Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
July 15, 2024 - National Arena League (NAL)
BASEBALL
California League: The Modesto Nuts of the Low-A California League announced this week the 2024 season will be the team's final season in Modesto. The Nuts and the city of Modesto could not come to an agreement on a lease extension and who will pay for local ballpark renovations mandated by Major League Baseball to maintain the team's affiliation. The Nuts are owned by MLB's Seattle Mariners. It is unknown where the Nuts will play next season or who will be the future tenant at the city's John Thurman Park.
International League: The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Allentown, PA) of the Triple-A International League played a game this weekend as the Shoofly Pies in a tribute to the Pennsylvania Dutch crumb pie with sugar and molasses filling that attracts flies and requires one to shoo them away. As part of a Throwback Thursdays promotion in 2024, the league's Memphis Redbirds are playing every Thursday home game this season as the Memphis Chicks, which was the city's former Double-A Southern League team that was relocated to Jackson (TN) as West Tenn Diamond Jaxx with the arrival of the Redbirds for the 1998 season.
Pacific Coast League: The Salt Lake Bees of the Triple-A PCL played a game this week as the Salt Lake Gulls as part of a Flashback Friday promotion and a tribute to the city's former PCL team by that name.
BASKETBALL
BIG3 League: The tour-based professional 3-on-3 BIG3 basketball league announced an investor has purchased rights to a Detroit-based BIG3 franchise as the league shifts to individual ownership of teams in 2025. Detroit is the fourth location for a 2025 market-based team along with recently announced teams in Houston, Los Angeles and Miami.
Liga Nacional de Basquetbol Profesional: Mexico's top professional men's basketball league known as the LNBP started its 2024 season this week with 16 teams aligned in a single-table format. The league had 14 teams last season but the Liberatores de Queretaro did not return and the league added three teams called the El Calor de Cancun, Diablos Rojos del Mexico (Mexico City) and Lobos Plateados (Puebla). All of these new 2024 cities have had previous teams in the LNBP. Each LNBP team will play a 32-game schedule through October 16, 2024.
FOOTBALL
National Arena League: The NAL announced teams called the Columbus (GA) Lions, Corpus Christi (TX) Tritons and Harrisburg (PA) Stampede from the 2024 American Indoor Football (AIF) will join the NAL for the 2025 season. All five NAL teams that were active at the end of the 2024 season will return, along with the Wheeling (WV) Miners team that recently joined the NAL from the 2024 American Arena League 2. The Columbus Lions were a previous member of the NAL for five years (2017-22).
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The top minor professional AHL announced its 2024-25 season schedule will feature the same 32 teams as last season with each team playing a 72-game schedule from October 11, 2024, through April 20, 2025. The 32 teams will again be aligned in a 15-team Eastern Conference with an 8-team Atlantic Division and a 7-team North Division, and a 17-team Western Conference with a 7-team Central Division and a 10-team Pacific Division. Each AHL team serves as the top minor league affiliate for one of the 32 teams in the National Hockey League.
Central Canada Hockey League: The CCHL, 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 and again aligned in 6-team Yzerman and Robinson divisions. Each team will play a 55-game schedule from September 12, 2024, through March 16, 2025.
Kootenay International Junior Hockey League: The British Columbia-based KIJHL, which is considered a Junior-A Tier-II league under BC Hockey, recently announced its 2024-25 season schedule that will have 21 teams aligned in five-team Eddie Mountain, Neil Murdoch and Doug Birks divisions and a six-team Bill Ohlhausen Division. The KIJHL had 20 teams last season but added the Merritt Centennials from the British Columbia Hockey League. There were also two relocations with the North Okanagan Knights becoming the Quesnel River Rush and the Summerland Steam becoming the Williams Lake Mustangs. Each team will play 44 games from September 20, 2024, through February 22, 2025.
Maritime Junior Hockey League: The MHL, 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 and again aligned in 6-team Eastlink South and Eastlink North divisions. Each team will play a 52-game schedule from September 13, 2024, through March 9, 2025.
Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League: The SJHL, 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 and again aligned in 4-team Sherwood, Nutrien and Vitera divisions. Each team will play a 56-game schedule from September 20, 2024, through March 16, 2025.
Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League: The independent British Columbia-based VIJHL, which was considered a Junior-A Tier-II league under BC Hockey until recently breaking away from Hockey Canada and BC Hockey, announced its 2024-25 season schedule that will feature the same 11 teams and again aligned in a 6-team North Division and a 5-team South Division. Each team will play 48 games from September 5, 2024, through February 22, 2025. The VIJHL will serve as an affiliated developmental league for the Junior-A Tier-I British Columbia Hockey League starting with the 2024-25 season.
SOCCER
Liga de Expansión MX: Mexico's developmental Liga Expansión MX has finalized the 15 teams that will participate in the opening phase (Apertura) of the two-part 2024-25 Apertura/Clausura season. The league had 15 teams last season but the Cimarrones de Sinaloa dropped out and the league did not approve a purchase of the team by the Jaguares de Chiapas. The league will remain at 15 teams with the promotion of the Tampico-Madero Jaiba Brava club from last season's Liga Premier Serie A. The Apertura part of the 2024-25 Liga de Expansión MX season will start on July 25. There has not been any promotion or relegation between the Liga de Expansión MX and Mexico's first division Liga MX since the Liga de Expansión MX was created for the 2020-21 season. The Liga de Expansión MX pulled out of a proposed merger with the Liga MX's 18-team Under-20 League that was to create a new larger Expansión Under-23 league for the 2024-25 season.
USL W-League (United Soccer League): The Seattle-based Ballard FC, which operates a men's team in the pre-professional USL League Two, will operate a women's team in the pre-professional USL W-League in the 2025 season. The new W-League team will be added to the Northwest Division and it will have its own name and brand.
Women's Premier Soccer League - Pro League: The WPSL Pro league, which is being started by the elite amateur-level WPSL as a Division-III professional league, announced a Northeast Ohio (Cleveland) group has signed a letter of intent to be part of the WPSL Pro. The new league plans to launch in 2025 and Cleveland is the ninth team to sign a letter of intent.
OTHER
Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball: The women's Athletes Unlimited held its third annual AUX Softball competition with four teams competing in a total of 18 games over two weeks (June 10-June 25) in Wichita. The AUX Softball is a pre-cursor to the annual five-week Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball season that will start later this month in Rosemont (IL).
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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National Arena League Stories from July 15, 2024
- 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.
