Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
September 16, 2024 - Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)
BASEBALL
Frontier League: The independent Frontier League announced it will place an expansion team at Trustmark Park in Pearl (MS), a suburb of Jackson, for the 2025 season. The ballpark has been home to the affiliated Double-A Southern League's Mississippi Braves since 2005 but that team is relocating to become the Columbus (GA) Clingstones for next season. The Mississippi Frontier League team has listed three potential nicknames-the Mississippi Mud Monsters, Mississippi Grits and Mississippi Soul Shakers-for fan voting through this month. The owner of the Gary (IN) SouthShore RailCats team in the independent American Association was announced as owner of the new Mississippi Frontier League team.
Pecos League: The independent Pecos League announced a new team called the Kansas City Hormigas has been added for the 2025 season and it will play home games at Satchel Paige Memorial Stadium in Kansas City (MO). It looks like Kansas City will be replacing the league's Austin Weirdos team in the ten-team Mountain Division. The Hormigas (Ants) nickname was used by a Pecos League team called the Weimar (TX) Hormigas that played only the 2022 season before disbanding. The Weimar Hormigas name was being used for a team in The Western League, the Pecos League's three-week winter showcase league.
BASKETBALL
Athletes Unlimited - Pro Basketball: The women's Athletes Unlimited announced the fourth season of its four-week professional basketball league will be held in Nashville (TN) from February 5 through March 2, 2025. The league will again feature 4 teams with a total of 40 players who are scored through individual and team statistics. The top four performers each week become captains and select teams for the following week with one player with the highest score selected as champion for the season. The league's previous seasons were held in Las Vegas (2022) and Dallas (2023 and 2024).
National Basketball Association: The NBA commissioner stated expansion from 30 to 32 teams was not discussed at a recent board of governors meeting and although there is some interest in the process, there have not been any specific decisions on markets or whether to expand. Seattle and Las Vegas have been mentioned as potential markets for expansion.
FOOTBALL
Arena Football One: The new AF1, which was created when the eight remaining teams from the 2024 Arena Football League (AFL) left to form the new league for the 2025 season, announced the addition of three 2025 expansion teams to grow the league to 11 teams. The new AF1 teams are the Stockade Crusaders, Monterrey Kings (Nuevo Leon, Mexico) and a yet-to-be-named Wilkes-Barre (PA) team. Stockton had a former indoor team called the Stockton Lightning for four seasons (2006-09) in the minor arenafootball2 (af2), a 2011 independent team called the Stockton Wolves, and the California Eagles for the 2012 season in the American Indoor Football. Wilkes-Barre had a former team called the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers that played eight seasons (2002-09) in af2.
National Arena League: The NAL announced the Beaumont (TX) Renegades have been added as a 2025 expansion team and the league has now grown to 12 teams. The Beaumont Renegades were previously associated with the American Indoor Football (AIF) league as a 2025 AIF expansion team but left that league in June to pursue other opportunities. Beaumont joins four other 2024 AIF teams that also left to join the NAL for 2025. A previous indoor football team called the Beaumont Drillers played in the National Indoor Football League (2005-07) and the American Professional Football League (2008).
HOCKEY
North American Hockey League: The Tier-II junior-level NAHL started its 2024-25 season this week with 35 teams aligned in an eight-team Central Division, a ten-team East Division, an eight-team Midwest Division and a nine-team South Division. The league had 32 teams last season but it added three new teams-the Watertown (SD) Shamrocks and Minnesota Mallards (Forest Lake) to the Central Division and the Elmira (NY) Aviators to the East Division. Each team will play 59 games through April 12, 2025.
Professional Women's Hockey League: The PWHL has selected the nicknames for all six of teams ahead of its second season in 2025. This past season, teams were simply known as PWHL Boston, PWHL Minnesota, PWHL Montreal, PWHL New York, PWHL Ottawa and PWHL Toronto. The new team names are the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montreal Victoire (Victoire de Montreal), New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres. None of these team names were the same as those names-Boston Wicked, Minnesota Superior, Montreal Echo, Ottawa Alert and Toronto Torch-for which trademarks were filed last year. Apparently, each team had two other names under consideration in addition to the trademarked name and the selected name: Boston (Blitz and Emeralds), Minnesota (Marmots and Monarchs), Montreal (Lumieres and Metro), New York (Rush and Odyssey), Ottawa (Guard and Advance) and Toronto (Sentinels and Tempests). The PWHL also announced the New York Sirens will use the Prudential Center in Newark (NJ), home of the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils, as its primary home venue for the upcoming 2024-25 season. Last season, the PWHL New York team played regular-season home games in Bridgeport (CT), Long Island (NY) and two games at the Prudential Center in Newark. Each team's 2024-25 regular-season schedule will increase from 24 to 30 games, including neutral-site games.
