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PCL Pacific Coast League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
August 12, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)


BASEBALL

Pacific Coast League: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club, which is an affiliate of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, played a game this week as the Oklahoma City 89ers in an "89ers Night" tribute to the team's previous name from 1962 to 1997. The team became the Oklahoma RedHawks (1998-2008) and Oklahoma City RedHawks (2009-2014) before changing to the Oklahoma City Dodgers (2015-23). Although it continues to be an affiliate of the Dodgers, the team announced plans to play as the Oklahoma City Baseball Club this season while selecting a new name starting with the 2025 season.

Legacy League: The new ten-team summer-collegiate Legacy League continues to organize for a start in June 2025 with all games to be played at the Hank Aaron Sports Academy operating out of the Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson (MS). Teams will represent various communities near Jackson and two of those teams are currently listed as the Clutch Batters and the Ralph Garr Roadrunners. The Jackson market is losing its Mississippi Braves Double-A Southern League team to Columbus (GA) after this season. The Braves currently play at Trustmark Park in Pearl (MS), across the Pearl River from Jackson.

Northwoods League: The Bismarck (ND) Larks of the summer-collegiate Northwoods League played a game this week as the Heartland Holy Cows to honor the ranching industry in the state and throughout the Heartland of the United States.

BASKETBALL

Basketball Super League: The professional BSL recently announced its second season in 2024-25 will start on November 15, 2024, and run through March 31, 2025, with each team playing a 32-game schedule of 16 home and away games. All six BSL teams, which were based in Canada last season, will return and the league is considering expansion markets that will be finalized by August 15. The BSL also plans to hold a North American Cup series during the 2024-25 season with teams from The Basketball League (TBL). Last season all BSL teams played additional home games against select teams from the TBL.

The Basketball League: The minor professional TBL announced a new team called the DMV Soldiers, based in Charles County (MD), will be added to the Northeast Conference for the 2025 season. The TBL also announced a new team in the Tampa market will be announced in the near future.

Women's National Basketball Association: The WBNA's new Toronto franchise, which plans to start play in the 2026 season as the league's 14th team, is asking fans to make suggestions for the team's name, colors, logo and mascot through August 28. The WNBA will be adding a 13th team called the Golden State Valkyries (San Francisco) for the 2025 season.

FOOTBALL

International Football Alliance: The proposed new 11-man outdoor minor professional IFA, which plans to start play in the spring of 2025 with teams based in Mexico and the United States, announced its San Antonio team will be called the San Antonio Caballeros. The IFA also announced the semi-pro developmental indoor and outdoor team called the Baltimore Lightning will join the league as a professional Baltimore Lightning team in 2025.

Major League Football: There have been no updates from the springtime developmental MLFB, which failed to start a four-team condensed season in August 2022 and cancelled plans to operate a 2023 season.

Midwest Arena Football League: The new developmental 8-on-8 MAFL is organizing for a start this fall and currently lists teams called the Detroit Bandits, Detroit Lumberjacks, Midwest Dolphins (Detroit), Ohio Cobras (Toledo), Jackson (MI) Battlehawks, Mid-Michigan Grizzlies (Jackson), Ohio Legends (Columbus), Indianapolis Enforcers, Midwestern Bulldogs (Noblesville, IN) and Goshen (IN) Guardians. Several teams will share the same home venues during the inaugural season.

The Arena League: The six-player indoor TAL held its championship game this weekend to complete its inaugural 2024 season that featured the champion Duluth (MN) Harbor Monsters along with the Kansas City (MO) Goats, Ozarks Lunkers (Springfield, MO) and Iowa Woo (Waterloo), which was originally announced as the Waterloo Woo. The TAL will be expanding to six teams in 2025 with the recent addition of the Eau Claire (WI) Jammers and Hot Springs (AR) Wiseguys.

HOCKEY

ECHL: All 29 of the ECHL's teams have each announced affiliation agreements with National Hockey League teams and their American Hockey League affiliates for the 2024-25 season. The ECHL's expansion Bloomington (IL) Bison entered into an affiliation with the NHL's New York Rangers and AHL's Hartford Wolfpack, while the expansion Tahoe Knight Monsters (Stateline, NV) entered into an affiliation with the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights and AHL's Henderson Silver Knights. The NHL's Carolina Hurricanes recently signed a working agreement to send some prospects to the ECHL's Bloomington Bison during the 2024-25 season due to the proximity of Bloomington to Carolina's AHL Chicago Wolves affiliate. Several other NHL teams entered into new ECHL affiliations for the 2024-25 season. Of the 32 NHL teams, only the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators do not have some sort of affiliation with an ECHL team.

Da Beauty League: The 4-on-4 summertime ice hockey DBL started its short 2024 season last month with four sponsor-named men's teams called the Element, Walser, TRIA and Anders on Group, Inc. The DBL also added a women's division this season with two sponsor-named women's teams called the Tradition Capital Bank (White) and Tradition Mortgage (Maroon). Each men's team is comprised of National Hockey League players, minor hockey league players and college players that are from Minnesota or spend their summers in Minnesota. The women's teams includes collegiate players and some players from the Professional Women's Hockey League. The seven-week season features each team playing seven games through August 21, 2024, followed by playoffs. All games are played on Wednesday evenings at Braemar Arena in Edina (MN).

Professional Women's Hockey League: It looks like the six-team PWHL has pushed back the announcement of its team nicknames and logos from this month until the middle of September.

SOCCER

Major League Indoor Soccer: The professional MLIS announced the addition of the Canadian Crusaders team to be based in the Toronto area for the upcoming 2024-25 season. The team operated as the Central Florida Crusaders (Orlando area) for the past two seasons (2023-24) as part of the National Indoor Soccer League (NISL), which was merged into the MLIS after the 2024 season. The NISL clubs each operated both men's and women's teams, while the men's MLIS is starting a new separate women's indoor league (WMLIS) for the 2024-25 season. Apparently, the Canadian Crusaders will start off with only a men's team and add a women's team in the future.

USL League One (United Soccer League): The men's Division-III professional USL League One's expansion team based in Westchester County (NY) recently announced the team will be called the Westchester Soccer Club, or Westchester SC, when it starts play in the 2025 season. The team will play home games at The Stadium at Memorial Field in Mount Vernon (NY).

OTHER

Minor League Cricket: With Major League Cricket recently completing its 2024 season last month with six teams, the affiliated Minor League Cricket (MiLC) held its player draft this week for its upcoming 2024 season. It looks as though all 26 MiLC teams will be returning with the league again aligned in a five-team Southern Division, a six-team Eastern Division, an eight-team Central Division and a six-team Western Division. The 2024 season schedule is still to be announced.

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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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 12, 2024


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