Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
December 30, 2024 - Arena Football One (AF1)

BASEBALL

American Association: The independent American Association's 2024 champion Kane County Cougars have been invited to participate in the second edition of the Baseball Champions League-Americas (BCL Americas), an international round-robin competition sponsored by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The Diablos Rojos del Mexico (Mexico City), 2024 champions of the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (Mexican Baseball League), will host the event scheduled for April 8-13, 2025. The six-team BCL Americas will feature the 2024 champions from a league in the United States, Cuba, Curaçao, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Mexico. The first edition of the competition was held in the fall of 2023 and featured the American Association's 2022 champion Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. No competition was held in 2024.

Pecos League: The independent Pecos League announced a realignment to the ten teams in the Mountain Division's five-team Mountain North and a five-team Mountain South for the 2025 season. The Santa Fe Fuego will move from the Mountain North to replace the departed Austin Weirdos in the Mountain South, while the expansion Kansas City (MO) Hormigas will be placed in the Mountain North. The league's six-team California-based Pacific Division has one change with the Monterey Amberjacks returning after sitting out last season and replacing the departed Marysville Drakes. Marysville will become home to the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers of the independent Pioneer League in 2025.

BASKETBALL

Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacifico: Mexico's springtime pro CIBACOPA, or Pacific Coast Basketball League, posted its 2025 season schedule that will feature the same ten teams as last season and again aligned in a single-table format. Each team will play 36 games from March 7 through May 18, 2025.

National Basketball League - United States: The men's semi-pro NBL-US, which plays both a Spring Season and a Winter Season, started its 2024-25 Winter Season with only four teams called the Baytown (TX) Bobcats, Cypress (TX) Venom, Gueydan (LA) Flying Ducks and the Huntsville (AL) Dawgs.

FOOTBALL

American Indoor Football: As the AIF tries to make a return in 2025, the Muskegon-based West Michigan Ironmen announced the team will join the AIF for the 2025 season. The team was part of the Great Lakes Arena Football league in 2024. The AIF currently lists the Cedar Rapids (IA) River Kings, Coralville (IA) Chaos and West Michigan as members. The AIF disbanded after the 2024 season with the remaining active teams moving to the National Arena League. The owner of the Cedar Rapids River Kings, who were part of the 2024 AIF and removed near the end of the season, is behind the restart of the AIF and also the new Coralville Chaos that was listed last season as a 2025 AIF expansion team.

Arena Football One: The Wichita ICT Regulators of the new AF1 announced the team will not be able to participate in the league's inaugural 2025 season but hopes to return in 2026. Last month, the AF1 announced its 2025 season schedule for 12 teams aligned in 4-team divisions with the Wichita Regulators listed as part of the Central Division.

National Arena League: With the NAL down to ten teams after the recent loss of the Harrisburg (PA) Stampede, the league announced a new divisional alignment with a five-team American Division and a five-team National Division for the 2025 season. The NAL issued a new 2025 season schedule with each team playing ten games from March 8 through May 31, 2025.

HOCKEY

American Premier Hockey League: The amateur senior-level APHL's Hudson Valley Vipers announced the team will be moving its home from Poughkeepsie (NY) to Brewster (NY). The Vipers have yet to play a game this season and will start on the road next weekend and play at their new home the following weekend. The Vipers' owner recently sold the Federal Prospects Hockey League's Hudson Valley Venom (Newburgh, NY) team that was playing its first season in the FPHL when it ran into financial difficulties. This team became a road team called the HC Venom for the remainder of the FPHL season.

National Collegiate Development Conference: The Alberta-based Cold Lake Aeros of the independent Canadian American Junior Hockey League, which is sitting idle for the 2024-25 season, announced they have applied for membership in the United States Premier Hockey League's Tier-II junior-level NCDC.

