Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
April 18, 2022 - United States Football League (USFL)

BASEBALL

Atlantic League: The independent Atlantic League's new Staten Island (NY) FerryHawks team announced it will play a 2022 regular-season game in July as the Staten Island Greenbelters to honor the area's Staten Island Greenbelt system of trails, open spaces and public facilities.

Independence League Baseball: The new 2022 summer-collegiate Independence League, which was created when seven teams left the summer-collegiate Expedition League after the 2021 season, announced its 2022 season schedule will feature ten teams aligned in a five-team Great Plains Division and a five-team Nebraska Division. In addition to the seven former Expedition League teams, the Independence League added the new Gem City Bison (Laramie, WY), North Platte (NE) Plainsmen and an Omaha-based travel-only team called the Nebraska Prospects.

Expedition League: After playing the 2021 season with 12 teams and losing 7 teams to the new 2022 Independence League, the summer-collegiate Expedition League will play its 2022 season with a total of only 4 teams located in North and South Dakota. Of the five remaining Expedition League teams, the Mining City Tommyknockers (Butte, MT) and the Wheat City Whiskey Jacks (Brandon, Manitoba) will not be part of the 2022 season. The Expedition League added the new Grand Forks-based Red River Pilots as a fourth team for the 2022 season. The Whiskey Jacks played its 2021 home schedule based out of Grand Forks (ND) due to cross-border travel restrictions from the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Prospect League: The summer-collegiate Prospect League's new Jackson (TN) team, which will start play in the 2023 season, announced five possible team nickname choices for fan voting. These include the Hub City Hub Caps, Hub City Heroes, Jackson Rockabillies, Jackson Blue Suedes and Jackson Locomotives. A final decision will be announced next month.

Southern League: The move of the Double-A Southern League's Tennessee Smokies (Kodak) to a new ballpark to be built in downtown Knoxville has been pushed back from 2024 to the 2025 season due to construction delays.

BASKETBALL

Professional Basketball Association: The men's PBA announced the Albuquerque-based New Mexico Blue Tails team has been added for the upcoming 2022 season.

The Basketball League: The minor pro TBL announced a new team called the Seattle Super Hawks will be added to the league's Northwest Division for the 2023 season.

Women's American Basketball Association: The semi-pro WABA announced the Tampa Bay Badgers has been added as an expansion team for the league's 2022 season this summer.

FOOTBALL

American West Football Conference: The six-team semi-pro AWFC started its 2022 season last month, but announced last week the So Cal Redtails team (City of Industry, CA) has been unable to field a team. The So Cal road games will be rescheduled, while teams on So Cal's home schedule were awarded forfeits.

Arena Football Association: The new six-team AFA, which evolved from last year's Texas-based Lone Star Series, played its first games this weekend. The AFA includes the new Magnolia State Spartans (Philadelphia, MS); the Wichita Force from the 2021 Champions Indoor Football; the North Texas Bulls (Fort Worth) from the 2021 American Arena League; the Rio Grande Valley Dorados (Hidalgo, TX) travel-only team from the 2019 International Arena Football League; and the Texas Jets (Humble) and West Texas Warbirds (Odessa) teams that were part of the 2021 Lone Star Series. Arena Professional Football League: The new four-team APFL played the first game in its inaugural 2022 season last weekend, but has yet to post a revised 2022 season schedule after replacing two teams that dropped out just prior to the start of the season. One of those replacement teams called the Alabama Empire (Birmingham) is no longer listed and has now been replaced by the Maryland Warriors.

Fan Controlled Football: The 7-on-7 indoor fan-interactive FCF started its second season that will feature eight teams each playing seven games at a state-of-the-art studio in Atlanta. Last season, the FCF played with four teams called the Zappers, Glacier Boyz, Beasts and Wild Aces. Those teams have all returned with the Wild Aces being renamed the Shoulda Been Stars. Four new teams called the Bored Apes FC, Kingpins (originally Gutter Gang), Knights of Degen and 8OKI were added for 2022.

United States Football League: The new springtime USFL started its inaugural 2022 season this weekend with eight teams aligned in four-team North and South divisions. Each team will play ten games through June 19, 2022 with all regular-season games played in Birmingham (AL) and a championship game to be held Canton (OH). The North Division includes the Michigan Panthers, New Jersey Generals, Philadelphia Stars and Pittsburgh Maulers, while the South Division has the Birmingham Stallions, Houston Gamblers, New Orleans Breakers and Tampa Bay Bandits. All teams are named after teams from a previous version of the USFL that played three seasons (1983-85). The previous USFL failed to obtain a preliminary injunction to prevent the current league from using the original USFL names and logos, but a judge stated the owners of those original names and logos would likely succeed in a trademark infringement claim. This could force the current USFL to pay for use of these names or switch to different team names.

HOCKEY

Professional Women's Hockey Players Association: The PWHPA has decided to end discussions with the Premier Hockey Federation (formerly the National Women's Hockey League) about collaborating on a potential joint women's professional hockey league. When the Canadian Women's Hockey League folded after its 2018-19 season, the top national women's hockey players in Canada and the United States organized the tour-based PWHPA in 2019 rather than play in the NWHL. The PWHPA has been looking to form its own league, possibly sponsored by the National Hockey League. The NHL was behind trying to get the PWHPA and PHF to collaborate on a new league.

SOCCER

Canadian Premier League: Canada's Division-II professional CPL officially announced this week that a ninth team to be based in the Vancouver area , more specifically in the city of Langley, will be added for the 2023 season. The ownership of the league's Pacific FC, which is based in Langford on Vancouver Island, will own and operate the new Vancouver team. A team name will be announced in the future.

National Independent Soccer Association: The Division-III professional NISA no longer has its ten teams aligned in a single-table format. A five-team East Division now has the AC Syracuse, Chattanooga FC, Flower City Union (Rochester, NY), Maryland Bobcats FC and Michigan Stars FC (Detroit area), while a five-team West Division includes the Albion San Diego, Bay Cities FC (Redwood, CA), California United Strikers FC (Orange County), Los Angeles Force and Valley United FC (Phoenix).

USL W-League (United Soccer League): The pre-professional USL W-League, which starts play next month with 44 teams in its inaugural 2022 season, announced the SC Stockton as the league's first expansion team for the 2023 season. Of the 44 teams for this season, the westernmost team is based in Lawrence (KS). The USL W-League also lists another future team to be based in Spokane (WA). The Spokane team was announced last summer as a possible founding team for the 2022 season, but it has been pushed back to at least 2023.

OTHER

Major League Cricket: The proposed professional MLC held a six-day four-team tournament in Houston from April 5-10, 2022, as it prepares for full league play to start in 2023. Potential MLC prospects on teams called the MLC East, MLC Central and MLC West competed along with a team representing USA Cricket. The MLC pushed back its official start of league play to the 2023 season as it tries to construct cricket-specific venues. Last month, the MLC provided updates on the progress being made at future cricket facilities in Grand Prairie (Dallas area), Morrisville (NC), Kings County (WA), San Jose (CA) and Houston. The MLC is also considering locations in Orange County (CA) and Broward County (FL). The Grand Prairie site, which was once the ballpark used by the former Grand Prairie AirHogs team of the independent American Association, is expected to be ready for cricket in the 2023 season. The affiliated Minor League Cricket (MiLC), which is a development league for the MLC, played a 2021 season with 27 teams and plans to start its 2022 season in June.

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 April 18, 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.