Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
May 23, 2022 - NBA G League (G League)
BASEBALL
Northwoods League: The Thunder Bay Border Cats (Ontario), the only Canadian team in the summer-collegiate Northwoods League, announced the team will be prepared to return to the league for the 2023 season. The Border Cats sat out the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to potential travel restrictions from the coronavirus (COVID-19) and will again sit out the 2022 season. As it did for the 2021 season, the league will operate the Minnesota Mud Puppies travel-only team, which will be based in the Twin Cities and play the 36-game road schedule that was assigned to the Border Cats. The league's Traverse City (MI) Pit Spitters will be renamed the Up North Corks Dorks for a game in August of the 2022 season as a tribute to the area's wine enthusiasts.
Midwest League: The Fort Wayne TinCaps of the High-A Midwest League played a game this weekend as the Fort Wayne Daisies to honor the former players and family members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which played from 1943 through 1954 and included a team called the Fort Wayne Daisies for ten seasons (1945-54).
International League: The Durham (NC) Bulls of the Triple-A International League will play a game as the Durham Shower Shoes in July of the 2022 season as part of its tribute night for the 1988 "Bull Durham" baseball movie, which contained a reference to moldy shower shoes.
BASKETBALL
Maximum Basketball League: After recently completing its 2021-22 season with 26 teams in 4 regional divisions across the United States, the semi-pro MBL announced plans to restructure with more competitive teams for its next season. The MBL also announced a team called the Georgia Power (Hinesville), which was part of the 2022 Triple Threat Basketball League, has been added to the Southeast Division.
Maritime Women's Basketball Association: The new amateur MWBA recently started its inaugural 2022 season with six teams based in Atlantic Canada. There are three Nova Scotia-based teams called the Halifax Hornets (originally called the Sirens), Halifax Thunder and Windsor Edge, and three New Brunswick-based teams called the Port City Fog (Saint John), Fredericton Freeze and Moncton Mystics (originally listed as the 506 Elite). The MWBA season will run through June.
National Basketball Association Gatorade League (G-League): The Fort Wayne Mad Ants team, which is owned and operated by the NBA's Indiana Pacers as their G-League affiliate, played 7 of its 22 home games at the Pacers' home in Indianapolis during the 2021-22 season. The Mad Ants have been concerned of a possible permanent move of the team to Indianapolis, but the team is currently negotiating its arena lease to try to keep the team in Fort Wayne for next season. The G-League recently capped the number of games teams can play outside their base market at five, but the Mad Ants are grandfathered in and could be allowed to play more than five games in Indianapolis next season..
Women's Premier Basketball Association: The new developmental WPBA, which is based in the Bay Area of California and hopes to assist players looking for opportunities to play overseas, will start play next month with six teams called the Bay City Trailblazers, Berkeley Royals, San Francisco Riptide, Haywood Reign, Alameda Mystics and Oakland Swish. The WPBA regular season runs through July 2022.
Women's National D-League: The proposed WNDL, which wants to be a developmental league for the Women's National Basketball Association, recently added a tenth team called the Ohio Sweepers, based in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area. WNDL teams have been holding tryouts and a few games have been played by WNDL teams in the past. The league is trying to organize an official regular season that would run from November to March.
FOOTBALL
XFL: Although the XFL has not made any official announcement on the teams and locations for its return in the spring of 2023, the Dome of America's Center in St. Louis is reported to have set aside five weekend dates next year, presumably for the XFL and the possible return of the St. Louis BattleHawks team that played in 2020. The XFL is also reported to be returning to the University of Houston where the league's Houston Roughnecks team played in 2020. Another report stated the XFL could return to Washington (DC), but the team might not take Washington Defenders name from the 2020 season. Rather than use a single hub site for all games like the United States Football League, the XFL is said to be considering having all teams train in one state or city during the season and flying teams to host cities each week. The XFL also signed a five-year (2023-27) broadcast deal with The Walt Disney Company and ESPN.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The National Hockey League's Calgary Flames are reported to be considering a relocation of its Stockton (CA) Heat AHL affiliate to Canada, possibly to the Calgary area, for the 2022-23 season. The Stockton Heat joined the AHL as part of a new Pacific Division for the 2015-16 season.
ECHL: The ECHL's 2022-23 expansion team called the Savannah Ghost Pirates has signed an affiliation agreement with the National Hockey League's Vegas Golden Knights and their American Hockey League affiliate the Henderson Silver Knights. This ends the four-season (2018-22) affiliation between the ECHL's Fort Wayne Komets and the Vegas Golden Knights.
North American Hockey League: The Jamestown (NY) Rebels team of the Tier-II junior-level NAHL has been sold and will relocate to the Philadelphia area for the 2022-23 season. The team will play at the Hollydell Ice Arena in Washington Township (NJ). This NAHL team was previously based in the Philadelphia area as the Ashton Rebels (2015-17) and the Philadelphia Rebels (2017-18) before moving to Jamestown for the 2018-19 season.
United States Premier Hockey League: The Rum River Mallards (Isanti, MN) team of the Tier-III junior-level USPHL's Premier Division has changed its name to the Isanti Outlaws.
SOCCER
League1 British Columbia: Canada's new pro-am Division 3 provincial league known as League1 BC started its inaugural 2022 season this weekend with seven teams that each have a team in a Men's Division and a Women's Division. The British Columbia-based teams include the Altitude FC (North Vancouver), Whitecaps FC (Vancouver), TSS FC Rovers (Burnaby), Varsity FC (Vancouver), Unity FC (Langley), Rivers FC (Kamloops) and Victoria Highlanders FC. The League1 BC season runs through July. League1 BC is part of the organization called League1 Canada, which includes two similar Division 3 provincial leagues in Ontario and Quebec called League1 Ontario and Première Ligue de Soccer du Québec
Major Arena Soccer League: The owner of the MASL's Rochester (NY) Lancers team, which sat out the past two seasons (2020-22) because its home arena was used as a vaccination center for the coronavirus (COVID-19), announced the Lancers' rights to both an MASL and an MASL2 indoor franchise have been put up for sale. Two groups in Florida have expressed interest in the franchise. The Rochester Lancers played two seasons (2014-15 and 2019-20) in the MASL and one season (2018-19) in the MASL2.
USL League One: The ownership of the Forward Madison FC from the Division-III professional USL League One will be involved in building an 8,000-seat soccer stadium as part of a new sports and entertainment development in Milwaukee. The stadium could be ready by 2024 and is expected to become home to a future professional team in either the Division-II professional USL Championship league or the USL League One. The soccer team's league affiliation will be announced in the future.
OTHER
Major League Pickball: The MLP announced it will hold its second professional pickleball weekend event June 3-5, 2022 at the Dreamland outdoor entertainment center in Dripping Springs (TX) outside of Austin. The event will have 12 teams each comprised of two men and two women. Matches will consist of a women's doubles game, a men's doubles game, followed by two mixed doubles games. The MLP held a similar event at the Dreamland complex in November 2021 with eight participating teams.
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.
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