Ontario Hockey League: The Canadian Hockey League's major-junior OHL has been looking to expand and recently approved applications from the Muskegon (MI) Lumberjacks and Youngstown (OH) Phantoms of the Tier-I junior-level United States Hockey League, but USA Hockey has not approved the transfer of the two teams to the OHL. The 20-team OHL currently has three U.S.-based teams-the Saginaw Spirit and Flint Firebirds in Michigan and the Erie Otters in Pennsylvania.

Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League: The major-junior QMJHL's Acadie-Bathurst Titan, which is moving to St. John's (Newfoundland) next season, was incorrectly listed last week as currently being based in the province of Quebec instead of New Brunswick.

SOCCER

National Independent Soccer Association: The men's Division-III professional NISA is reported to have lost its Division-III professional sanctioning from the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2025 season. The NISA has been operating under provisional Division-III status since it started in 2019 because it has not been able to meet all of the Pro League Standards established by the USSF.

National Premier Soccer League: The men's Tier-1 national amateur NPSL has added several 2025 expansion teams over the past few months to include the Ristozi FC (Baltimore), Osner's FC (Brooklyn), FC Pride (Lawrence, IN), Players Development Academy (Lawrenceville, NY), Santa Cruz Futbol Club, American Soccer Club New York (Long Island), and District Elite FC (Washington, DC). Last month, the league's new lower-level NPSL Regional Conference completed its inaugural fall season with six Northern California teams each playing eight to nine games from September 28 through November 24, 2024.

National Women's Soccer League: The NWSL's new Boston franchise called BOS Nation FC has executed a ten-year lease agreement that will allow the team to use the city's still-to-be-renovated White Stadium when the team starts playing in 2026. Construction on the stadium is supposed to start next month despite a lawsuit filed by residents against the project.

USL Championship (United Soccer League): The group known as the USL Arkansas recently selected the Ozark United FC as the name of a Division-II professional USL Championship team it hopes to bring to the city of Rogers in Northwest Arkansas. Original plans to build a 5000-seat stadium recently changed to a larger stadium at a different site and the team's goal to start in 2026 could be pushed back to 2027.

Women's Major League Indoor Soccer: The new WMLIS, which was launched by the men's MLIS for the 2024-25 season, recently announced it will start with four teams called the Chicago Mustangs, Zoo City FC (Kalamazoo, MI), Panathinaikos Chicago and the Summit City United (Fort Wayne, IN). Each team will play six games from January 17 through April 5, 2025. The Chicago teams and Summit City currently have affiliated men's teams playing in the 2024-25 MLIS season.

USL League One (United Soccer League): The Division-II professional USL League One's former Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC (Windsor), which is owned by the group operating the Future Legends Sports Complex and whose franchise rights were recently terminated by the USL due to the ownership's legal issues, plans to announce a new league affiliation for the 2025 season. An affiliated women's team called the Northern Colorado Rain FC, which is under the same ownership and played its inaugural 2024 season in the pre-professional USL W-League, announced this week it will leave the USL and move to the Women's Premier Soccer League for the 2025 season.

OTHER

Liga Mexicana de Softbol: The Mexican women's professional softball league known as the LMS, or Mexican Softball League, announced its second season will feature eight teams each playing a 28-game schedule from January 23 through March 9, 2025. The league's first season featured six teams (Bravos de Leon, Charros de Jalisco, Diablos Rojos del Mexico, El Aguila de Veracruz, Olmecas de Tabasco, and Sultanes de Monterrey) taking the names of their affiliated men's teams in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (LMB), or Mexican Baseball League. The LMS added the Algodoneros de Union Laguna, affiliated with another LMB team, and the Naranjeros de Hermosillo, affiliated with a men's team in the fall-winter Liga Mexicana del Pacifico (Mexican Pacific League), to grow to eight teams for 2025.

Premier Ultimate League: The women's professional PUL ultimate frisbee league announced the Portland (ME) Rising has suspended operations and will not compete in the upcoming 2025 season. The team is looking for new ownership and hopes to return in 2026.

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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