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National Women's Soccer League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
July 17, 2023 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)


BASEBALL

American Association: The independent American Association announced the league will be part of a new international competition called the Baseball Champions League (BCL), which will feature a championship team from four different leagues playing a round-robin tournament from September 28 through October 2, 2023. The 2022 champion Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks will represent the American Association. The other participating teams will be champions from the Colombian Professional Baseball League, the Mexican Baseball League, and the Cuban National Series.

Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico: Mexico's professional fall-winter season LMP, or Mexican Pacific League, recently announced its 2023-24 season schedule that will feature the same ten teams as last season and again aligned in a single-table format. Each team will play 24 games from October 13 through December 30, 2023, followed by playoffs.

Western Canadian Baseball League: The new Saskatoon expansion team in the WCBL, which is a semi-pro league comprised of mostly collegiate players, will be called the Saskatoon Berries when it starts play in the 2024 season. Other nickname choices were the Bridge Pigeons, Cobra Chickens and River Pirates.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association: The group trying to build a new NBA-style arena in Las Vegas recently announced plans to increase its investment and the size of the development to include a hotel, gaming, and entertainment district along with the arena. Las Vegas and Seattle are reported to be the frontrunners for NBA expansion, if the league decides to grow from 30 to 32 teams. The NBA commissioner recently indicated expansion will be considered but not until the TV media negotiations are completed in 2024.

The Basketball League: The men's semi-pro TBL announced an expansion team called the Great Falls (MT) Electric will be added for the 2024 season.

FOOTBALL

American Indoor Football: A new version of the AIF, which played five seasons (2012-16) before ceasing operations and tried to restart in 2022, stated it will relaunch in 2024 and announced its first four teams-the Cedar Rapids (IA) River Kings, Corpus Christi Tritons, RiverCity Rage (Council Bluffs, IA), and an unnamed Wheeling (WV) team. Cedar Rapids and RiverCity will be under the same ownership. A team called the Cedar Rapids River Kings was part of the Indoor Football League (IFL) for the 2019 season and one game in the 2020 season that was shut down due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). The River Kings sat out the 2021 season and never returned to the IFL.

European League of Football: The Leipzig Kings (Germany) of Europe's ELF American-style football league have been removed for the remainder of the 2023 schedule. The team had financial issues and failed to meet a league deadline this week to disclose its financials and come up with a plan to address the issues.

Indoor Football League: The IFL's San Jose-based Bay Area Panthers have issued a 90-day request for proposal to the markets of Oakland, Stockton, San Jose, and Sacramento to determine the team's future home. The Panthers were supposed to start play in the 2020 season as the Oakland Panthers but the season was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the team sat out the 2021 season. By the time the team started play in 2022, it had moved to San Jose as the Bay Area Panthers.

HOCKEY

ECHL: The minor AA-level ECHL has approved an expansion franchise for Lake Tahoe (NV) where the team will start play in the 2024-25 season as the league's 29th team. A new 4,200-seat arena is nearing completion in the Lake Tahoe area. Lake Tahoe had a previous junior-level team called the Lake Tahoe Blue/Tahoe Ice that played five seasons (2013-18) in the defunct Western States Hockey League. The ECHL is reported to be considering expansion to Athens (GA) where a new arena is under construction, and a group in Albuquerque (NM) has expressed interest in an ECHL expansion franchise.

Federal Prospects Hockey League: The minor A-level FPHL's new Baton Rouge (LA) expansion team will be called the Baton Rouge Zydeco when it starts play in the 2023-24 season. Zydeco is a music genre that evolved in southwest Louisiana.

American Hockey League: The top minor professional AHL announced its 2023-24 season schedule will feature the same 32 teams as last season with each team playing a 72-game schedule from October 13, 2023, through April 21, 2024. The 32 teams will again be aligned in a 15-team Eastern Conference with an eight-team Atlantic Division and a seven-team North Division, and a 17-team Western Conference with a seven-team Central Division and a ten-team Pacific Division.

Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League: The 11-team Junior-B VIJHL has applied to BC Hockey asking to be reclassified as a Junior-A league for the 2023-24 season. The VIJHL and two other British Columbia-based Junior-B leagues-the 20-team Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) and the 14-team Pacific Junior Hockey League (PCHL)-are also looking to fill the void in Junior-A hockey in the province since the British Columbia Hockey League left Hockey Canada to become an independent league starting with the 2023-24 season. The KIJHL has also applied for Junior-A status.

SOCCER

Liga MX Femenil: The top Mexican women's soccer league known as the Liga MX Femenil, whose 18 teams are each associated with a team in the top men's league known as Liga MX, started the Apertura (opening) phase of its 2023-24 Apertura/Clausura season this week with the same 18 teams as last season. The Apertura portion runs through November 6, 2023, with each team playing a 17-game schedule.

Major Arena Soccer League: The MASL announced the Florida Tropics (Lakeland) team has suspended operations and will not be part of the 2023-24 season. The team joined the MASL as a 2016-17 expansion team. The Tropics announced in April they would have to find a new home arena due to an increase in the cost of the lease in Lakeland. The league will work with ownership for a possible return in 2024-25 or a sale of the team to new operators.

National Women's Soccer League: A group of investors under the name "For Denver FC" wants to bring a Division-I women's professional soccer team to the city in either the NWSL or the proposed new fall-to-spring USL Super League (United Soccer League), which plans to start play in August 2024. The group plans to apply to one of the two leagues by the end of 2023 with hopes of a team starting play in 2026. The Boston Unity group, which is trying to bring an NWSL expansion team to Boston, has submitted renovation plans to the city for the 11,000-seat White Stadium with a projected completion goal of December 2025.

USL Championship (United Soccer League): The USL announced a partnership with a group called USL Arkansas, which plans to start a men's team in the Division-II USL Championship league and a women's team in the new Division-I USL Super League. Both teams would be based in Northwest Arkansas, which includes Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers, and Springdale. The group plans to build a 5,000-seat soccer stadium in Rogers with teams starting play in 2026.

OTHER

Major League Cricket: The new professional MLC started its inaugural 2023 season this week with six teams called the Texas Super Kings (Dallas), San Francisco Unicorns, Los Angeles Knight Riders, Seattle Orcas, Washington (DC) Freedom, and MI New York, which will be operated by the Mumbai Indians club. The entire 2023 season will be held this month with six games played at a cricket venue in Grand Prairie (TX) and seven games at a cricket venue in Morrisville (NC). Four playoff games will then be held in Grand Prairie from July 27 through July 30. The affiliated Minor League Cricket plans to start its third season after the completion of the MLC's season.

Dan Krieger is the creator of the Weekly Sports League & Franchise Report, which has been tracking the changes in the sports world's leagues, teams and nicknames since April 2007.

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