Sports stats



UFL United Football League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
January 8, 2024 - United Football League (UFL)


BASEBALL

Frontier League: The New Jersey Jackals of the independent Frontier League, which is a Major League Baseball Partner League, announced the team will remain at Hinchcliffe Stadium in Paterson (NJ) for the 2024 season, even though the team had the lowest 2023 per-game attendance of the 46 MLB Partner League teams. After 25 years of playing on the campus of Montclair State University, the team moved to the renovated stadium in Paterson for the 2023 season only to see attendance decline.

BASKETBALL

The Basketball League: The semi-pro TBL's expansion team to be based in Santa Ana Pueblo (NM), about 20 miles north of Albuquerque, will be called the Santa Ana Thunder when it starts play in the league's 2024 Central Conference. The TBL, which operated with 49 teams last season and is affiliated with the new professional Basketball Super League, plans to hold a player combine and draft next month for its March-through-May 2024 season. The league currently lists 38 teams in a 12-team East Conference, a 9-team Midwest Conference, a 7-team Central Conference and a 10-team West Conference. Although the league lost 20 teams from last season, it has added 9 new teams including the Santa Ana Thunder, Frederick (MD) Flying Cows, Jacksonville 95ers, Rhode Island Kraken (Providence), Rocket City Flight (Huntsville), Emerald City Jaguars (Eugene, OR), Great Falls (MT) Electric, Los Angeles Ignite and the relocated Pontiac (MI) Pharaohs, which is the former Lansing Pharaohs team that sat out the 2023 season.

National Basketball League-United States: The semi-pro NBL-US will again have six teams when it starts its 2024 season next month. Only the Louisiana Kingz (Elton) and Woodlands (TX) Warhawks will return from last season. Four new teams called the Texas Outlaws (Pasadena), Eastside Netz (Houston), Louisiana Kajun Gators (Houma) and Houston-based HBCU (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) Movement, which is currently playing in the American Basketball Association (ABA), have joined the NBL-US for the 2024 season that runs through mid-May. The Outlaws and Kajun Gators were announced as new teams for the ABA's 2024-25 season. The NBL-US also announced the Fort Lauderdale Herd, which was part of the league's 2021 season, will return in 2025.

America Basketball Association: The semi-pro ABA announced teams called the Wolverton Wolves, based in the Atlanta area, and the Saratoga (NY) Racers have been added for the 2024-25 season.

FOOTBALL

United Football League: The new springtime UFL, which was created through the merger of the United States Football League (USFL) and the XFL, officially announced the eight teams that will move forward in the new league starting March 30, 2024, with each of the former eight-team leagues contributing four teams to the new league. A new XFL Conference will include the D.C. Defenders (Washington, DC), San Antonio Brahmas, St. Louis Battlehawks and Arlington (TX) Renegades. A new USFL Conference will feature the Birmingham Stallions, Memphis Showboats, Michigan Panthers (Detroit) and the Houston Roughnecks, formerly the Houston Gamblers. Since both leagues had teams in Houston, the USFL's Houston Gamblers survived and took the XFL's Houston Roughnecks name and will retain the Gamblers' coaching staff. Also not included in the merger from the XFL were the Seattle Sea Dragons, Vegas Vipers and Orlando Guardians. Teams from the USFL not included in the merger were the Pittsburgh Maulers, Philadelphia Stars, New Jersey Generals and New Orleans Breakers. These four USFL teams, along with the USFL's Houston Gamblers, did not have their own home stadiums in the 2023 season. A dispersal draft was held this week with UFL teams only allowed to select players from their former leagues.

American Women's Football League: The new semi-pro full-tackle AWFL recently posted the schedule for its inaugural 2024 season that will feature eight teams called the Dallas Prime, Houston Power, Bayou Storm Surge (Baton Rouge), Carolina Scorpion (Columbia, SC), Carolina Dames (Columbia, SC), Virginia Lady Eagles, Carolina Queens (Charlotte) and Huntsville (AL) Tigers. Each team will play five games from April 6 through June 1, 2024.

