Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

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Arena Football One

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
November 18, 2024 - Arena Football One (AF1)


BASEBALL

Appalachian League: The summer-collegiate Appy League, which operates under the Major League Baseball and USA Baseball Prospect Development Pipeline, announced its 2025 season schedule that will feature the same ten teams aligned in a five-team East and five-team West. Each team will play a 48-game schedule from June 6 through July 30, 2025. The league's Bristol State Liners will again be without their own home field in 2025 and will play 24 home games at TVA Credit Union Ballpark, home of the league's Johnson City (TN) Doughboys. The owner of the Doughboys recently purchased the State Liners. The city of Bristol (TN) approved funding to renovate Tod Houston Field that is to be the State Liners' future home.

Carolina League: Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers are moving their Low-A Carolina League affiliate, currently the Carolina Mudcats (Zebulon, NC), about 25 miles east to a new stadium in Wilson (NC) for the 2026 season. Although the Carolina Mudcats will play the 2025 season in Zebulon, next week the Brewers plan to announce the name of the Wilson team.

Major League Baseball: Due to significant damage to its home at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg from Hurricane Milton, Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays will play its 2025 home schedule at the 11,000-seat Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, home of the Tampa Tarpons in the Low-A Florida State League.

South Atlantic League: The Hudson Valley Renegades (Fishkill, NY) of the High-A SAL announced the team will be called the Hudson Valley Big Apples as an alternative identity for three games during the 2025 season. The name is a tribute to nearby New York City and the New York State's apple farming and agricultural life.

United Shore Professional Baseball League: The independent developmental USPBL announced its 2025 season schedule will feature the same four teams as last season-the Utica Unicorns and Eastside Diamond Hoppers in the East and the Westside Woolly Mammoths and Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers in the West. Each team will play a 45-game schedule with all games played at Jimmy John's Field in Utica (MI) from May 16 through August 30, 2025.

BASKETBALL

American Basketball Association: The men's semi-pro ABA announced the Uptown Ballers (Philadelphia) have been added for the current 2024-25 season, while teams called the Central Valley Tigers (Elk Grove, CA) and DC Senate (Washington, DC) have been added as 2025-26 expansion teams.

The V League: The men's semi-pro basketball league known as The V League recently started its 2024-25 season with ten teams aligned in a single-table format. Most of the teams are located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The V League season runs through March 1, 2025.

The Basketball League: The minor professional TBL's 2025 expansion team called the Southern Maryland Seahawks has changed its name to the Capital Seahawks before ever playing a game in the league. The team will play home games at The Catholic University of America in Washington (DC).

FOOTBALL

Professional Arena Independent Association: The new PAIA is organizing for a start in 2025 and has announced the South Carolina Ravens (Florence) and Southern Scream (Macon) as associated teams.

Arena Football One: The new AF1 announced the Corpus Christi Tritons and Arizona Bandits (Tempe) have been added for the league's inaugural 2025 season. The Tritons were part of the 2024 Arena Indoor Football (AIF), which disbanded when the Tritons and three other former AIF teams moved to the National Arena League (NAL) for the 2025 season. Last month, the NAL dropped the Tritons from its 2025 schedule for not meeting league requirements. The Arizona Bandits failed in an attempt to start last season as part of the Arena Football League, which disbanded after the season and led to former members creating the AF1. The AF1 plans to announce its inaugural 2025 schedule next week.

Canadian Football League: The outgoing CFL commissioner gave his final State of the League address and again talked of the league's continued push to add a tenth team. The Atlantic Canada region, Quebec City and Windsor (Ontario) were mentioned as potential Canadian expansion locations. The commissioner was not in favor of the CFL looking to a market in the United States for a tenth team.

HOCKEY

Western Professional Hockey League: The new developmental professional WPHL is trying to organize and recently started its 2024-25 "Exhibition Season" with four teams: the California Grizzlies (Orange County) and Las Vegas Wranglers in the Pacific Division and the unnamed Arizona Pro Hockey and New Mexico Pro Hockey in the Desert Division. The California Grizzlies hosted the first two games in Westminster (CA) and the team appears to be hosting all of the 14 games scheduled through March 15, 2025. The WPHL looks to be a remake of an earlier version of the WPHL that tried to start with a "soft opening" featuring its only professional team called the Las Vegas Millionaires playing a 2022-23 exhibition season against several amateur and senior-level teams. The Millionaires played six games through December 2022 but the rest of the eight games scheduled for early 2023 were never played.

