Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
July 4, 2022 - XFL (XFL)

BASEBALL

West Coast League: The summer-collegiate WCL started its 2022 season on May 31 with 16 teams aligned in eight-team North and South divisions. The league operated with only 10 teams in 2021, but all five Canadian teams that sat out the 2021 season due to coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions have returned along with a 2022 expansion team called the Springfield (OR) Drifters. Three of the five Canadian teams called the Edmonton Riverhawks, Nanaimo NightOwls (British Columbia) and Kamloops NorthPaws (British Columbia) were supposed to start in 2021 as expansion teams. The British Columbia-based Kelowna Falcons and Victoria HarborCats are the league's two other Canadian teams.

Futures Collegiate Baseball League: The New England-based summer-collegiate FCBL started its 2022 season in late May with the same eight teams as last season.

Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League: The summer-collegiate PGCBL, which has all teams based in the State of New York, started its 2022 season early last month with 16 teams aligned in eight-team East and West divisions. The league had 15 teams last season with the Boonville-based Adirondack Trail Blazers sitting out the season and returning this season as the Boonville Baseball Club.

Texas Collegiate League: The summer-collegiate TCL started its 2022 season in late May with five teams. The league had six teams last season, but the Amarillo Sod Squad and San Antonio Flying Chanclas, which were sponsored by Double-A minor league teams in those cities, did not return. The TCL added the new Seguin River Monsters for the 2022 season.

Chicago Developmental League: A former minor-league baseball executive wants to build a 4,000-seat ballpark in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights alongside the proposed site for a football stadium to be built for the National Football League's Chicago Bears. The new ballpark would house a new four-team developmental baseball league for undrafted players with teams playing all games at the ballpark.

BASKETBALL

Professional Basketball Association: The men's PBA recently announced plans to start a nationwide development league called the PBA D-League starting in the fall of 2022. Several PBA teams had expressed interest in creating teams consisting of younger players who could advance to the PBA teams.

Women's American Basketball Association: The semi-pro WABA started its 2022 season this weekend with 20 teams aligned in 4 five-team divisions (Midwest, South, North Upper and North Lower). Each team is scheduled to play an eight-game schedule through September.

Central Basketball League: The semi-pro CBL has been trying to get off the ground over the past few years and now states it will start play in August 2023, along with an affiliated women's league called the Midwest Women's Basketball Association. The CBL covers the states of Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Iowa and Nebraska. The league has gone through some name changes in the past couple of years from the Central States Basketball League, to the Midwest Basketball League and to the Impact Professional Basketball League before the CBL.

American Basketball Association: As part of its proposed ABA International initiative, the semi-pro ABA announced plans for its first expansion into Africa with a league called ABA Liberia.

FOOTBALL

United States Football League: As the springtime USFL completed its inaugural 2022 season this weekend with all regular-season games played in Birmingham (AL), the league plans to return in 2023 with two to four cities hosting games played by the eight returning teams.

XFL: Although the XFL has not officially announced the eight cities for its return in February 2023, the league plans to use Dallas as a hub city for training and workouts during the season with teams travelling to their host cities for home games and to away games in the respective cities.

HOCKEY

3ICE League: The new six-team tour-based 3ICE independent three-on-three professional ice hockey league started its inaugural 2022 eight-city regular-season tour last month Each team is named after a former NHL player who is the team's head coach: Team Carbonneau, Team Fuhr, Team LeClair, Team Mullen, Team Murphy and Team Trottier. The season includes weekly tour stops in Las Vegas, Denver, Grand Rapids (MI), Hershey (PA), London (Ontario), Pittsburgh, Quebec City and Nashville. Playoffs will be held in Las Vegas on August 20, 2022.

National Collegiate Development Conference: The United States Premier Hockey League announced its Tier-II junior-level NCDC will expand westward with the addition of a new six-team NCDC West Division for the 2023-24 season. The new division will feature six current Tier-III USPL Premier teams called the Utah Outliers (Salt Lake City), Ogden (UT) Mustangs, Pueblo (CO) Bulls, Provo (UT) Predators (formerly the Provo Riverblades), Northern Colorado Eagles and Idaho Falls (ID) Spud Kings. For the 2022-23 season, these six teams will play at the Tier-III USPHL Premier level and will comprise that level's Mountain Division. The Tier-II NCDC was started by the USPHL for the 2017-18 season and it will feature 14 teams located in the Northeast for the 2022-23 season.

SOCCER

Liga MX: Mexico's top men's pro soccer league known as Liga MX started the opening phase (Apertura) of its two-part 2022-23 Apertura/Clausura season earlier this week with the same 18 teams from last season. The Apertura phase runs until early October with each team playing 17 games.

Liga de Expansión MX: Mexico's second division Liga de Expansión MX started the opening phase (Apertura) of its 2022-23 Apertura/Clausura season late last month and increased from 17 to 18 teams with the promotion of the Durango Alacranes club from the Serie A group in Mexico's third-level Liga Premier. One other change for the 2022-23 season included the addition of the Club Atletico La Paz (Baja California), which purchased the franchise rights of last season's TM (Tampico-Madero) Futbol Club that dropped out of the league in April. The La Paz ownership also operates the Mazorqueros FC in the third-level Liga Premier.

OTHER

Major League Quidditch: The MLQ started its 2022 season early last month with 16 teams (2 based in Canada and 14 based in the United States) aligned in a five-team East Division, a six-team North Division and a five-team South Division. Quidditch is a competitive, full-contact, mixed-gender sport played by athletes around the world and adapted from the game played in the Harry Potter series of books and movies

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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