Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
June 24, 2024 - NBA G League (G League)

BASEBALL

Atlantic League: The Gastonia (NC) Baseball Club of the independent Atlantic League announced the Gastonia Zombees will be the team's name for the "What If #5" series this summer (August 16-August 18) as the team tests fan reaction to the fifth of eight potential names and works toward selecting a permanent name for the 2025 season. The previously announced "What If Night" names include the Gastronauts, Bolognia, Galactic Dinos and Ghost Peppers.

Minor League Baseball: Several MiLB teams were renamed for games this month to honor former Negro League teams in their markets. In Triple-A, the International League's Durham Bulls became the Durham Black Sox, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and Indianapolis Indians played a game as the Jacksonville Red Caps and Indianapolis Clowns, while the Pacific Coast League's Salt Lake Bees became the Salt Lake Occidentals. In Double-A, the Texas League's Tulsa Drillers were the T-Town Clowns and the Southern League's Montgomery Biscuits and Birmingham Barons played a game as the Montgomery Gray Sox and Birmingham Black Barons. The High-A South Atlantic League's Greenville Drive played as the Greenville Black Spinners and the Low-A California League's Fresno Grizzlies as the Fresno Tigers.

Coastal Plain League: The summer-collegiate CPL recently started its 2024 season with 15 teams aligned in a seven-team East and an eight-team West. The league had 14 teams last season but added the new Greenville (NC) Yard Gnome team for the 2024 season.

Futures Collegiate Baseball League: The New England-based summer-collegiate Futures League recently started its 2024 season and again has eight teams aligned in a single-table format. The Pittsfield (MA) Suns decided to sit out the 2024 season due to safety concerns at their home ballpark, so the league added a travel-only team called the Futures League Road Warriors to keep an even number of teams.

Intercounty Baseball League: Canada's Southern Ontario-based IBL started its 2024 season last month with nine teams aligned in a single-table format. All eight teams from last season returned and the league added the new Chatham-Kent Barnstormers as its ninth team.

Ohio Valley League: The summer-collegiate OVL started its 2024 season late last month with only five Kentucky-based teams. The league had 11 teams last season but 2 teams left for the summer-collegiate Prospect League and 4 other teams were dropped for the 2024 season.

Texas Collegiate League: The summer-collegiate TCL recently started its 2024 season with six teams aligned in three-team Louisiana and Texas divisions. The league had five teams last season but added a third Louisiana-based team called the Lake Charles Gumbeaux Gators and split the six teams into divisions by their respective state.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association Gatorade League (G-League): The NBA G-League recently held a player draft to stock the league's new Valley Suns team, which is the new G-League affiliate of the NBA's Phoenix Suns. With the addition of the Valley Suns, the G-League now includes an affiliate for each of the 30 NBA teams, plus the unaffiliated Mexico City Capitanes, for a total of 31 teams. The Valley Suns will play home games at the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe. This arena was home to the National Hockey League's Arizona Coyotes for the past two seasons.

Professional Basketball Association: The men's semi-pro PBA started its 2024 Summer Season last month with eight participating teams. The four team South Conference includes Texas-based teams and the four-team Southeast Conference has a team in Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. The PBA Summer Season runs through mid-August.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football League: As the reborn AFL struggles through its 2024 season, the league's Odessa-based West Texas Desert Hawks team has ceased operations. This is the eighth of 16 teams the AFL has lost since the start of the season. West Texas joined the AFL after playing as the West Texas Warbirds in the 2023 season of the National Arena League. The Desert Hawks had a 4-4 record in the AFL.

American Arena League 2: The Wheeling (WV) Miners team, which was part of the AAL2 in the 2024 season, announced it will be switching to the National Arena League for the 2025 season.

HOCKEY

Manitoba Junior Hockey League: The MJHL, which is one of nine Junior-A leagues under the Canadian Junior Hockey League, announced its 2024-25 season will feature the same 13 teams as last season and again aligned in a six-team MGEU West Division and a seven-team MGEU East Division. Each team will play a 58-game schedule from September 20, 2024, through March 16, 2025.

Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League: The NOJHL, which is one of nine Junior-A leagues under the Canadian Junior Hockey League, recently announced its 2024-25 season schedule that will feature the same 12 teams as last season. The NOJHL has eliminated the six-team East and West divisions and all teams are now aligned in a single-table format. Teams will each play 50 games from September 12, 2024, through March 16, 2025.

