starting on July 25 to the final event starting on October 14. The PBR Team Series finals will be held in Las Vegas starting November 4, 2022. Events will be a tournament-style format with all teams matching up with a different opponent each day. Each game will feature five riders per team facing off against another team with judging and scoring on eight-second bull rides. The team with the highest aggregate score of qualified rides will be declared the winner of each game. The event winner will be the team with the most game wins across an event.
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.
National Arena League Stories from March 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.
