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NWSL National Women's Soccer League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
December 5, 2022 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)


BASEBALL

American Association: A group called REV Entertainment, whose chief executive officer is a partner in the group that owns the independent American Association's Cleburne (TX) Railroaders, plans to work with the city of Shreveport (LA) to build a new multi-sport facility that would include a ballpark for an independent baseball team. There has been no agreement on the league in which a Shreveport team would play, but the American Association is an option. The American Association had previous Shreveport teams called the Shreveport Sports (2006-08) and the Shreveport-Bossier Captains (2009-11).

Puerto Rico Independent Baseball League: The short-season developmental PRIBL announced the schedule for its next season, which will feature four teams each playing 24 games from January 16 through February 11, 2023. Teams include the Aguada Conquistadores, Rincon Pelicanos, Hormigueros Peregrinos and Mayaguez Tainos.

BASKETBALL

Canadian Elite Basketball League: The minor professional CEBL's new Winnipeg expansion team will be called the Winnipeg Sea Bears when the team starts play in the 2023 season. The team is named after the polar bear, whose Latin name (Ursus maritimus) means ‚¬Å“sea bear ‚¬Â. The CEBL's 2022 champion Hamilton Honey Badgers (Ontario) announced the team is permanently relocating to Brampton (Ontario) because its home at the Hamilton FirstOntario Centre will be closed during renovations starting next year and will be unavailable for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. The relocated team will be called the Brampton Honey Badgers. The CEBL stated it could consider a return to the Hamilton market with a new team after the renovations. Brampton was home to the Brampton A's of the National Basketball League of Canada for two seasons (2013-15). The CEBL also stated its ten teams will be aligned into East and West divisions when the fifth season starts in May 2023.

National Basketball League of Canada: The minor professional NBL-Canada announced its 2023 season schedule will run from January 7 through May 3, 2023, and will feature the same four Ontario-based teams as last season. The Sudbury Five will play 33 games, the London Lightning 30 games, the Windsor Express 27 games, and the KW Titans (Kitchener-Waterloo) will play 24 games. The KW Titans came under new ownership and will not start play until February 20. As it did in the 2022 season, each NBL-Canada team's regular-season schedule includes games against teams from The Basketball League (TBL) with those games counting in the standings. A total of nine TBL teams, including two Canadian teams in Quebec and Newfoundland, will participate in games against NBL-Canada teams. The NBL-Canada still lists the Island Storm (Charlotteville, Prince Edward Island) as a member team, but it has not played since it was part of a four-team Atlantic Division with the Halifax Hurricanes, Moncton Magic and St. John's Edge in the shortened 2019-20 season, which also feature the four Ontario-based teams in a Central Division. The league did not play in 2020-21 and returned in 2022 with only the four Central Division teams. The Halifax and Moncton teams left the league in 2021 and St. John's was recently removed. The NBL-Canada has a long-term goal of re-establishing teams in Atlantic Canada.

The Basketball League: The minor professional TBL announced a team called the Wichita Sky Kings has been added to the league. The TBL had a Wichita-based team called the Midtown Prestige that played only one season in 2021.

Women's National Basketball Association: The professional WNBA announced its 2023 season schedule that will feature the same 12 teams as last season and aligned in six-team Eastern and Western conferences. Each team will play a 40-game regular-season schedule from May 19 through September 10.

FOOTBALL

American Indoor Football Alliance: The AIFA recently announced a team called the Dallas Outlaws has joined the league, while the league's Tampa Bay Cyclones team has relocated to Tallahassee (FL) where it will be called the Capital City Cyclones. The AIFA currently lists six teams, but it no longer includes previously announced new teams called the Memphis Beatz and Florida Fear (Bradenton).

Arena Football Association: The ownership of the AFA's Magnolia State Spartans (Philadelphia, MS) stated the team will not be returning for a second season. The AFA completed its inaugural 2022 season with only five participating teams, one of which was a travel-only team. The league's Odessa-based West Texas Warbirds team previously announced a switch to the National Arena League for the 2023 season.

HOCKEY

Ontario Hockey League: The Hamilton Bulldogs of the major-junior OHL will be seeking a temporary home arena for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons due to planned renovations on the team's home at the FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton.

Professional Women's Hockey Players Association: The four-team tour-based PWHPA announced it will be participating in the ‚¬Å“Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada ‚¬Â, which is Canada's biggest annual single-day hockey celebration on January 21, 2023. As part of its tour schedule, two PWHPA teams will play a game in Owen Sound (Ontario) on that date. The four PWHPA teams will participate in an additional three regular-season tour games to be played in nearby Collingwood (Ontario) on January 21-22, 2023.

SOCCER

Major League Indoor Soccer: The new men's professional MLIS started its inaugural 2022-23 season this week with 12 teams aligned in four-team Eastern, Central and Southern divisions. Each team will play a 12-game schedule within its division through March 19, 2023. The MLIS lists several markets that have applied to join in the future and it lists Toronto, Phoenix, Tulsa and Scranton (PA) as being approved.

National Women's Soccer League: The group known as Cleveland Pro Soccer, which recently announced plans to start an independent team in the men's MLS NEXT Pro league by 2025, stated it wants to develop a women's team and has applied for an expansion team in the NWSL. Cleveland is an unlikely candidate for the next round of NWSL expansion that plans to add two teams in 2024 or 2025.

USL W-League (United Soccer League): The pre-professional women's USL W-League announced six California-based teams will join the previously announced California-based Oakland Soul and Stockton Cargo SC to create a new eight-team NorCal Division for the league's second season in 2023. The six new teams include the Academica SC (Turlock), California Storm (Sacramento), Marin FC (Marin County) and Pleasanton RAGE, which were all part of the 2022 Women's Premier Soccer League; The Olympic Club (San Francisco), which was part of the 2022 Golden Gate Women's Soccer League; and the San Francisco Glens, which has a men's team in the pre-professional USL League Two. The Academica SC will also be starting a men's team in the USL League Two for the 2023 season.

USL League Two (United Soccer League): The men's pre-professional USL League Two recently announced a yet-to-be-named team in Sarasota (FL) and the Academica SC (Turlock) will join for the 2023 season. The Boulder County United (Lafayette, CO), which was created by a merger of FC Boulder and Boulder County SC, will also join the league for the 2023 season.

OTHER

National Lacrosse League: The indoor professional NLL started its 2022-23 season schedule that features 15 teams aligned in an eight-team East Conference and a seven-team West Conference with each team playing an 18-game schedule through April 29, 2023. All teams from last season's eight-team East and six-team West have returned, and the league added the Las Vegas Desert Dogs expansion team to the West Conference for the 2022-23 season. The league's Toronto Rock team, which plays its home games at the FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, will be looking for a temporary home after this season since its arena will be undergoing a two-year renovation starting next summer. The Ontario markets of Mississauga, Guelph and Kitchener are said to be the frontrunners to serve as the team's home for 2023-24 and 2024-25.

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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