Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
March 24, 2025 - Northwest League (NWL)
BASEBALL
Prospect League: The new Quincy (IL) team in the summer-collegiate Prospect League announced the Quincy Doggy Paddlers will be the team's name when it starts playing in the 2025 season. The league had a previous team called the Quincy Gems (2009-23) but it was sold prior to last season to the Full Count Rhythm (Hendersonville, TN), which joined the Prospect League from the Ohio Valley League (OVL) for the 2024 season. The Full Count Rhythm is returning to the OVL for 2025 and the ownership of the Prospect League's Springfield (IL) Lucky Horseshoes started the new Quincy team for 2025. The Prospect League will again have 18 teams with each team playing 56 games from May 27 through July 31, 2025.
Eastern League: The Chesapeake Baysox (Bowie, MD) of the Double-A Eastern League will play select home games in the 2025 season as the Chesapeake Oyster Catchers, which is named after a popular shorebird that can be found along the Chesapeake Bay. The league's Portland (ME) Sea Dogs will play a game in 2025 as the Maine Candlepins as a tribute to a New England form of bowling that uses a smaller ball and smaller pins shaped like candles.
Northwest League: The Eugene (OR) Emeralds of the High-A Northwest League announced the team's time in the Eugune market is coming to an end. The team will continue in Eugene for the 2025 season and beyond as it looks for a new home. Over the past four years, the team has failed in attempts to fund a new ballpark or renovations to its current ballpark to meet Major League Baseball's facility standards.
South Atlantic League: The Jersey Shore BlueClaws (Lakewood, NJ) of the High-A SAL will play a game on June 14 of the 2025 season as the Jersey Shore Shine Barons. To celebrate its 25th season, or silver anniversary, the team modified the ¬ÅPine Barons ¬Â nickname, which was one of the options when the BlueClaws name was selected after the team moved from Kannapolis (NC) for the 2001 season.
BASKETBALL
Maritime Women's Basketball Association: The amateur-level MWBA announced its 2025 season schedule will feature the same seven teams as last season with each team playing a ten-game schedule from May 3 through June 8, 2025. The league includes the Nova Scotia-based Halifax Hornets, Halifax Thunder and Lake City 56ers (Dartmouth/Cole Harbour), and the New Brunswick-based Fredericton Freeze, Miramichi Her-icanes, Moncton Mystics and Port City Fog (St. Johns).
Unrivaled League: The new Unrivaled 3-on-3 professional women's basketball league successfully completed its inaugural 2025 season last week with six league-owned teams called the Laces, Lunar Owls, Mist, Phantom, Rose and Vinyl playing all games at the Wayfair Arena in Miami. The league had talked of using a traveling tour-style model next season and possibly attaching teams to specific cities in the future, but for now it plans to return in 2026 with six teams again based in Miami.
FOOTBALL
Indoor Football League: The IFL started its 2025 season this week with 14 teams aligned in seven-team Eastern and Western Conferences and each team playing 16 games through July 27, 2025. The IFL had 16 teams last season but the Sioux Falls Storm, Duke City Gladiators (Albuquerque) and Frisco (TX) Fighters are sitting out the 2025 season, while the league added the Fishers (IN) Freight as an expansion team.
American Arena League 2: The Syracuse-based New York Smash is reported to have dropped out of the AAL2 for the upcoming 2025 season that is supposed to start early next month.
International Football Alliance: The proposed new outdoor minor professional IFA held a player draft for the six teams that will be part of the inaugural 2025 season starting on May 31, 2025. The IFA teams include the Alabama Beavers (Huntsville), Chihuahua Rebelion (Ciudad Juarez), originally the Raramuris de Ciudad Juarez, Ohio Valley Ironmen (Wheeling , WV), San Antonio Caballeros, Tampa Tornadoes and Texas Pioneros (Georgetown/Austin), originally the Dallas Pioneros. The IFA hoped to start with three teams in the United States and three teams in Mexico but for now only has one Mexican team.
HOCKEY
National Hockey League: Although the 32-team NHL has yet to announce a formal process for future expansion to 34 teams, the league is reported to have met with a new investor looking to bring an NHL expansion team to Houston. Atlanta is considered to be the other front runner for expansion and two separate groups are competing to build NHL-style arenas in the suburban Alpharetta (GA) area. Other markets are interested in expansion and some reports suggest the NHL could eventually grow to 36 teams.
United States Premier Hockey League: The Tier-III junior-level USPHL announced the addition of the Coral Springs (FL) Junior Cats club for the 2025-26 season. The Cats will place a team in the top USPHL Premier Conference and another in the developmental USPHL Elite Conference.
SOCCER
MLS Next Pro (Major League Soccer): The group that announced plans last year to build a new 8,000-seat soccer stadium in Albany (NY) for an independent team in Major League Soccer's Tier-III MLS Next Pro league will now shift to the United Soccer League where it plans to operate both men's and women's professional teams. The MLS Next Pro, which still has a few other independent teams joining in the near future, is seeking future growth and also wants to place some current affiliated teams in new markets.
National Women's Soccer League: The trial ended this week in a case brought by a group trying to halt the renovation of Boston's White Stadium, which is supposed to become the home of the NWSL's Boston expansion team in 2026 and is a joint project involving the city and the Boston team ownership. The judge is expected to make a final ruling in two weeks. The ownership of the NWSL's 2026 Denver expansion team announced plans to build a new 14,500-seat soccer stadium in southwest Denver. The stadium would not be ready until 2028 so the team will have to play at a temporary location for its first two seasons.
USL League One (United Soccer League): The USL and the city of Pensacola (FL) announced plans to work toward the development of a new soccer stadium for men's and a women's professional soccer teams. No specific USL leagues were mentioned but the men's team is expected to be part of the Division-III USL League One, while the only USL women's professional league is the Division-I USL Super League. The group called Boise Pro Soccer (Idaho) is moving forward on a new 6,600-seat soccer stadium for a USL League One team and a women's professional soccer team.
United Soccer League: As the USL prepares to start a new men's Division-I professional league in 2027-28, a majority of team owners approved plans to implement a new structured promotion and relegation system involving teams in its three men's professional leagues, the new Division-I league, the current 24-team Division-II USL Championship and the current 14-team Division-III USL League One.
The League For Clubs: The new men's amateur-level soccer league called The League For Clubs (TLfC) started its inaugural 2025 season with most of its teams moving from the amateur-level National Premier Soccer League. The league lists over 40 teams aligned in four regions (East, Central, South and West) with a schedule running through July 2025.
OTHER
Western Ultimate League: The women's professional ultimate Frisbee WUL started its 2025 season this weekend with seven teams aligned in a single-table format and each team playing six games through May 18, 2025. All six teams from last season have returned along with a new team called the Oregon Soar (Portland).
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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