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NWSL National Women's Soccer League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
May 15, 2023 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)


BASEBALL

American Association: The independent American Association, which is a partner league of Major League Baseball, started its 2023 season this week with the same 12 teams as last season and they are again aligned in the same six-team East and West divisions. Each team will play 100 games through September 4, 2023.

Frontier League: The independent Frontier League, which is a partner league of Major League Baseball, started its 2023 season this week with the same 16 teams as last season and they are again aligned in eight-team East and West divisions. The Empire State Greys travel-only team, which is based in New York and operated by the independent Empire Baseball League, returns in 2023 to keep the league at an even number of teams. Each Frontier League team will play a 96-game schedule through September 1, 2023.

Atlantic League: The independent Atlantic League's Lancaster (PA) Barnstormers will pay tribute to Lebanon County (PA), just to the north of the city, and rename the team the Lebanon Ironmasters as part of a second annual Lebanon County Weekend scheduled for the first weekend in June.

Expedition League: The summer-collegiate Expedition League, which started its 2022 season with only four teams and was forced to finish the season early with only two active teams called the Souris Valley Sabre Dogs (Minot, ND) and the Pierre (SD) Trappers, folded after the 2022 season. After playing the 2021 season with 12 teams, the league lost 7 teams to the Independence League Baseball and was unable to recover. The Expedition League played its first season in 2018.

BASKETBALL

Basketball Super League: The proposed new professional BSL, which is an offshoot of the minor league known as The Basketball League (TBL), announced three of the four Ontario-based teams-the London Lightning, Sudbury Five and KW Titans (Kitchener-Waterloo)-from the National Basketball League of Canada will join the BSL when it starts play in December 2023 with 10 to 12 teams in the United States and Canada. The fourth NBL-Canada team called the Windsor Express was not part of the recent BSL announcement. The four NBL-Canada teams have been playing interleague games with TBL teams during the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The NBL-Canada started play in the 2011-12 season but more recently lost the teams from its Atlantic Division, which at one point consisted of five teams in the Atlantic Canada provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The new BSL has expressed interest in placing teams in some of the former NBL-Canada markets. The BSL recently announced one of the TBL's Canadian teams called the Newfoundland Rogues (St. John's) will move to the BSL for the league's inaugural season. The NBL-Canada had a former Newfoundland-based team called the St. John's Edge prior to the Rogues coming to that market.

National Basketball Association Gatorade League (G-League): The NBA's Indiana Pacers (Indianapolis) announced its NBA G-League team called the Fort Wayne (IN) Mad Ants will be moved to the northern Indianapolis suburb of Noblesville where a new arena is to be built and expected to be ready for the 2024-25 season. The Mad Ants will play at the Pacers' home arena in Indianapolis for the 2023-24 season and the team will change its nickname upon the move to Noblesville. Over the past two seasons, the Mad Ants have been playing several regular-season home games in Indianapolis instead of Fort Wayne. The Fort Wayne Mad Ants joined the league for the 2007-08 season and the team was purchased by the Pacers prior to the 2015-16 season.

Women's National Basketball Association: The WNBA's Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx played a well-attended pre-season game this weekend in Toronto, which is said to be one of ten finalists for the league's next round of expansion. The WNBA has spoken to several interested ownership groups in Canada and would like to add an expansion team no later than the 2025 season. Austin, Charlotte, Nashville, Portland, Philadelphia and the Bay Area are some other markets said to be under consideration.

FOOTBALL

American Indoor Football Alliance: The seven-team AIFA, which struggled through its inaugural 2022 season with teams dropping out and not all scheduled games being played, started its 2023 season this weekend. The Carolina Predators (Fayetteville, NC), Mississippi Raiders (moved from Jackson to Tunica), Las Vegas Kings and Capital City Cyclones (Tallahassee), formerly the Tampa Bay Cyclones, returned from last season, and the league added the Dallas Falcons, South Florida Thunder (Palm Beach) and the Columbus (GA) Lions, a prior member of the National Arena League. The AIFA announced several other 2023 expansion teams like the Wichita Force, Memphis Beatz, Florida Fear (Bradenton), Dallas Outlaws and Texas Pride (Garland), but they never made it to the 2023 season. At least four AIFA teams were scheduled to play 2023 interleague games with teams from the American West Football Conference (AWFC), but the Las Vegas Kings is the only AIFA team to have played interleague games and currently listed on the AWFC schedule. In one of the two AIFA games scheduled for this weekend, the Dallas Falcons travelled to play the Mississippi Raiders, but apparently the Raiders did not show for the game.

HOCKEY

United States Premier Hockey League: The junior-level USPHL announced a new team called the Casper (WY) Roughnecks has been added to the Northwest Division of the Tier-III USPHL Premier Conference for the 2023-24 season. The city had the Casper Coyotes for four seasons (2014-18) and the Casper Bobcats for one season (2018-19) in the former junior-level Western States Hockey League.

SOCCER

National Women's Soccer League: After announcing new teams will be added in the San Francisco Bay Area and Salt Lake City in 2024, the NWSL commissioner confirmed the league plans to add two additional teams for the 2026 season, but no specific markets were mentioned. The NWSL has been reported to be in discussions with a group in Boston for the next round of expansion. With these latest expansion plans, the league will grow to 16 teams by the 2026 season.

USL League Two (United Soccer League): The men's pre-professional USL League Two started its 2023 season this week with 121 teams aligned in four regional conferences (Western, Eastern, Central and Southern). The Western and Central conferences are further aligned into four regional divisions, while the Southern and Eastern conferences are further aligned into five regional divisions. The league also announced the Brazos Valley Cavalry (Bryan, TX) has been renamed the Twin City Toucans ahead of the 2023 season. The USL League Two season runs through July 18, 2023.

Premiere Ligue de Soccer du Quebec: Canada's Division-III pro-am PLSQ (Premier Soccer League of Quebec) recently started its 2023 season under a new name-League1 Quebec or Lique1 Quebec. The league is part of League1 Canada, which includes current similar provincial Division-III pro-am leagues called League1 Ontario and League1 British Columbia with a new League1 Alberta in development. League1 Canada is overseen by Canada Soccer Business, which operates the men's Division-II professional league called the Canadian Premier League. League1 Quebec has the same 12 teams as last season in both the Men's Division and the Women's Division with teams aligned in a single-table format. The Men's Division also has a 12-team Reserve Division. The senior Men's Division season runs through mid-September with teams each playing 22 games, while the Women's Division season runs through mid-July with teams each playing 11 games.

Women's Premier Soccer League: The elite-level WPSL recently started its 2023 season with 130 teams aligned in four regions (West, Central, East and South). Each region is aligned in four regional conferences with some of the conferences further aligned into divisions. The WPSL season runs through July 9, 2023. The WPSL has also posted a WPSL U21 League schedule with a five-team Southern Conference and six independent teams playing games from late May to mid-July.

OTHER

League One Volleyball (LOVB): The proposed women's professional indoor volleyball league to be operated by LOVB recently announced Madison (WI) as a third location for a team when it starts play next year. Atlanta and Houston were previously announced as locations for LOVB professional 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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