HOCKEY

Professional Women's Hockey League: The new six-team PWHL, which was created after investors in the tour-based Professional Women's Hockey Players Association purchased the seven-team women's professional league known as the Premier Hockey Federation, started its inaugural 2024 season this week with each team playing a 24-game schedule through May 5, 2024. None of the teams have been assigned nicknames and are known simply by their home market: PWHL Boston (Lowell, MA), PWHL Minnesota (St. Paul), PWHL Ottawa, PWHL Toronto, PWHL Montreal (Laval & Montreal) and PWHL New York (Elmont, NY & Bridgeport, CT).

Ontario Hockey League: The OHL's Erie (PA) Otters played a game last weekend as the Erie Panthers to honor the city's former minor professional hockey team that played eight seasons (1988-96) in the ECHL.

Eastern Hockey League: After only one season in the league, the New Jersey Bears (Flemington) of the Tier-III junior-level EHL announced they will add a developmental team in the EHL Premier league for the 2024-25 season. The Protec Junior Ducks (Somerset, NJ) relocated to become the Bears for 2023-24.

Union Hockey League: The new Senior-A semi-pro UHL started its inaugural 2024 season this weekend with 12 teams aligned in six-team Eastern and Western divisions. Teams will play a 20-game schedule through May 2024. The UHL made some last-minute adjustments to its teams. In the Eastern Division, the Canton (MA) Mallards will stay in Norfolk County but moved to Randolph (MA) as the Norfolk Mallards. The Conway (NH) Yetis are gone and replaced by the Niagara Falls (NY) Buffalos from the Western Division. The new Toledo Mobsters team was added to the Western Division to replace Niagara Falls. The Eastern Division has teams in Massachusetts (4) and New York (2), while the Western Division has teams in Ohio (1), Wisconsin (1), Michigan (3) and Pennsylvania (1).

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 Clausura (closing) phase of its 2023-24 Apertura/Clausura season this week with the same 18 teams it had in the Apertura. The Clausura portion runs through May 4, 2024, with each team playing a 17-game schedule.

Major Arena Soccer League: The MASL's Utica City FC will be renamed the Utica Riggies for a game on January 21 as a tribute to a chicken rigatoni dish that is popular in Central New York.

National Independent Soccer Association: The Division-III professional NISA announced the Capistrano FC (San Juan Capistrano, CA), or Capo FC, will add a professional team in the NISA for the 2024 season. The Capo FC played the 2023 season as part of the affiliated NISA Nation amateur league.

USL League Two (United Soccer League): The men's pre-professional USL League Two announced the Tacoma Stars indoor team in the Major Arena Soccer League will add an outdoor USL League Two team for the 2024 season. The league also announced the addition of a new team called the West Seattle Junction FC for the 2024 season.

USL Championship (United Soccer League): The Oklahoma City Energy FC, which has been on hiatus from the Division-II professional USL Championship since the 2021 season due to an insufficient home stadium, has selected a new site for a proposed 8,000-seat soccer stadium that is planned for an opening in the 2027 season.

OTHER

Northwoods Softball: The Madison (WI) Mallards of the men's summer-collegiate Northwoods League will be the fourth Northwoods League team to also operate a team in the Northwoods League Softball (NWLS), which is a new women's summer-collegiate softball league that will start play with four teams in 2024. The three other Northwoods League markets that will also operate NWLS teams are Mankato (MN), La Crosse (WI) and Minot (SD). Each NWLS team is holding name-the-team contests.

Premier Lacrosse League: The tour-based professional field lacrosse PLL announced its 2024 season schedule that will be the first with the eight teams assigned to home markets. Teams will be aligned in an Eastern Conference with the Boston Cannons, Maryland Whipsnakes (Baltimore), Philadelphia Waterdogs, and New York Atlas (Albany), and a Western Conference with the Carolina Chaos (Charlotte), California Redwoods (San Diego), Denver Outlaws, and Utah Archers (Salt Lake City). The regular season will run from May 31 through August 18, 2024, and feature ten weekend competitions plus an all-star event in Louisville. Each of the eight teams will host one event and two other events will be held at the neutral sites of Minneapolis and Fairfield (CT).

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.

Check out the United Football League Statistics



United Football League Stories from January 8, 2024


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.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central