Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
November 25, 2024 - Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)
BASEBALL
American Association: The independent American Association has entered into a three-year partnership with the Australian Baseball League (ABL) for collaboration on marketing and personnel exchanges of players, umpires, coaches and administrative staff. The six-team ABL recently started its 2024-25 season that runs through January 2025 and serves as an off-season option for independent and Major League Baseball prospects. The mayor of Murfreesboro (TN) has put plans on hold for a proposed 3,500-seat ballpark that was to be built in the Cannonsburgh Village area for a potential American Association team. The city was not willing to commit to significant public funding being requested for the project by the group called Home Run History.
Carolina League: The Carolina Mudcats (Zebulon, NC) of the Low-A Carolina League announced that the team will be renamed the Wilson Warbirds when moving in 2026 to a new stadium being built in Wilson (NC), about 25 miles east. The Mudcats will play the 2025 season in Zebulon. The name is in reference to the area's vintage military aircraft that continue flying long after their service days. The Carolina Mudcats have been in Zebulon since 1991 as a Double-A Southern League team (1991-2011), a High-A Carolina League team (2011-2020), and a Low-A Carolina League team since 2021.
Eastern League: The Bowie (MD) Baysox of the Double-A Eastern League announced the team will be rebranded as the Chesapeake Baysox for the 2025 season to represent the larger Chesapeake region and will continue to play at Prince George's Stadium in Bowie. The team has been known as the Bowie Baysox since it joined the Eastern League for the 1993 season.
Pioneer League: After playing their inaugural 2024 season based out of Dobbins Field on the campus of the University of California-Davis, the independent Pioneer League's Yolo County (CA) High Wheelers are moving to Marysville (CA) in the Yuba-Sutter region of California where the team will become the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers for the 2025 season. A Marysville-based team called the Marysville Drakes recently left the city after playing three seasons (2022-24) in the independent Pecos League.
BASKETBALL
Basketball Super League: The second season of the men's professional BSL started this weekend with seven teams aligned in a single-table format. The league operated with six Canadian teams last season but only five teams returned after the Montreal Toundra decided to withdraw for the 2024-25 season. The BSL added the Jamestown (NY) Jackals, Glass City Wranglers (Toledo) and Pontiac (MI) Pharaohs teams from the affiliated minor league called The Basketball League (TBL). The BSL teams will play 25 to 30 games through March 2025 and most teams will also play additional home games against a few TBL teams during the season.
The Basketball League: The minor professional TBL announced a new team called the New York Phoenix (Schenectady) has been added as a 2025 expansion team. The new team is expected to be a natural rival of the league's Albany (NY) Patroons, about 20 miles south of Schenectady.
Women's National Basketball Association: The group that owns the National Basketball Association's Cleveland Cavaliers is making a push for Cleveland to be selected as the WNBA's next expansion market. The 12-team league is adding teams in San Francisco, Portland and Toronto over the next two seasons and plans to add one more expansion team in its push to 16 teams by the 2028 season. The WNBA had a team called the Cleveland Rockers that played seven seasons (1997-2003) in the league before folding.
FOOTBALL
American Arena League 2: The professional developmental AAL2 announced its 2025 alignment will feature 12 teams aligned in 4-team East, North and South divisions. As of now, the East Division has the Jersey Bearcats (Roselle), New Jersey Roughnecks (Camden), Maryland War Eagles (Silver Spring), Steel City Stampede (Whitehall, PA); the North Division includes the Michigan Avengerz (Novi/Detroit), New York Smash (Syracuse), Ohio Elite (Columbus), and Pittsburgh Outlaws; and the South Division has the Mississippi Wolfpack (Batesville), Georgia Indians (Alpharetta),) Carolina Predators (Wake Forest, NC) and the Tri-City RiverGators (Huntsville/Birmingham/Albertville).
Arena Football One: The new AF1, which was formed by eight teams from the 2024 Arena Football League (AFL), announced its inaugural 2025 season will feature 12 teams aligned in 4 divisions with teams playing 12 games from March 14 through June 15, 2025. The East Division will feature former AFL teams called the Albany (NY) Firebirds, Nashville Kats and Orlando Predators along with a yet-to-be-named team in Wilkes-Barre (PA). The Central Division will have former AFL teams called the Salina (KS) Liberty, Southwest Kansas Storm (Dodge City) and Wichita Regulators along with the Corpus Christi Tritons from the 2024 American Indoor Football. The West Division will include former AFL teams called the Billings (MT) Outlaws and Washington Wolfpack (Everett) along with the new Arizona Bandits (Tempe) and the Oregon Lightning (Redmond/Bend), which last played as the Oregon High Desert Storm in the 2023 season of the American West Football Conference. Two previously announced 2025 AF1 teams called the Stockton (CA) Crusaders and Monterrey Kings (Nuevo Leon, Mexico) will now start in the 2026 season.
