Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
January 20, 2025 - Major League Volleyball (MLV)
BASEBALL
American Association: The Kane County (IL) Cougars, the 2024 champion of the independent American Association, have accepted the invitation to participate in the 2025 Baseball Champions League-Americas (BCL-Americas) tournament with the 2024 champions from five other international leagues. The BCL-Americas will be held in Mexico City (April 8-25, 2025). The BCL will feature the Cougars along with the host Diablos Rojos del Mexico, 2024 champion of Mexico's top Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, and champions from leagues in Puerto Rico, Curacao, Cuba and Nicaragua.
Eastern League: The Binghamton (NY) Rumble Ponies of the Double-A Eastern League will play two games during the 2025 season as the Binghamton Bathtub Donkeys in a humorous reference to a New York State law that makes it unlawful for a donkey to sleep in a bathtub.
Pecos League: The independent Pecos League announced its 2025 season schedule will feature each of the 16 teams playing a 54-game schedule through July 29, 2025. The six-team California-based Pacific Division will start on May 22, 2025. The ten-team Mountain Division, which will again be aligned in a five-team Mountain North and five-team Mountain South, will start on May 28, 2025. The Pacific Division had one change with the Monterey Amberjacks returning after sitting out last season and replacing the departed Marysville Drakes. In the Mountain Division, the Santa Fe Fuego was moved from the Mountain North to the Mountain South to replace the departed Austin Weirdos, while the new Kansas City (MO) Hormigas expansion team has been placed in the Mountain North.
Pioneer League: Although the owner of the Grand Junction (CO) Jackalopes from the independent Pioneer League is suffering financial losses, the team is committed to remaining in Grand Junction for now but it has been denied requested subsidies and rent abatements from the city. The owner stated the team has been courted by other cities and it may move if the team's finances do not improve.
BASKETBALL
Unrivaled: The new Unrivaled 3-on-3 professional women's basketball league started its inaugural eight-week 2025 season with six teams called the Laces BC, Lunar Owls BC, Mist BC, Phantom BC, Rose BC and Vinyl BC. Each league-owned team will play 14 games through March 10, 2025, followed by playoffs, and all games will be played at a single venue in Miami. A traveling tour-style model is to be used in 2026 and the league will consider selling franchises in the next few years and potentially attach teams to specific cities. Unrivaled was created to give elite women's basketball players an opportunity to keep playing in North America during the Women's National Basketball Association's off-season.
Women's American Basketball Association: The semi-pro WABA announced a team called the Virginia Vitesse (Speed), based in Loudoun County, has been added to the league's North Lower Division for the 2025 season.
FOOTBALL
Canadian Football League: The CFL announced its 2025 season schedule will feature the same nine teams as last season and again aligned in a five-team West Division and a four-team East Division. Each team will play an 18-game schedule from June 5 through October 25, 2025, followed by playoffs.
Entertainment Football Association: The proposed new 7-on-7 ENTFLA indoor football league announced that a fourth team based on Long Island (NY) will be added for the inaugural 2025 season to join three previously announced teams called the Danbury (CT) Diesel, New Jersey Ciphers (Morristown) and the Fitchburg (MA) Heroes. The Long Island team plans to hold a name-the-team contest. The league plans to start with four teams and play a summertime schedule that combines pre-game activities and post-game concerts with each game.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: As part of a Throwback Night promotion last weekend, the AHL's Springfield (MA) Thunderbirds played a game as the Springfield Indians to honor the 1979 version of the Springfield Indians that played 20 years (1975-1994) in the AHL before moving to Worcester (MA).
ECHL: The ECHL's new Greensboro (NC) expansion team will be called the Greensboro Gargoyles when starting as the league's 30th team in the 2025-26 season. The ECHL had two former Greensboro teams called the Greensboro Monarchs (1989-95) and Greensboro Generals (1999-2004).
