CarL Carolina League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on March 18, 2024 under Carolina League (CarL)


BASEBALL

Mavericks Independent Baseball League: The Mavericks League officially announced its 2024 season schedule that will run from May 8 through August 25. The league will again consist of four teams called the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, Campesinos de Salem-Keizer, Salem Senators and Portland Mavericks with each team playing a 48-game schedule and all games played at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer (OR). The Mavericks League was created for the 2021 season by the owner of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. The team had been part of the affiliated short-season Class-A Northwest League but that league was reorganized as a High-A league for 2021 under the restructuring of Minor League Baseball and the Volcanoes were not awarded a Major League affiliate.

Carolina League: The city of Spartanburg (SC) recently gave the final design approval for the publicly financed 3,500-seat downtown ballpark to be built as the new home for the Down East Wood Ducks (Kinston, NC) of the Low-A Carolina League. The relocated Wood Ducks are expected to start playing in Spartanburg for the 2025 season. The league's Kannapolis (NC) Cannon Ballers announced the Kannapolis Q's name will return for four games in 2024 as a tribute to barbeque in the region. The team will become the Piedmont Boll Weevils for select games in 2024 to honor its previous name that was used for five seasons (1996-2000).

BASKETBALL

BIG3 League: The tour-based professional 3-on-3 BIG3 basketball league announced its 2024 season schedule will run from June 15 through August 18 and feature the same 12 teams as last season. The season will feature eight weekend tour stops in Oakland, Tampa, Baltimore, Newark, Anaheim, Portland (OR), Cincinnati, and San Antonio followed by playoff events in Nashville and Boston.

National Basketball Association Gatorade League (G-League): The NBA's Los Angeles Clippers announced the relocation of their Ontario (CA) Clippers G-League team to a new arena in Oceanside, about 30 miles north of San Diego, and the team will be renamed the San Diego Clippers for the 2024-25 season. The NBA Clippers were known as the San Diego Clippers for six seasons (1978-84) after the team arrived from the relocated Buffalo Braves and then moved to Los Angeles for the 1984-85 season. The Los Angeles Clippers started their Ontario-based G-League team for the 2017-18 season with the team starting as the Aqua Caliente Clippers of Ontario and changing to the Ontario Clippers prior to the 2022-23 season.

FOOTBALL

American Indoor Football: The AIF's 2025 expansion team previously listed as the River City Rage has taken the Coralville Chaos as its name. The River City Rage was originally announced as a 2024 AIF team to be based out of Council Bluffs (IA) but it moved to Coralville (IA) and delayed its start until 2025.

Indoor Football League: The professional IFL started its 2024 season this weekend with 16 teams aligned in eight-team Eastern and Western conferences. The league had 14 teams last season but added two former National Arena League teams-the Jacksonville Sharks to the Eastern Conference and the San Antonio Gunslingers to the Western Conference. The league's Massachusetts Pirates moved their home from Worcester to Lowell for the 2024 season. Each team will play a 16-game schedule through July 21, 2024. The IFL currently lists the Fishers (IN) Freight as a 2025 expansion team.

National Arena League: The professional NAL started its 2024 season this weekend with six teams each playing between 9 to 12 games, including some non-league games, through June 8. Of the seven teams from last season only the Carolina Cobras (Greensboro, NC) returned. Both the Albany (NY) Empire and Fayetteville (NC) Mustangs dropped out during 2023 and did not return. The Jacksonville Sharks and San Antonio Gunslingers moved to the Indoor Football League. The Orlando Predators and Odessa-based West Texas Warbirds, reborn as the West Texas Desert Hawks, moved to the new version of the Arena Football League. The NAL added seven teams: the new Colorado Spartans (Loveland); the Idaho Horsemen from the 2023 American West Football Conference; a former 2021 American Arena League called the North Texas Bulls (Fort Worth); the Omaha Beef, Sioux City (IA) Bandits and Topeka Tropics from the 2023 Champions Indoor Football (CIF); and the Oklahoma Flying Aces (Enid), a CIF team that was dormant in 2023. The NAL planned to operate with eight teams but the North Texas Bulls and Topeka Tropics franchises were both dropped by the league last month.

