Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
August 19, 2024 - USL Super League (USLSL)
BASEBALL
Frontier League: The independent Frontier League's Gateway Grizzlies, based in Sauget (IL) across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, played a neutral-site home game this week in Springfield (IL). Springfield's last professional baseball team was the Frontier League's Springfield Capitals (1996-2001) who moved to become the Rockford (IL) Riverhawks in 2002. The city has a current baseball team called the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes in the summer-collegiate Prospect League.
Midwest League: The Peoria Chiefs of the High-A Midwest League held a Distillers Weekend & Beerfest last weekend and played three games as the Peoria Distillers to celebrate the area's whiskey-making history and the city's previous minor league baseball teams by that name. The league's Beloit Snappers played a game this week as the Fairbanks Fairies in a throwback tribute to the city's former semi-pro baseball team.
Pacific Coast League: For the first time ever, interleague games between Minor League Baseball's 10-team Triple-A PCL and 20-team Triple-A International League will be included on their 2025 schedules.
BASKETBALL
Basketball Super League: The professional BSL, which played its inaugural 2023-24 season with six Canada-based teams, announced the Pontiac (MI) Pharaohs team from the 2024 season of the affiliated The Basketball League (TBL) has been added for the 2024-25 season as its first team based in the United States. Last season, BSL teams played additional home games against several TBL teams, one of which was the Pontiac Pharaohs who played four games against BSL teams.
Women's American Basketball Association: The semi-pro WABA started its 2024 season early last month with 16 teams aligned in a three-team North Upper, a five-team North Lower, a three-team Midwest and a five-team South. The league had 18 teams last season but lost 7 teams and added 5 new teams called the Kalamazoo Blaze, Raleigh Aces, OnPoint Swish (Inez, KY), Philadelphia Fury and the Rochester (NY) Royal Ballers, which were originally announced as Rochester Queenz. The WABA season runs through this month followed by playoffs.
FOOTBALL
Canadian Football League: The CFL introduced a new owner of the Edmonton Elks and there is talk of possibly changing the team's name back to the Edmonton Eskimos or some other name. The new owner was silent on any immediate renaming but has committed to keeping the team's "Double E" logo in any future branding. The team played as the Edmonton Eskimos between 1949 and 2020 but was pressured to change its name due to the offensive nature of the term used to describe Canada's northern Inuit population. The Edmonton team has a 13-46 record since changing from the Eskimos name.
National Arena League: The NAL officially announced the Shreveport Rouxgaroux has been added as the league's tenth team for the 2025 season. A rouxgarou, or rougarou, is a legendary Louisiana werewolf-type creature from Cajun folklore. The NAL's five active teams at the end of the 2024 season will return and the league has also added the Wheeling (WV) Miners from the American Arena League 2 and the Columbus (GA) Lions, Corpus Christi (TX) Tritons and Harrisburg (PA) Stampede from the American Indoor Football for the 2025 season. Shreveport's last professional indoor team was the Bossier City-Shreveport Battle Wings that played only the 2010 season in the first revival of the Arena Football League.
Indoor Football League: The IFL held its championship game this weekend ending its 2024 season that featured 16 teams aligned in eight-team Eastern and Western conferences. The IFL 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. The IFL currently lists the Indianapolis area's Fishers (IN) Freight as a 2025 expansion team.
HOCKEY
American Premier Hockey League: The Senior-A semi-pro APHL announced the Iron City Forge (Pittsburgh) has been added to the Eastern Division for the 2024-25 season. The APHL has also posted its 2024-25 season schedule that features nine teams playing from October 24, 2024, through March 23, 2025.
Great Lakes Hockey League: The over-18 semi-pro GLHL, which operates with teams in Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, announced all eight teams will return for the 2024-25 season. The GLHL also announced it will grow to 11 teams for the 2025-26 season with the addition of teams called the M&M Shamrocks (Marinette, WI), Dane County Dairy Kings (Verona, WI) and the Sun Prairie (WI) Killer Bees, which played in the 2023-24 season of the American Premier Hockey League.
SOCCER
Major League Indoor Soccer: The professional MLIS announced the addition of the Amarillo Bombers team from the Major Arena Soccer League 2 (MASL2) to its men's division for the 2024-25 season. The Bombers had been part of the MASL2 since the 2019-20 season when several teams from the former Texas-based U.S. Arena Professional League were merged into the MASL2.
USL League One (United Soccer League): After the Lexington SC (Kentucky) of the Division-III professional USL League One moves into its new 7,500-seat soccer-specific stadium at the end of this season, the team will move up to the Division-II USL Championship league starting with the 2025 season. The Lexington SC joined the USL League One for the 2023 season and has been playing at the 5,000-seat stadium operated by Georgetown College.
USL Super League (United Soccer League): The new women's Division-I professional USL Super League started its inaugural 2024-25 Fall Schedule with eight teams aligned in a single-table format. Teams include the Brooklyn FC (Brooklyn, NY), Carolina Ascent FC (Charlotte), Dallas Trinity FC, DC Power FC (Washington, DC), Fort Lauderdale United FC, Lexington SC (Lexington, KY), Spokane Zephyr FC and Tampa Bay Sun FC. Each team will play a 14-game schedule through December 14, 2024, take a Winter Break, and play a 14-game Spring Schedule starting in February 2025. The USL Super League plans to grow to 20 teams by 2026.
National Women's Soccer League: The Minnesota Aurora FC (Minneapolis/St. Paul), which has been part of the women's pre-professional USL W-League (United Soccer League) since the 2022 season, announced it is dropping out of the expansion process for consideration as the 16th team in the Division-I professional NWSL. The NWSL previously announced Boston would host its 15th team starting in 2026 and the league was planning to announce the 16th team by the end of this year. Minneapolis/St. Paul, Cincinnati and Cleveland had been considered as the top candidates for the next NWSL expansion team.
National Super League: Canada's proposed new women's professional NSL announced its Ottawa (Ontario) team will be called the Ottawa Rapid FC when the league starts play in 2025 with six teams. The NSL, which evolved from the "Project 8" organization, has other named teams called the Halifax Tides FC, AFC Toronto and the Calgary Wild FC, while teams announced for Vancouver and Montreal are still to be named. A former Ottawa-based independent baseball team in the defunct Can-Am League was originally called the Ottawa Rapids before changing to the Ottawa Rapidz for its only season in 2008.
OTHER
Women's Elite Rugby: The proposed new WER, which plans to become America's first professional women's rugby league in 2025 and play by the 15-player rugby union rules, announced its first three markets for teams will be Boston, Chicago and Denver. The WER hopes to start with six to eight teams and all team names and locations will be announced in the near future.
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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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.