Federal Prospects Hockey League: A potential ownership group in Columbus (IN) is working to bring a minor professional FPHL expansion team called the Indiana Sentinels to the city for the 2025-26 season. The league has apparently approved the application conditioned on ownership obtaining $100,000 in sponsorships by the end of March. The Bearcat Hockey Club, an amateur spring-summer tournament team program based in Fraser (MI), announced the purchase of the FPHL's Fraser-based Motor City Rockers. The club's statement indicated the team would continue to play as the Motor City Rockers for the remainder of the season but would undergo a rebranding with a new name, logo and jerseys to be announced at the final home game of this season. After receiving unfavorable feedback about the rebranding, the new owner stated it will try to keep the originality of the Motor City Rockers brand. The FPHL's HC Venom, which started its first season in the league as the Hudson Valley Venom based out of the Ice Time Sports Complex in Newburgh (NY) before coming under new ownership in December, has found a home at the McCann Ice Arena in Poughkeepsie (NY). Before finding a new home, the HC Venom was forced to postpone some games and play some home games at the opponent's venue.
Ontario Hockey League: The major-junior OHL announced the league's Brantford Bulldogs have come under new ownership and the team will remain in Brantford as part of the sale. The team was known as the Hamilton Bulldogs until temporarily moving to Brantford where it was to play three seasons (2023-26) and return to Hamiliton after major renovations were completed at Hamilton's FirstOntario Centre. The team has been a success in Brantford and new ownership signed a 15-year lease agreement with the city, which has also approved construction of a new arena that is expected to open for the 2027-28 season.
SOCCER
Liga de Expansión MX: The second-tier Mexican men's pro soccer league known as the Liga de Expansión started the Clausura (closing) phase of its two-part 2024-25 Apertura/Clausura season last weekend the same 15 teams that were part of the 2024 Apertura (opening) phase. Teams are again aligned in a single-table format and will play 14 games through April 19, 2025.
The League for Clubs: The new summer amateur League for Clubs, or The League, continues to add teams ahead of its start in May 2025. The League will operate under the United States Adult Soccer Association and currently lists members in an 8-team East, a 10-team Central and a 12-team West.
Women's Major League Indoor Soccer: The new WMLIS, which was launched by the men's MLIS for the 2024-25 season, started its inaugural 2025 season this week 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 through April 5, 2025.
WPSL Pro (Women's Premier Soccer League): The ownership of the Northern Colorado Rain FC (Windsor), which recently left the pre-professional USL W-League (United Soccer League) to join the elite-amateur WPSL for the 2025 season, has submitted a letter of intent to place a Northern Colorado Rain FC professional team in the WPSL's proposed new Division-III WPSL Pro league starting with the 2026 season. The WPSL Pro now has a total of 14 letters of intent from various teams and hopes to start playing in 2025 with 12 of those teams. The Northern Colorado Rain FC plans to keep its amateur WPSL team when it starts playing in the WPSL Pro league.
OTHER
LIV Golf League: The men's tour-based professional LIV Golf League recently announced its 2025 season schedule will feature the same 13 teams as last season and include 13 regular-season matches from February 6 through August 17, 2025. Five matches will be played in the United States to include Miami, Dallas, Washington (DC), Chicago and Indianapolis. The other eight matches will be held at international locations in Saudi Arabia, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Mexico City, Spain and the United Kingdom. Teams compete for individual and team points throughout the season, which ends with golfers and teams competing for prize money in an Individual Championship and a Team Championship, which will be held in Michigan (August 22-24).
Major League Volleyball: The owner of the Omaha Supernovas team, which is playing its second season in year two of the women's indoor professional Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF), is one of the founding partners of a new women's indoor professional volleyball league called Major League Volleyball (MLV) that plans to start with a minimum of ten teams in January 2026. The Supernovas will complete their 2025 season in the PVF and move to the new MLV next year. Other potential MLV team locations include California (Sacramento), Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Kansas, Ohio and Washington. A previous women's professional league called Major League Volleyball played three seasons (1987-89) before folding. The new MLV will be in direct competition with the PVF and the new League One Volleyball (LOVB) that started its inaugural season this month.
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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