HOCKEY

North American Hockey League: The Tier-II junior-level NAHL officially awarded a franchise to Watertown (SD) where a new team called the Watertown Shamrocks will start play in the league's Central Division starting with the 2024-25 season.

National Hockey League: A second investment group has come forward with plans to develop an NHL-style arena in the Atlanta area and wants the NHL to start a process for future expansion. This second group has selected a site in Alpharetta, about 30 miles north of Atlanta in Fulton County, while another group has already moved forward on a potential arena site a few more miles north in Forsyth County. The NHL issued a statement acknowledging that although there has been interest in expansion, the league does not currently have an expansion process in place. Atlanta has had two previous NHL franchises-a 1972 expansion team called the Atlanta Flames, which moved to Calgary for the 1980-81 season, and a 1999 expansion team called the Atlanta Thrashers, which moved to Winnipeg for the 2011-12 season.

SOCCER

MLS NEXT Pro (Major League Soccer): Major League Soccer's Division-III professional reserve league known as MLS NEXT Pro started its 2024 season this week with 29 teams each playing a 28-game schedule through October 6, 2024. All 27 MLS-affiliated teams have returned from last season along with 2 new independent teams called the Carolina Core FC (High Point, NC) and the Chattanooga FC, which joined from last season's Division-III professional National Independent Soccer Association. The league recently announced name changes and new homes for two teams. The San Jose Earthquakes II has been renamed The Town FC in a partnership with that soccer club based about 50 miles north of San Jose in Moraga (CA). The Town FC will play three home games in San Jose and the rest in Moraga on the campus of Saint Mary's College. The Los Angeles Galaxy II has been renamed the Ventura County United FC and will play two home games at the Galaxy's home in Carson and the rest at California Lutheran University (Thousand Oaks), about 50 miles northwest of Carson. The 2024 alignment features a 15-team Eastern Conference with a 7-team Southeast Division (formerly Central Division) and an 8-team Northeast Division, and a 14-team Western Conference with 7-team Frontier and Pacific divisions. Of the 29 MLS teams for the 2024 season, the D.C. United and CF Montreal have their developmental reserve teams in the USL Championship and Ligue1 Quebec, respectively.

National Women's Soccer League: The Division-I professional NWSL started its 2024 season this week with 14 teams aligned in a single-table format with each team playing 26 games through November 3, 2024. All 12 teams from last season have returned along with new expansion teams called the Utah Royals FC (Salt Lake City) and Bay FC (San Francisco Bay Area). The league's Seattle-based OL Reign, which is in the process of being sold by the OL Groupe (Olympique Lyonnais), was renamed the Seattle Reign FC for the 2024 season. The team played six seasons (2013-18) as the Seattle Reign previous to OL Reign.

USL Championship (United Soccer League): The Brooklyn Football Club (Brooklyn FC), which was previously announced as a 2025 expansion team for the Division-III professional USL League One, will now move up to the Division-II professional USL Championship when it starts play in 2025. The club will also operate a women's team in the new Division-I professional USL Super League starting this summer with both teams playing home games at the ballpark used by the Brooklyn Cyclones of the high-A South Atlantic League.

USL Super League (United Soccer League): The Fort Lauderdale (FL) team that will compete in the new eight-team professional women's Division-I USL Super League starting in August announced its name as the Fort Lauderdale United FC.

OTHER

Professional Bull Riders: The PBR recently announced the 2024 schedule for its team-based PBR Team Series. Ten teams will compete in 12 weekend events from July 12 through October 2, 2024, followed by two playoff weekend events. The regular-season schedule will have each team hosting one event and two neutral-site events in Duluth (GA) and Anaheim. The Team Series had eight teams last season but added the expansion New York Mavericks (Brooklyn) and Oklahoma Wildcatters (Oklahoma City). Last season's Oklahoma Freedom relocated from Oklahoma City to Sunrise (FL) as the Florida Freedom. Other teams include the Texas Rattlers (Fort Worth), Arizona Ridge Riders (Glendale), Austin Gamblers, Carolina Cowboys (Greensboro, NC), Kansas City (MO) Outlaws, Missouri Thunder (Springfield) and Nashville Stampede.

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 Carolina League Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from March 18, 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