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 Indoor Football League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
January 2, 2023 - Indoor Football League (IFL)


BASEBALL

Liga Mexicana de Beisbol: Mexico's top-level LMB, or Mexican Baseball League, recently announced its 2023 season schedule that will feature the same 18 teams as last season and again aligned in a nine-team Zona Sur (South Division) and a nine-team Zona Norte (North Division). The 2023 season will run from April 20 through August 6, 2023 with each team playing a 90-game schedule.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association Gatorade League (G-League): The NBA G-League completed the Showcase Cup portion of the 2022-23 season last week with a single-elimination tournament in Las Vegas. The league's 30 teams were aligned eight-team East and Central groups and seven-team South and West groups with each team playing 16 games from November 4 to December 17. The top eight teams then moved on to the Showcase Cup tournament. The G-League then started the regular portion of its 2022-23 season this week with 30 teams aligned in 15-team Eastern and Western conferences and each team playing a 32-game schedule. The 30 teams include the 28 teams operating under individual affiliations with 28 of the 30 NBA teams, plus the league's developmental G-League Ignite team (based in the Las Vegas area) and the unaffiliated Mexico City Capitanes team. Only the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns do not have affiliated teams in the G-League. There was one off-season name change as the Aqua Caliente Clippers of Ontario (CA) were renamed the Ontario Clippers for the 2022-23 season.

The Basketball League: The minor professional TBL recently added a new team called the West Virginia Grind (Charleston) to its Midwest Conference for the upcoming 2023 season.

FOOTBALL

Elite Indoor Football: The semi-pro EIF recently announced several teams have been added for the 2023 season: the Knoxville (TN) Knightmare, Kentuckian Kurse (Louisville), South Florida Raptors (Broward County), Space Coast Tarheels (Titusville, FL), Illinois Ragin Bulls (Chicago) and the Philadelphia Nighthawks team, which is to be part of a proposed new Northeast Division.

Indoor Football League: A former IFL team called the Cedar Rapids River Kings (Iowa) has come under new ownership and plans to return in 2024, but there was no mention in which league the team will play. The River Kings started in the IFL as the Cedar Rapids Titans for the 2012 season and changed to the River Kings for the 2019 season. The River Kings played one of the league's two games in the 2020 season, which was shut down due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). The team went dormant for the 2021 and then was no longer listed as an IFL team.

HOCKEY

Junior Women's Hockey League: The developmental JWHL's top Under-19 Division is currently playing its 2022-23 season with seven teams, three of which are based in the United States (New York, Massachusetts and Washington, DC) and four based in Canada (British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island). The season consists of all teams participating in five regional weekend events. Four of the U-19 teams also operate teams in an Under-16 Division for the 2022-23 season.

Saskatchewan Junior Women's Hockey League: Hockey Saskatchewan announced plans to start a Saskatchewan-based women's Under-22 junior hockey league for the 2023-24 season.

SOCCER

National Independent Soccer Association - NISA Nation League: The NISA Nation, which is the amateur league to the Division-III professional NISA, announced its Southwest Division could grow to 12 teams for the spring 2023 season. The Southwest Division finished the 2022 season with six teams and will add the AS Los Angeles, Olympiacos CA (Huntington Beach, CA) and SC Union Maricopa (Gilbert, AZ) with more teams still to be announced. In addition to a six-team Southwest Division, the 2022 NISA Nation league featured a seven-team West Division, an eight-team East Division and an eight-team Central Division.

USL W-League (United Soccer League): The women's pre-professional USL W-League announced the Palm City (FL) Americanas will be added as a 2023 expansion team.

OTHER

American Rugby Premiership: The Houston SaberCats, NOLA Gold (New Orleans) and Rugy ATL of the professional Major League Rugby (MLR) added developmental academy teams to the ARP, which grew to eight teams for the 2022 season played in September and October. The returning Mystic River Rugby (Malden, MA), New York Athletic Club (Pelham), Old Blue of New York and White Plains (NY) RC Wombats were placed in a new four-team ARP North, while the returning Life University Running Eagles (Marietta, GA) were moved to a new ARP South with the MLR-affiliated Rugby HTX, NOLA Gold Academy and Rugby ATL Academy teams.

Premier Rugby Sevens: North America's top tier men's and women's rugby sevens competition known as the PR7s will expand from four to eight teams aligned in Western and Eastern conferences for 2023 with teams now representing a specific region or city. The 2022 season featured four rugby clubs (Loonies, Headliners, Loggerheads and Experts) each with a seven-player men's team and a seven-player women's team participating in a schedule of tournament-style events. The renamed Northern Loonies, Southern Headliners, SoCal Loggerheads and Rocky Mountain Experts will join new teams called the New York Locals, Texas Team and yet-to-be named Northern California and Western Pennsylvania teams.

Professional Box Lacrosse Association: The new minor professional indoor PBLA started its inaugural 2022-23 season this week with nine new teams called the Binghamton (NY) Bombers, Charlotte Bootleggers, Elmira (NY) Renegades, Hampton (VA) Hammerheads, New England Chowderheads (Portland, ME & Lowell, MA), Salem (VA) Mayhem, Syracuse Spark, Trenton Terror and the Jim Thorpe (PA) All-Americans travel-only team. Each team will play a 14-game schedule through April 15, 2023. The PBLA commissioner stated six cities are interested in joining and the league plans to add at least two new teams for next season.

Women's Pro Fastpitch: The WPF recently announced the addition of a yet-to-be-named fourth team to be based in Dallas for the 2023 season. The WPF completed its inaugural exhibition season with two teams called the USSSA (United States Specialty Sports Association) Pride (Viera, FL) and the SIS (Smash It Sports) Vipers (Rochester, NY). In July, the WPF also added the Oklahoma City Spark for the 2023 season. A team called the Dallas Charge played two seasons (2015-16) in the former National Pro Fastpitch (NPF). The USSSA Pride was also a member of the NPF until that league folded in 2021.

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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