Ontario Hockey League: The major-junior OHL, which is one of three leagues that comprise the Canadian Hockey League, announced its 2024-25 season schedule that will again feature 20 teams aligned in an Eastern Conference with five-team East and Central divisions, and a Western Conference with five-team Midwest and West divisions. The only change was the move of the Mississauga Steelheads to Brampton as the Brampton Steelheads and the team remains in the Central Division. Each team will play a 68-game schedule from September 26, 2024, through March 23, 2025.

Professional Women's Hockey League: The PWHL recently held its 2024 player draft as it prepares for its second season in 2025 with the same six teams, which are supposed to receive names in August. The league held regular-season neutral-site games in Pittsburgh and Detroit during the 2024 season but as of now there have been no formal discussions about expansion. The National Hockey League's Vegas Golden Knights expressed interest in developing a PWHL team if the league is interested in Las Vegas.

United States Premier Hockey League: Shortly after the Tier-III junior-level Eastern Hockey League (EHL) announced its 2024-25 season schedule, the EHL's Boston Jr. Rangers and Railers Junior Hockey Club (Worcester) have left the league and will each operate teams in the USPHL's Tier-II junior-level National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC) and the USPHL's Tier-III Premier Conference starting with the 2024-25 season. Both teams had been listed in the 2024-25 Central Division of the EHL and its developmental EHL Premier league. Both teams are now listed in the 2024-25 New England Division in both the NCDC and the Premier Conference.

United States Hockey League: The Midwest-based Tier-I junior-level USHL, which is the highest-level junior hockey league in the United States, announced its 2024-25 season schedule that will again feature the same 16 teams from last season and again aligned in eight-team Eastern and Western conferences. Each team will play 68 games from September 27, 2024, through April 12, 2025.

SOCCER

Liga MX: Mexico's top men's pro soccer league known as Liga MX announced the 2024 Apertura (opening) phase of its two-part 2024-25 Apertura/Clausura season will start on July 5 with the same 18 teams that were part of the 2024 Clausura (closing) phase of the 2023-24 season. Teams are again aligned in a single-table format and will play 17 games through November 3, 2024. All teams will participate in the Leagues Cup with teams from Major League Soccer from July 24 to August 24.

Liga MX Femenil: Mexico's top 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, announced the 2024 Apertura (opening) phase of its two-part 2024-25 Apertura/Clausura season will start on July 4 with the same 18 teams that were part of the 2023 Clausura (closing) phase of its 2023-24 season. Teams are again aligned in a single-table format and will play 17 games through November 3, 2024. Six of the top Liga MX Femenil teams from last season will compete with the 14 teams from the National Women's Soccer League in the new NWSL x Liga MX Summer Cup (July 19-August 2).

OTHER

Women's Professional Fastpitch: The WPF started its 2024 season this week and again has only four teams. Of the four teams from last season, the Smash It Sports Vipers (Oxford, AL), USSSA Pride (Viera, FL) and Oklahoma City Spark, which is now part of the Association of Fastpitch Professionals, did not return. The Texas Smoke (Austin) has returned and is joined by other Texas-based teams called the Hub City Adelitas (Lubbock), Coastal Bend Tidal Wave (Corpus Christi) and the Texas Monarchs (San Marcos). Teams will play 32 games (4 games each of 8 weeks) through August 11, 2024.

Association of Fastpitch Professionals: Four women's independent professional fastpitch teams have organized under the AFP for a 2024 season of competition that started this weekend and runs through July 21, 2024. Teams include the New York Rise (Long Island), Florida Vibe (Bradenton), Chattanooga Steam and the Oklahoma City Spark, which was part of the Women's Professional Fastpitch in 2023.

Association of Volleyball Professionals: The AVP, which has hosted various events throughout the year in its AVP Pro Series, now the AVP Heritage Series, will extend its 2024 season with the launch of a new co-ed pro beach volleyball league in September with eight. Each team will consist of a men's pair and a women's pair and will represent eight different cities-Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin, Dallas, Miami, Palm Beach, New York and Brooklyn. The season will consist of eight consecutive weekend events from September 14 through November 8, followed by a championship event. Each team will compete in four of the eight regular-season events.

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.

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