SOCCER

Major Arena Soccer League 3: The men's amateur-level MASL3, which is affiliated with the professional MASL and operated with 7 teams last season, has grown to 27 teams with the recent start of its 2024-25 season. The MASL recently united with the Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL) and brought several PASL teams and other new teams to the MASL3. The new divisional alignment includes a five-team Atlantic, four-team East, four-team Great Lakes North, four-team Heartland, five-team Midwest and a five-team South. Teams will each play ten games through March 29, 2025.

Major League Indoor Soccer: The men's MLIS announced its 2024-25 season schedule will feature nine teams aligned in a single-table format with each team playing a 12-game schedule from December 21, 2024, through April 6, 2025. Of the six teams from last season, the Omaha Kings FC, Chicago Mustangs, Colorado Bucks (Denver) and Cleveland Crunch have returned, while the Ohio Extreme (Lima) and Rapid City FC (Grand Rapids, MI) are listed as inactive. The MLIS added five new teams called the Red Cedar FC (Lansing, MI), Chicago Panathinaikos, Summit City United (Fort Wayne), Amarillo Bombers from the Major Arena Soccer League 2 (MASL2), and the Toronto-based Canadian Crusaders team that played as the Orlando-based Central Florida Crusaders in the 2023-24 National Indoor Soccer League (NISL). In April 2024, the MLIS purchased the NISL, whose members operated both men's and women's teams. The NISL men's division had five active teams and one inactive team last season, but so far only the NISL's Crusaders are starting in the MLIS. In September 2024, the MLIS announced the Atletico Orlando FC joined from the 2023-24 MASL2 but the team will only play some exhibition games this season and play a full schedule starting in 2026. The MLIS is planning western expansion with teams in Utah and Las Vegas confirmed for 2025-26. The league is also trying to start a 2024-25 women's league called the WMLIS.

Open Soccer Alliance: The new amateur OSA is holding playoffs for its inaugural 2024 season that featured ten California-based teams playing from August through October. The OSA is planning a national system and a proposed Division-III pro league with promotion and relegation of teams between levels.

USL Championship (United Soccer League): The franchise rights of Memphis 901 FC in the Division-II professional USL Championship have been transferred to Santa Barbara (CA) where ownership of the Santa Barbara SKY FC will restart the team starting with the 2026 season. Santa Barbara SKY FC was originally announced as an expansion team in the Division-III professional USL League One but will now move up a level. The team will play at a renovated 17,000-seat Harder Stadium on the campus of the University of California-Santa Barbara. Memphis 901 FC joined the USL Championship in the 2019 season but was unable to develop a permanent soccer-specific stadium and played home games the AutoZone Park baseball stadium, home of the Triple-A International League's Memphis Redbirds.

USL League One (United Soccer League): The Division-III professional USL League One has terminated the franchise of the Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC (Windsor) that joined as an expansion team for the 2022 season. The team's ownership, which is facing financial and legal claims involving the development of the multi-purpose Future Legends Complex, has filed a lawsuit against the USL and stated the team is not ceasing operations and will play in 2025. The league's Central Valley Fuego (Fresno), also a 2022 expansion team, announced it is leaving USL League One.

OTHER

Arena Lacrosse League: The Men's Division of the amateur winter indoor development ALL recently started its 2024-25 season and again has the same eight-team Ontario-based ALL East and the same four-team ALL West, which plays all games at the Langley (British Columbia) Events Centre. The men's ALL West teams play 15 games from November 6, 2024, through March 22, 2025. The men's ALL East teams play 14 games from December 6, 2024, through March 16, 2025.

Women's Lacrosse League: The men's Premier Lacrosse League (PPL) announced the new Women's Lacrosse League will get off the ground in February 2025 with four teams playing the Olympic Sixes (six-on-six) format in a two-week tournament called the WLL Championship Series. The four teams and their home cities will be announced at a later date. This tournament is considered an initial phase that could lead to the WLL eventually playing a full summer schedule like the PLL. The PLL holds an annual six-on-six Championship Series in February but teams play with ten players per side during its regular summer season.

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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