Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on August 7, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
BASEBALL
Atlantic League: The independent Atlantic League's Gastonia (NC) Honey Hunters team is reported to be having financial problems and has been working on a plan to catch up on back payments due on the ballpark lease and other operating costs. The Honey Hunters joined the league as an expansion team for the 2021 season.
Eastern League: As part of an annual food showdown, the Reading Fightin Phils and the Hartford Yard Goats played a game this week as the Reading Hot Dogs and the Hartford Steamed Cheeseburgers.
Pacific Coast League: Last weekend the Albuquerque Isotopes of the Triple-A PCL played a game as the Alburquerque Green Chile Cheeseburgers as part of its annual Green Chile Cheeseburgers Promotion.
Major League Baseball Draft League: As part of a promotion started back in 2019, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Niles, OH) played a game this week as the Mahoning Valley Peppers in Oil named after an iconic appetizer popular in the local Youngstown (OH) and Trumbull County area.
BASKETBALL
American Basketball Association: The semi-pro ABA has announced the new ABA 40+ as a nationwide effort to recognize basketball players over the age of 40 through summertime leagues and tournaments across the country. The ABA 40+ will be part of the league's proposed ABA Summer initiative.
BIG3 League: The organizer of the tour-based professional 3-on-3 BIG3 basketball league, which owns and operates all 12 of its current teams, wants to start selling teams to individual owners and establish teams in certain cities. The league also wants to expand internationally.
FOOTBALL
Arena Football League: The owner of the proposed new AFL team to be based in Bakersfield (CA) reported the team will be called the California Grizzlies when the league relaunches in 2024. The team does not yet have a home arena. The commissioner of the new AFL reported the league will operate a team in Philadelphia called the Philadelphia Soul. Teams by that name played five seasons (2004-08) in the original AFL and nine seasons (2011-19) in a second version of the AFL that folded after the 2019 season.
American Indoor Football: The AIF, which has been dormant since 2016 and plans a relaunch in 2024, announced the Columbus (GA) Lions have joined the league as the fifth team. The Columbus Lions left the National Arena League after the 2022 season and played as part of the American Indoor Football Alliance during the 2023 season. Along with Columbus, the AIF includes the Cedar Rapids (IA) River Kings, West Virginia Miners (Wheeling), River City Rage (Council Bluffs, IA), and Corpus Christi (TX) Tritons with more teams still to be announced.
Major League Football: The proposed new fall-season professional MLF has pushed back its start until the fall of 2024 and now lists 24 potential markets aligned in 12-team Eastern and Western conferences. The MLF has been trying to get off the ground since 2020 and earlier this year had posted a 2023 schedule for 20 teams that were each to play 14 games from September 10 through December 17, 2023.
Women's Football Alliance: The spring-summer full-tackle WFA recently announced a new Las Vegas team called the Vegas NVaders will be added to the league's Pro Division for the 2024 season.
HOCKEY
Southern Professional Hockey League: The ten-team minor A-level SPHL announced it will no longer be called the Southern Professional Hockey League but will now be known simply as the SPHL. The league has grown over the past few years to include teams in the Midwest and the Southeast. The ECHL, which was formerly called the East Coast Hockey League, underwent a similar rebranding to just the ECHL in 2003 after it absorbed several teams from the former West Coast Hockey League.
United States Premier Hockey League: The junior-level USPHL announced the 2023-24 season schedules for both of its Tier-III Premier Conference and Elite Conference. The season starts early next month and will run through February 2024. The Premier Conference, which ended the 2022-23 season with 69 teams, will have 61 teams aligned in 9 divisions. The conference lost 11 teams and added 3 new teams for 2023-24. Six of the non-returning teams were promoted to the USPHL's Tier-II National Collegiate Development Conference. The Elite Conference, which ended the 2022-23 season with 23 teams, will have 28 full-schedule teams in 5 divisions. The conference lost three teams and added eight other teams. Six of the added teams came from Midwest-based Premier Conference teams that added Elite Conference teams for the 2023-24 season. The Elite Conference will also feature an additional nine-team division of teams from the North American Prep Hockey League. These teams will play select regular season games and showcase games but will not be eligible for the playoffs.
SOCCER
Major Arena Soccer League 3: The new Salisbury (MD) team in the amateur-level MASL3, which is the lowest rung on the MASL's soccer pyramid, will be called the Salisbury Steaks when the team starts play in the 2023-24 season. The league recently announced the 2023-24 season schedule will feature all five teams from last season plus the expansion Salisbury Steaks and DMV Gunners (Westminster, MD). Each team will play six games from December 23, 2023, through March 23, 2024.
National Women's Soccer League: The professional NWSL's Challenge Cup tournament is running concurrently with the 2023 regular-season schedule is playing with the 12 NWSL teams aligned in four-team groups (East, Central and West). Group play ends next week with the three group winners and the highest-placed runner-up advancing to the single-elimination finals next month.
National Indoor Soccer League: The NISL, whose clubs feature both men's and women's teams, announced the addition of a club in Albany (GA) for the 2023-24 season and a name-the-team contest has been started. The NISL operated with a five-team men's division and a five-team women's division in the 2022-23 season.
OTHER
LIV Golf League: The tour-based professional LIV Golf League is playing its second season with 12 teams competing for individual and team points across 14 events from February 24 through October 2, 2023. The top three individual point leaders during the season earn prize money, while the top four team point leaders during the season compete in a League Championship event with each of these teams earning prize money. For its inaugural 2022 season the league was known as the LIV Golf Invitational Series, originally referred to as the Super Golf League, and consisted of 12 teams playing in seven tour events followed by a League Championship event. Teams called the Niblicks GC and Punch GC were replaced by the RangeGoats GC and Ripper GC in 2023.
Major League Rugby: The professional MLR announced its Atlanta franchise called Rugby ATL, which joined the league as an expansion team for the 2020 season, has been purchased and will be relocated to another market prior to the 2024 season. When the team's majority owner passed away in 2021, an investment group took control of the team until a permanent ownership group could be found.
Pro Volleyball Federation: The proposed indoor women's professional volleyball league called the PVF announced the Atlanta team will be called the Atlanta Vibe when the league starts play in February 2024. The other 2024 teams announced so far include the Omaha Supernovas, Columbus (OH) Fury, Grand Rapids (MI) Rise, and unnamed teams in Orlando and San Diego. The Atlanta Vibe name was previously associated with a group trying to organize a proposed National Women's Soccer League expansion team called the Atlanta Vibe in 2015 and 2016.
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.
Pacific Coast League Stories from August 7, 2023
- Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: 8/8/23 vs. OKC (12:05 PT) - Tacoma Rainiers
- Round Rock INF Jonathan Ornelas Promoted to Texas - Round Rock Express
- Reno Aces Open Two-Week Long Homestand Starting Tomorrow at Greater Nevada Field - Reno Aces
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
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.