Alberta Junior Hockey League: The AJHL, which is one of nine Junior-A leagues under the Canadian Junior Hockey League, started its 2024-25 season this weekend with 12 teams aligned in six-team divisions called the Viterra AJHL North and Viterra AJHL South. The AJHL started its 2023-24 season with 16 teams aligned in a single-table format but 5 teams defected to the independent British Columbia Hockey League midway through the season and the AJHL finished with 11 teams. An expansion team called the Devon (Alberta) Xtreme was added to bring the league to 12 teams. Each team will play a 54-game schedule through March 15, 2025.
Central Canada Hockey League: The CCHL, which is one of nine Junior-A leagues under the Canadian Junior Hockey League, started its 2024-25 season this weekend with 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 through March 16, 2025.
Maritime Junior Hockey League: The MHL, which is one of nine Junior-A leagues under the Canadian Junior Hockey League, started its 2024-25 season this week with 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 through March 9, 2025.
Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League: The NOJHL, which is one of nine Junior-A leagues under the Canadian Junior Hockey League, started its 2024-25 season this week with 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 through March 16, 2025.
Superior International Junior Hockey League: The SIJHL, which is one of the nine Junior-A leagues under the Canadian Junior Hockey League, started its 2024-25 season this week with eight teams aligned in a single-table format. The only change from last season was the relocation of the Wisconsin Lumberjacks from Spooner (WI) to Ironwood (MI) where the team has become the Ironwood Lumberjacks. Each team will play 50 games through March 15, 2025.
United States Premier Hockey League - Elite Conference: The USPHL's Tier-III junior-level Elite Conference, which acts as a feeder to the USPHL's Premier Conference, started its 2024-25 regular season this week and again has 28 teams in 5 regional divisions. The conference lost the Richmond Generals, Boston Jr. Bruins and Columbia (SC) Infantry but added the South Shore Kings, Hershey Cubs and Boston Jr. Bulldogs, who will play only a 24-game regular season while other teams play 44 games through March 31, 2024. As it did last season, the Elite Conference standings will feature an additional division of teams from the North Am Prep Hockey League and these teams will only participate in select showcase events during the 2024-25 season.
SOCCER
Northern Super League: The Montreal team in Canada's new six-team women's professional NSL stated it will announce the team's name and logo on October 8, 2024. The NSL's five other teams have already been named and include the AFC Toronto, Calgary Wild FC, Halifax Tides FC, Ottawa Rapid FC and Vancouver Rise FC. The NSL will start play in April 2025.
The League for Clubs: The new summer amateur League for Clubs, or The League, is organizing for a start in May 2025 and will operate under the United States Adult Soccer Association. The League was created through a partnership with the ownership of the elite amateur Women's Premier Soccer League and several men's teams that were former members of the elite amateur National Premier Soccer League. The League currently lists members in a five-team East, a five-team Central and a nine-team West.
OTHER
Women's National Volleyball Association: Not much has been heard from the indoor professional WNVA that was first proposed back in August 2023 for a start in 2024. The WNVA was to be affiliated with the men's professional National Volleyball Association (NVA), which has been playing a schedule of weekend events the past few years with up to 12 teams. This past April the NVA announced it would not be holding a weekend event season in 2024 as it reevaluated its league structure for a sustainable future. The NVA has since held only a showcase called the "SoCal Tri-Match" in May with four western teams. The WNVA would be facing competition from other women's professional indoor leagues like the Pro Volleyball Federation, Athletes Unlimited-Pro Volleyball and the new League One Volleyball (LOVB) that starts in January 2025.
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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Professional Women's Hockey League Stories from September 16, 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.
