Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

Sports stats



 Major League Soccer

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
December 16, 2024 - Major League Soccer (MLS)


BASEBALL

California League: Three teams in the Low-A California League were involved in changes coming to the league for the 2026 season. Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers plan to move their California League affiliate, currently the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, to a new sports complex to be built in Ontario (CA) and ready for the 2026 season. The Dodgers' affiliate will remain in Rancho Cucamonga for the 2025 season and receive a new name ahead of the move to Ontario. After the 2025 season, MLB's Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will move their California League affiliate, currently the San Bernardino-based Inland Empire 66ers, to operate as the Cucamonga Quakes starting in 2026. The MLB's Seattle Mariners will move their California League affiliate, currently the Modesto Nuts, to San Bernardino to operate as the Inland Empire 66ers starting in 2026. Modesto, which first started with a California League team in 1946, is the loser in all of these moves as the Mariners were unable to reach an agreement with the city on financing the much-needed improvements to the city's aging ballpark.

International League: The Triple-A International League's 2025 season schedule will feature the same 20 teams as last season with teams again aligned in 10-team East and West divisions. Each team will play 150 games from March 28 through September 21, 2025. For the first time, some International League teams will play interleague regular-season games against teams from the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.

Pacific Coast League: The Triple-A PCL's 2025 season schedule will again feature ten teams aligned in five-team East and West divisions. One change in the off-season was the Oklahoma City Baseball Club choosing the Oklahoma City Comets as its new name. Each team will play 150 games from March 28 through September 21, 2025, with some PCL teams playing interleague regular-season games against teams from the Triple-A International League for the first time.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association: The NBA is reported to be in serious discussions with the International Basketball Federation known as FIBA about establishing an NBA-operated professional basketball league in Europe for developing talent. The 18-team EuroLeague is currently the top-tier European basketball league. The NBA has been playing pre-season or regular-season games in Europe since 1993.

World Basketball Association: The developmental professional WBA, which played ten seasons (2004-13) trying to expose players to higher-level leagues in the United States and internationally, is trying make a comeback with proposed tryouts in 2025. The league wants to start with 12 teams in 2 divisions and lists the following markets or teams: Atlanta, Birmingham Court Kings, Dallas, Fayetteville (NC), Greenville (SC), Jackson (MS) Rage, Las Vegas, Macon (GA) Blaze, Monroe (LA), Pasadena (CA), Raleigh Knights and Santa Monica (CA). A proposed restart in 2023 with four Texas-based teams called the Fort Worth Bobcats, Frisco Wildcats, Dallas Longhorns and Arlington Hornets never developed.

The Basketball League: The men's minor professional TBL announced a new team called the Fayetteville (NC) Liberty will join the league for the 2026 season.

FOOTBALL

Professional Arena Independent Association: The proposed new PAIA has removed the previously announced Knoxville Bandits from the lineup of teams for its inaugural 2025 season.

European League Football: Europe's American-style football league known as the ELF announced it will return in 2025 with 16 teams from 9 countries and aligned in four divisions (East, West, North and South). The ELF had 17 teams aligned in Eastern, Western and Central conferences last season. The Barcelona Dragons dropped out of the league while the Milan-based Milano Seamen will sit out the 2025 season with plans to return in 2026. The league added the new Nordic Storm team that will play home games in both Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmö (Sweden).

The Arena League: The professional TAL, which completed its inaugural 2024 summertime season with four teams playing 6-on-6 arena-style football, announced it will switch to a 7-on-7 format for the 2025 season. The TAL recently added two new teams called the Hot Springs (AR) Wiseguys and the Eau Claire (WI) Axemen, originally announced as the Eau Claire Jammers.

HOCKEY

Federal Prospects Hockey League: The Single-A minor professional FPHL's Hudson Valley Venom, which recently started its first season in the league based out of the Ice Time Sports Complex in Newburgh (NY), has come under new ownership as the HC Venom. The new HC Venom will play only road games the rest of the 2024-25 season to include still-to-be-announced neutral-site games in potential FPHL expansion markets. The Venom joined the FPHL this season after the sale and relocation of the league's Elmira (NY) River Sharks.

SOCCER

United Soccer League: The USL announced the in-season USL Jägermeister Cup tournament, which featured only the 12 teams from the Division-III professional USL League One for its first run in 2024, will expand to an interleague tournament in 2025 featuring 38 teams-12 teams from the USL League One and 24 teams from the Division-II professional USL Championship. The 2025 USL Jägermeister Cup will feature six regional groups with a mix of six or seven teams from each league with each team playing four games in group-play from late April to late July during the 2025 season. This will be followed by single-elimination knockout rounds leading to a championship match in October 2025.

Major League Soccer: The Division-I professional MLS held an expansion draft this week to stock the league's 30th team called the San Diego FC that will start playing in the 2025 season. A trial will begin in January 2025 for a lawsuit brought by the defunct North American Soccer League (NASL), which is seeking over $500 million in damages against the MLS and the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for violating antitrust law by illegally conspiring to protect the MLS from competition. The NASL was organized in 2009 with plans to challenge the MLS as a Division-I league but played as a Division-II through 2017. The NASL was denied Division-I status by the USSF in 2015 and the USSF withdrew the NASL's Division-II status for the 2018 season, and without the Division-II sanctioning, the NASL folded.

National Women's Soccer League: The professional NWSL's new 2026 Boston-based expansion team called BOS Nation FC is facing litigation that could delay its plans to renovate the city's White Stadium in time for the 2026 season and possibly risk the future of the franchise. Ownership has considered Boston University's Nickerson Field as a potential temporary site for the new team.

OTHER

Arena Lacrosse League: The Women's Division of the Canadian developmental ALL, also known as the WALL, has a six-team WALL West division, which started last month and plays all games at the Langley Events Centre in British Columbia, and a six-team WALL East, which will start next month with all games to be played at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena in Hagersville (Ontario). The WALL West has the same six teams as last season, while the WALL East expanded from five to six teams with the addition of a new team called the Arrows.

TGL Golf: The new indoor TGL Golf league, which will start in January 2025 with six men's teams consisting of players from the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) competing in matches at a 2,000-seat custom-built virtual indoor golf course simulator in Palm Beach Gardens (FL), is reported to be talking with the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) about a possible mixed men's and women's event in the future or even a standalone women's league. The TGL is also considering possible expansion into Europe.

Women's Lacrosse League: The men's Premier Lacrosse League (PPL) announced the Boston Guard, New York Charging, Maryland Charm, and California Palms as names of the four WLL teams that will start playing as part of the inaugural 2025 WLL Championship Series in February at The St. James in Springfield (VA) near Washington (DC). Each team will play three games, followed by playoffs, under the lacrosse sixes (six-player) format that will be used in the 2028 Olympics. The event will also feature the men's 2025 PLL Championship Series with four of the eight PLL teams participating and playing the six-player format. The PLL started the six-player Championship Series during its off-season in 2023. The PLL plays a summertime regular season with ten players per side. The WLL could evolve into a full-schedule league similar to the PLL in the 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.


• Discuss this story on the Major League Soccer message board...

Major League Soccer Stories from December 16, 2024


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.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central