Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
July 24, 2023 - American Association (AA)
BASEBALL
Arizona Fall League: Major League Baseball announced the schedule for the 2023 AzFL season that will feature the same six teams as last season: the Glendale Desert Dogs, Peoria Javelinas, Salt River Rafters, Scottsdale Scorpions, Mesa Solar Sox, and Surprise Saguaros. Teams will play a 30-game schedule from October 2 through November 9, 2023, at MLB spring training facilities. Each of the 30 MLB teams sends top prospects to the league and each team consists of prospects from 5 different MLB teams.
American Association: The Kane County (IL) Cougars of the independent American Association played the third of four games this season on Sunday, July 16, 2023, as the Kane County Atomic Pork Chops. The name is a tribute to both Fermilab, a nearby lab specializing in high-energy particle physics, and the team's signature pork chop sandwich. The final Atomic Pork Chops game will be played in September.
Atlantic League: The independent Atlantic League's expansion team in Hagerstown (MD) will be called the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars when it starts play in the 2024 season. The nickname comes from a type of cargo plane referred to as a flying boxcar that was produced in Hagerstown in the 1940s and 1950s. Other nickname choices included the Battle Swans, Diezel Dogs, Haymakers, and Tin Lizards.
BASKETBALL
Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional: Mexico's top men's professional basketball league known as the LNBP recently announced a change to its 2023 schedule with the addition of a 14th team called the Santos del Potosi (San Luis Potosi) to the West Division. The LNBP last had a team called the C.B. Santos de San Luis in the 2019-20 season. The LNBP announced its 2023 season schedule for 13 teams back in April to include all ten teams from last season plus the new Freseros de Irapuato, the Halcones de Rojos de Veracruz that last played in the LNBP in 2016, and the Panteras de Aquascaliente that last played in the LNBP in 2021. The LNBP season will run from August 18 through November 3, 2023. The 14-team LNBP will be aligned into seven-team East and West divisions for 2023.
National Basketball Association Gatorade League (G-League): The NBA's Phoenix Suns, which is the only NBA team that does not own or have a one-to-one affiliation with a G-League team, announced plans to start a G-League affiliate in the Phoenix area as early as the 2024-25 season.
SlamBall: The made-for-TV trampoline-based hybrid of basketball known as SlamBall made its return this week with a 2023 season and playoffs to run through August 17. All games will be played at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas. Eight teams called the Gryphons, Mob, Ozone, Rumble, Lava, Slashers, Wrath, and Buzzsaw will participate in the 2023 season.
FOOTBALL
American Indoor Football: The AIF announced its new Wheeling (WV) team will be called the West Virginia Miners when the league relaunches with a start in 2024. In addition to Wheeling, the AIF previously announced three other teams with more teams still to be announced.
The Arena League: The Kansas City (MO) franchise in the proposed new six-on-six indoor TAL announced the team will be called the Kansas City Goats when the league starts play with four teams in June 2024. The other TAL teams will be the Waterloo (IA) Woo, Ozarks Lunkers (Springfield, MO) and a yet-to-be-named team in Duluth (MN).
Arena Football League: The new version of the AFL announced locations for 16 proposed teams when the league plans to start play in April 2024. Locations include Boise (ID), California (Bakersfield), Oregon (Salem), Washington (Everett), Austin, Colorado (Denver), St. Louis, West Texas (Odessa), Chicago, Ohio (Cincinnati), Minnesota (St. Paul), Philadelphia, Louisiana (Lake Charles), Orlando, Tallahassee, and Tennessee (Nashville). The Odessa-based West Texas Warbirds of the National Arena League (NAL) confirmed the team is moving to the AFL, while the NAL's Orlando Predators team is expected to become the AFL's Orlando team.
HOCKEY
Da Beauty League: The 4-on-4 summertime ice hockey DBL recently started its short 2023 season last week with six sponsor-named teams called Anderson Group, Inc., Element, Tradition Companies, TRIA, Winnesota, and Walser. Each team is comprised of National Hockey League players, minor hockey league players and college players that are from Minnesota or spend their summers in Minnesota. Each team will play nine games through August 16, 2023. All games are played at Braemar Arena in Edina (MN).
