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Northwoods Northwoods League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
July 31, 2023 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)


BASEBALL

Southern Winter League: The proposed new professional developmental SWL has posted its inaugural 2023 season schedule that will include four teams each playing a ten-game schedule from September 18 through September 29, 2023, followed by playoffs. The SWL teams called the Yellow Sox, Maples, Samurai and the SLRC Datileros will play all games at the Nuevo Estadio de Beisbol in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora (Mexico).

Northwoods League: The Bismarck (ND) Larks of the summer-collegiate Northwoods League played a game this week as the Missouri River Motorboaters to celebrate motorboaters on the Missouri River and local lakes. The Moorhead City (NC) Marlins of the summer-collegiate Coastal Plain League also played a game this week as the Moorhead City Motorboaters as a tribute to local motorboaters on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Rather than get into a dispute over the use of the motorboaters nickname, the team owners organized a friendly "Battle of the Motorboaters" with a portion of promotional t-shirt sales going to respective river or coastal conservation projects.

Texas League: The Tulsa Drillers of the Double-A Texas League were rebranded as the Tulsa Noodlers for a four-game series this weekend. This annual rebranding started in 2021 and pays tribute to an Oklahoma tradition called noodling, which is a method of catching a fish (usually a catfish) by hand.

BASKETBALL

Florida Basketball Association: As the six-team semi-pro FBA nears the end of its 2023 season, the league announced plans to operate a 2023-24 FBA Winter League.

National Basketball Association Gatorade League (G-League): The NBA's Indiana Pacers finalized the location for a new 3,400-seat arena to be built for its G-League team in the Indianapolis suburb of Noblesville. The Fort Wayne Mad Ants, which served as the Pacers' G-League affiliate since the 2007-08 season and were purchased by the Pacers prior to the 2016-17 season, will play at the Pacers' home arena in Indianapolis until the new arena is completed at which time the team will undergo a name change.

Women's National Basketball Association: At the WNBA's recent All-Star Game, the league commissioner stated there will be some news to announce later this season on future expansion. The Bay Area, Portland (OR), Toronto, Philadelphia, Nashville, and others have been mentioned as locations.

FOOTBALL

Canadian Football League: As the CFL tries to expand to ten teams with a potential team in the Atlantic Canada region, the league held its annual Touchdown Atlantic regular-season game in Halifax (Nova Scotia) this weekend at Huskies Stadium on the campus of St. Mary's University. Halifax is considered the frontrunner for expansion and the CFL commissioner indicated there is strong interest from more than one potential ownership group in Halifax. The main issue is finding a suitable home for the team either through new construction or renovation of an existing facility. Last year, the mayor of Halifax stated the city is not interested in building a new CFL-specific stadium.

Champions Indoor Football: The Omaha Beef, Sioux City (IA) Bandits and Topeka Tropics announced the teams are leaving the CIF and will join a different league or possibly start a new league. This departure is reported to also include two proposed CIF expansion teams in Colorado and Texas.

The Arena League: The Duluth (MN) franchise in the proposed new six-on-six TAL, which plans to start play in June 2024 with four teams, announced Lakers, Harbor Monsters, Sasquatch and Norsemen as four potential team nicknames for fan voting. Fans can also vote on the name of the team's market with Twin Ports, Minnesota, Lake Superior and Duluth as options.

International Football Alliance: The new minor professional IFA plans to start play in the summer of 2024 with six teams-three in Mexico and three in the United States, namely Texas. So far, four teams formerly associated with Mexico's American-style football called the Futbol Americano de Mexico (FAM), which folded after its 2022 season, have been announced. Three former FAM teams called the Tequileros de Jalisco (Guadalajara), Tiburones de Cancun (Quintana Roo), and Raramuris de Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua) will be the IFA's Mexican teams. The former FAM team called the Pioneros de Queretaro has relocated to become one of the Texas-based IFA teams called the Dallas Pioneros. El Paso is listed as an IFA market with one other Texas location is still to be announced.

National Arena League: A new team called the Colorado Spartans, presumed to be in the Denver area, recently announced it will be a member of the NAL in 2024. With the NAL's Albany (NY) Empire being kicked out of the league during the 2023 season, a new ownership group has expressed interest in bringing an indoor team to Albany in a different league. The manager of Albany's MVP Arena stated that any deal with a new team would have to be completed by mid-August for scheduling purposes, but the high cost of state-imposed workers' compensation insurance premiums at the arena could kill any deal for a new team.

National Football League: With the recent sale and purchase of the NFL's Washington Commanders being finalized, the Commanders' new ownership is exploring a possible name change for the team. The team was called the Washington Redskins through the 2019 season and was temporarily known as The Washington Football Team for the 2020 and 2021 seasons before becoming the Commanders in 2022.

HOCKEY

Federal Prospects Hockey League: The lower-level minor FPHL announced the new Wytheville (VA) expansion team will be called the Blue Ridge Bobcats when the team starts play in the 2023-24 season. The Bobcats join the recently announced Baton Rouge Zydeco as 2023-24 expansion teams.

Kootenay International Junior Hockey League: With British Columbia's only Junior-A level hockey league called the British Columbia Junior Hockey moving to become an independent league, BC Hockey has decided to reclassify the three British Columbia Junior-B leagues, which includes the 20-team KIJHL, the 11-team Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League, and the 14-team Pacific Junior Hockey League, to Junior-A status. BC Hockey has created a new two-tier Junior-A system and the three leagues have been placed into a new provincial Junior-A Tier 2 designation with the possibility promotion to Junior-A Tier 1.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer: MLS and Mexico's top soccer league known as Liga MX have both paused their regular seasons with all 47 teams (29 MLS and 18 Liga MX) participating in the month-long Leagues Cup tournament. The group-play round includes 45 teams aligned in 4 regions with 15 three-team groups. Los Angeles FC (MLS champion) and Pachuca (Liga MX champion) earned a bye for the group-play round. The top two teams from each of the 15 groups, plus Los Angeles FC and Pachuca, will advance to the 32-team Knockout Stage.

Major Arena Soccer League 3: Voting ended this weekend to name the new Salisbury (MD) team that will start play in the 2023-24 season of the amateur-level MASL3, which is the lowest rung on the MASL's soccer pyramid. The Salisbury Strikers and Salisbury Steaks were the nicknames up for voting.

OTHER

Premier Lacrosse League: As the tour-based professional field lacrosse PLL moves to home markets for its eight teams in 2024, the league has narrowed the potential field to 26 markets under consideration and up for fan voting. Starting in 2024, each of the eight selected home markets will host one of the ten regular-season weekend events with the other two events to be held at neutral sites.

Major League Rugby: The men's professional 15-a-side rugby union MLR held an Expansion Draft this week for the Miami Sharks expansion team that will start play as the league's 13th team in the 2024 season.

Athletes Unlimited - Lacrosse League: The Athletes Unlimited women's professional field lacrosse league started its 2023 season on July 20 with four teams playing over four weekends through August 13, 2023. All games will be played at the USA Lacrosse Headquarters just north of Baltimore.

Athletes Unlimited - Softball League: The Athletes Unlimited women's professional fastpitch softball league started its 2023 season this weekend with four teams playing over five weekends through August 27, 2023. All games will be played at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont (IL).

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.



Northwoods League Stories from July 31, 2023


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.


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