MLR Major League Rugby

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on December 18, 2023 under Major League Rugby (MLR)


BASEBALL

Frontier League: The independent Frontier League's new 2024 expansion team that was previously announced as the New England Chowdahheads, based in Brockton (MA), has already changed its name to the New England Knockouts in honor of the past boxing talent produced in the area. The Chowdahheads name had been the favorite of five nickname finalists that also included the Knockouts name.

Carolina League: The city council in Wilson (NC) voted to approve plans for a new ballpark to be built for the Low-A Carolina League's Carolina Mudcats, currently based about 25 miles west in Zebulon (NC). The new ballpark is expected to be ready for the 2026 season. The city's longtime summer-collegiate team called the Wilson Tobs of the Coastal Plain League is not happy with the Mudcats becoming the primary tenant at the new ballpark.

Pacific Coast League: The Oklahoma City Dodgers of the Triple-A PCL announced plans to rebrand the team for the 2025 season and it will be known as the Oklahoma City Baseball Club for the 2024 season. The team will remain an affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers and will announce its new name prior to the 2025 season.

Mid-America Baseball League: The professional developmental MABL, which will be comprised of mostly collegiate players when it starts play in 2024, announced its Sherman (TX) team will be called the Sherman Sandcats. The league wants to start with six teams located in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana and previously awarded teams to Abilene (TX), White Oak (TX) and Fort Smith (AR).

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association: Although Las Vegas and Seattle are reported to be the frontrunners when the NBA expands to 32 teams in the near future, the NBA commissioner recently stated that groups in Montreal and Vancouver have expressed interest in an NBA expansion team. The NBA has stated expansion will be considered once the league completes its upcoming media-rights negotiations.

Overtime Elite: The OTE, which is a professional basketball league for male players between the ages of 16 to 20 and serves as an alternative pathway for some players not electing to play college basketball, recently started its 2023-24 season with eight teams playing all games at the OTE facility in Atlanta through February 2024. OTE provides players with a minimum salary, an academic program, and basketball training at its facility. Teams include the returning City Reapers, YNG Dreamerz, and Cold Hearts, along with new teams called Rolling Loud, JellyFam, Blue Checks, Diamond Doves, and RWE.

FOOTBALL

Canadian Football League: The CFL announced its 2024 season schedule that will again feature the same nine teams aligned in a five-team West Division and a four-team East Division. Each team will play an 18-game schedule from June 6 through October 10, 2026, followed by playoffs.

Indoor Football League: The IFL's new expansion team to be based in the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers (IN) announced the team will be called the Fishers Freight when it starts play at the new Fishers Event Center for the 2025 season. The nickname pays homage to the railroad industry that played a big part in the history of the city.

HOCKEY

North American 3 Hockey League: The Tulsa Oilers of the minor professional ECHL announced plans to place a new junior-level team called the Tulsa Junior Oilers in the South Division of the Tier-III NA3HL starting with the 2024-25 season.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League: The QMJHL, which is one of three major-junior hockey leagues under the Canadian Hockey League umbrella, has changed its name to the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League keeping the ‚¬Å“QMJHL ‚¬Â acronym. This change was made to recognize the league's Maritimes-based franchises and to include them in the league's name. The 18-team QMJHL currently has 12 Quebec-based teams and 6 Maritimes-based teams (three in New Brunswick, two in Nova Scotia, and one in Prince Edward Island), which comprise the Maritimes Division in the league's Eastern Conference. The French name of the league will change to the Ligue de Hockey Junior Maritimes Québec and also keeps the ‚¬Å“LHJMQ ‚¬Â acronym.

Western Hockey League: The Prince Albert Raiders (Alberta) of the major-junior WHL announced the team will be taking a popular name used to refer to Canadian geese and play a game next month as the Prince Albert Cobra Chickens.

SOCCER

Major Arena Soccer League: The MASL's Kansas City Comets announced an affiliation agreement with the Iowa Raptors FC (Cedar Rapids) of the developmental MASL2. Of the 13 current MASL2 teams, 8 teams have some type of affiliation agreement with an MASL team.

Major League Indoor Soccer: The men's professional MLIS started its 2023-24 season this weekend with six teams aligned in a single-table format with each team playing a 12-game schedule through April 7, 2024. The MLIS had 12 teams aligned in 3 regional divisions last season but only the Chicago Mustangs, Cleveland Crunch, Rapid City FC (Grand Rapids, MI), and Omaha Kings have returned and are joined by expansion teams called the Colorado Bucks SC (Littleton/Denver), and Ohio Extreme (Lima). Of the eight non-returning teams, the Houston Bolt, Austin Emerald, Wichita Selection, and Springfield (MO) Demize moved to the Premier Arena Soccer League's new Pro Division for the 2023-24 season. The markets of Rockford, Milwaukee, and Detroit, which had MLIS teams last season, are listed as dormant this season along with the proposed new MLIS markets of Scranton (PA) and Toronto.

USL Championship (United Soccer League): The group working to bring a men's Division-II professional USL Championship team and a women's Division-I professional USL Super League team to Jacksonville in 2025 or 2026 announced the teams will play under the name Sporting Club Jacksonville, or Sporting JAX. A group called Palm Beach Sports Holdings LLC has acquired rights to the Palm Beach (FL) market for expansion teams in both the men's USL Championship and the women's USL Super League. The group plans to build a new soccer stadium in the area for the teams.

USL League One (United Soccer League): The men's Division-III professional USL League One announced its 2024 season schedule will again feature 12 teams aligned in a single-table format. The league lost the North Carolina FC (Cary) team that moved up to the Division-II USL Championship for 2024 but added the new Spokane (WA) Velocity FC. Each team will play 22 games as part of the regular season schedule from March 9 through October 26, 2024. The league has also added a new in-season Cup Competition for 2024 with teams aligned in three four-team groups and teams playing at least eight additional games as part of tournament group play. The USL Texoma group that is trying to bring a future USL League One expansion team to Sherman (TX) announced the team will be called the Texoma FC.

National Women's Soccer League: The Division-I professional NWSL held an expansion draft this week for players selected to join the league's two new teams called the Bay FC (San Francisco Bay Area) and Utah Royals FC (Salt Lake City) that will start play in the 2024 season.

OTHER

League One Volleyball (LOVB): The proposed women's professional indoor volleyball league known as LOVB recently announced Austin (TX) as the sixth and final location for a team when the league starts play in November 2024. The single-entity LOVB will operate all six teams that will include Austin and previously announced teams in Atlanta, Houston, Madison (WI), Omaha, and Salt Lake City.

Major League Rugby: The professional rugby union (15-player) MLR held a dispersal draft for players from both the New York Ironworkers and Toronto Arrows teams that ceased operations ahead of the 2024 season. Eleven MLR teams, including the unnamed Los Angeles team that is last season's relocated Rugby ATL (Atlanta) team, participated in the draft. Also, a group called Rugby Ventures Mexico is working to bring an MLR team to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon for the 2025 season.

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Major League Rugby Stories from December 18, 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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