HOCKEY
Professional Women's Hockey League: As the six-team PWHL prepares to start its second season next week, the league announced it will host nine neutral-site regular-season games as part of its Takeover Tour during the 2024-25 season. Each team will play at least two neutral-site games that will be played in Buffalo, Denver, Detroit, Quebec City, Raleigh, St. Louis, Seattle, Vancouver and one other site still to be determined.
SOCCER
Major Arena Soccer League 2: The MASL2, which is affiliated with the top professional MASL, started its 2024-25 season this weekend with 16 teams aligned in a four-team East Division, a five-team North Division and a seven-team Midwest/West Division. Each team will play a 12-game schedule within their division through March 30, 2025. The league had 13 teams last season but lost 6 teams and added 9 teams for the 2024-25 season. The El Paso Rhinos Uno Seis FC did not return; the Amarillo Bombers and Atletico Orlando moved to the Major League Indoor Soccer; and the Iowa Raptors FC (Cedar Rapids), Kansas Bandits (Dodge City), and Rochester (NY) Lancers are currently listed as inactive MASL2 teams. Of the nine teams added for 2024-25, the Chihuahua Savage II, San Diego Sockers 2, Turlock Cal Express and Empire Jets (Ontario, CA) are returning after sitting out the 2023-24 season. The other new teams are the Minnesota Blizzard FC (St. Paul), Wisconsin Conquerors (Weston), Spice City FC (Danbury, CT), the Salisbury (MD) Steaks from the MASL3, and the Oklahoma City Certified Lions from the 2023-24 Premier Arena Soccer League's Pro Division. The league also lists a proposed expansion team called the Santa Fe (NM) Gloom as an inactive team. Eight MASL2 teams serve as direct affiliates of an MASL team.
National Women's Soccer League: The Women's National Basketball Association's first-year star Caitlin Clark has joined the effort by Major League Soccer's FC Cincinnati to bring an NWSL expansion team to Cincinnati. The 14-team NWSL announced this week that Cincinnati, Cleveland and Denver are the three finalists to become the league's 16th franchise that is expected to start in 2026 with the 15th team previously announced for Boston.
Major Arena Soccer League Women: The MASL's new women's indoor league known as the MASLW started its inaugural 2024-25 season this week with 21 teams aligned in a four-team Great Lakes North, a five-team Great Lakes South, a six-team Heartland and a six-team South. During the off-season, the MASL united with the Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL) and that brought several men's PASL teams to the lower-level MASL3, while several women's PASL teams moved to the new MASLW along with various other teams. The MASLW teams will play ten games through March 22, 2025. The MASLW lists the Arkansas Legacy and Minnesota TwinStars FC (St. Paul) as inactive teams for this season.
Major League Indoor Soccer: The MLIS announced the Utah Uprising FC as a new team that will start in the league's 2025-26 season at a venue still to be determined.
USL Championship (United Soccer League): A group called USL Dallas has been granted a franchise for a Division-II professional USL Championship team based in Garland (TX). The team plans to start playing in the 2027 season.
OTHER
National Lacrosse League: The professional NLL announced 13 new markets have been added to its "UnBOXed" grassroots effort to introduce its fast-paced lacrosse game to elementary and middle schools. Participating schools receive lacrosse equipment for a physical education curriculum that is based on the 3-on-3 version of SPEED lacrosse. The 13 new "UnBOXed" brand names for each market are the Boston Wickies, Chicago Shamrocks, Columbus (OH) Redtails, Indianapolis Checkers, Los Angeles Ligers, Miami Tormentas, Nashville Drumsticks, New Jersey Humpbacks, Portland (OR) Undercutters, and Providence (RI) Vampires in the United States, and the Edmonton Juice, London Mounties, and Québec City Harfangs in Canada.
Major League Rugby: The men's professional rugby union (15-player) MLR announced its 2025 season schedule will feature 11 teams aligned in a six-team Eastern Conference and a five-team Western Conference with each team playing 16 games from February 15 through June 8, 2025. The league had 12 teams last season but the Western Conference's Dallas Jackals are sitting out the 2025 season as the team evaluates a potential transfer of ownership.
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 November 25, 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.