National Collegiate Development Conference: The junior-level United States Premier Hockey League's Tier-II NCDC has posted the 2023-24 season schedule that will feature 18 teams aligned in six-team divisions. The league had 14 teams aligned in seven-team North and South divisions last season, but the North Division's Boston Advantage and New Hampshire Junior Monarchs (Hooksett) will not return and the Utica (NY) Junior Comets were moved from the South to the North. The six-team North and South divisions have been renamed the New England Division and Atlantic Division, respectively, and a new Mountain Division comprised of six teams that were promoted from the 2022-23 Tier-III USPHL Premier Conference was added. The new Mountain Division teams are the Idaho Falls (ID) Spuds, Ogden (UT) Mustangs, Provo (UT) Predators, Pueblo (CO) Bulls, Utah Outliers (West Valley), and Rock Springs (WY) Grizzlies (formerly the Prospectors). The New England and Atlantic division teams will play 52 games and the Mountain Division team will play 53 games from September 22, 2023, through March 22, 2024.
North Eastern Hockey League: The new semi-pro Senior-A NEHL plans to start an inaugural 2023-24 season in October and recently listed its first group of teams called the Soo Apollos (Sault Ste. Marie, MI), North Shore Nighthawks (Middleton, MA), Boston Gold Kings, Rockland Polar Bears (Monsey, NY) and Pittsburgh River Monsters. The league plans to announce at least seven more teams in the coming weeks.
SOCCER
USL League One (United Soccer League): The new Spokane (WA) expansion team in the men's Division-III professional USL League One announced the team will be called the Spokane Velocity FC when it starts play at a new 5,500-seat stadium in the 2024 season. The team's ownership recently announced plans for the stadium to be home to a women's team in the new professional USL Super League that starts play in August 2024 and previously a new women's team in the pre-professional USL W-League would start in 2024. The names of the women's teams will be announced in October.
USL W-League (United Soccer League): The ownership group that operates the men's Richmond 's Kickers team in the Division-III USL League One announced plans to operate a women's team that will start play in the pre-professional W-League starting with the 2024 season. The new team's name will be announced in the future. A women's team called the Richmond Kickers Destiny played six seasons (2004-09) in a former version of the W-League that folded after the 2015 season. The ownership of the Future Legends Complex in Windsor (CO) announced it will operate a new W-League team in 2024 contingent on the formation of a new division, which will feature at least five new teams in the Mountain region. The complex is home to the men's Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC in the Division-III USL League One.
USL Championship (United Soccer League): Last summer, the completion date for a new 6,300-seat soccer stadium in downtown Des Moines (IA) for a Division-II professional USL Championship team was pushed back until 2025 but now the project is seeking additional funding due to an increase in construction costs. The USL Arkansas group, which is trying to bring a men's USL Championship team and a women's USL Super League team to Northwest Arkansas, received rezoning approval for the site of its proposed new 5,000-seat soccer stadium in Rogers (AR). The teams hope to start play in 2026.
Liga Expansión MX: Mexico's second division men's league known as the Liga Expansión MX started the first part (Apertura) of its two-part 2023-24 Apertura/Clausura season this week with 15 teams aligned in a single-table format. Teams will play 14 games through November 2, 2023. The league operated with 18 teams in the 2022-23 season but lost three teams. The Durango Alacranes returned to the third division Liga Premier. The Raya2 (Guadalupe, Nueva Leon) and the Pumas Tabasco teams, which were affiliates of first division Liga MX teams, were dissolved and replaced by Liga MX affiliates in the current Liga MX Under-23 League. The Liga Expansión MX will undergo a change prior to the start of the second part (Clausura) of the season in January 2024. To further develop young talent in Mexico, the Mexican Football Federation is converting the Under-20 category to an Under-23 category. Mexico's top first division 18-team Liga MX, whose teams each had an affiliate in the 18-team Liga MX Under-20 League last season, has converted the Under-20 League to an 18-team Under-23 League for the current Apertura. The Liga MX Under-23 League will merge with the 15-team Liga Expansion MX for the Clausura season starting in January 2024 to create a new Expansion Sub-23 league.
OTHER
Pro Volleyball Federation: The proposed new PVF, which will be a professional women's indoor volleyball league starting in early 2024, announced its Omaha (NE) team will be called the Omaha Supernovas. The league also announced a Dallas team will be added for the league's second season in 2025 season. Other teams announced for the inaugural 2024 season include the Columbus (OH) Fury, Grand Rapids (MI) Rise, and unnamed teams in Atlanta, Orlando, and San Diego.
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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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
