Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

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PCL Pacific Coast League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
March 31, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)


BASEBALL

International League: The Triple-A International League started its 2025 season this week with the same 20 teams as last season and teams again aligned in 10-team East and West divisions. Each team will play 150 games 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 started its 2025 season this week and again has ten teams aligned in five-team East and West divisions. One change in the off-season was the Oklahoma City Baseball Club selecting the Oklahoma City Comets as its new name. Each team will play 150 games through September 21, 2025, with some PCL teams playing interleague regular-season games against teams from the Triple-A International League.

Major League Baseball: The 30-team MLB started its 2025 season this week with the same 15-team American League and 15-team National League each aligned in 5-team East, Central and West divisions. Each team will play a 162-game schedule through September 28, 2025. The American League's Oakland Athletics are now known simply as the Athletics while the team plays home games at the Triple-A stadium in Sacramento until its new stadium is completed for its move to Las Vegas in 2028 or 2029. Due to hurricane damage to its home at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, the American League's Tampa Bay Rays are playing home games this season at a minor league stadium in Tampa that is home to the Single-A Florida State League's Tampa Tarpons.

Northwoods League: The summer-collegiate Northwoods League announced the addition of an expansion team in Richmond (IN) for the 2026 season. The city was home to the Richmond Roosters in the independent Frontier League for 11 seasons (1995-2005) before moving to Traverse City (MI).

South Atlantic League: The High-A SAL's Jersey Shore BlueClaws (Lakewood, NJ) will become the Jersey Shore Locals and the Hudson Valley Renegades (Fishkill, NY) will become The Bennys for three games at the BlueClaws' home field in the 2025 season. The Bennys stands for Bayonne, Elizabeth, Newark and New York and refers to non-residents that come to the Jersey Shore in the summertime.

Texas League: The Tulsa Drillers of the Double-A Texas League will play a weekend (May 15-18) of games in the 2025 season as the Tulsa Chicken Dancers as a tribute to the local "Chicken Dance", which is known elsewhere as the "Duck Dance".

BASKETBALL

BIG3 League: The professional 3-on-3 BIG3 basketball league, which has operated as a tour-based model since its start in 2017 and had 12 teams last season, announced its upcoming 2025 season will feature eight city-based teams called the Boston Ball Hogs, Chicago Triplets, Dallas Power, Detroit Amplifiers, DMV Trilogy (Washington, DC area), Houston Rig Hands, Los Angeles Riot and the Miami 305. The Ball Hogs, Triplets, Power and Trilogy were the names of 4 of the 12 teams last season, while the Amplifiers, Rig Hands, Riot and 305 are new team nicknames. The other eight team names from last season are on hiatus for now but some could return as the league looks to expand by four teams in 2026. Each team will play at least one home game in the 2025 season starting on June 14 with the full schedule to be released next week.

Women's American Basketball Association: The semi-pro WABA announced a Baltimore-based team called the Lady Wolves has been added for the upcoming 2025 season.

FOOTBALL

American Indoor Football: The AIF, which was reborn this season with only three teams, announced a new team called the Wyoming Cavalry (Gillette) will join the league for the 2026 season. Gillette had a previous team in the Champions Indoor Football for three seasons (2021-23). The team was called the Wyoming Mustangs for its first two seasons before changing to the Gillette Mustangs.

Entertainment Football Association: The proposed new 7-on-7 ENTFLA indoor football league recently announced its inaugural 2025 schedule will feature four teams each playing eight games from June 6 through August 2, 2025. The league announced this week that its Fitchburg (MA) Heroes team has been renamed the Massachusetts Heroes, still based in Fitchburg but representing the surrounding region. The ENTFLA's other teams are the New York Dragons (Long Island), Danbury (CT) Diesel and the New Jersey Ciphers (Morristown).

Indoor Football League: The IFL has approved the new ownership of the Albuquerque-based Duke Gladiators team that is sitting out the 2025 season. The new owners stated the team will stay in the Albuquerque area and a name change is possible. It is uncertain if the team will play at its most recent home at the suburban Rio Rancho Events Center or at Albuquerque's Tingley Coliseum. The Gladiators joined the IFL from the Championship Indoor Football league prior to the 2020 season.

United Football League: The outdoor spring-season UFL returned for its second season this weekend with the same eight teams as last season and each team playing a ten-game schedule through June 1, 2025. The teams are again aligned in an XFL Conference with the Arlington (TX) Renegades, D.C. Defenders, San Antonio Brahmas and St. Louis Battlehawks, and a USFL Conference with the Birmingham Stallions, Houston Roughnecks, Memphis Showboats and Michigan Panthers (Detroit). The UFL stated it is beginning to explore potential expansion but there was no mention of a specific timeline or markets.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The AHL's Syracuse Crunch played a game this weekend as the Syracuse Canal Mules to honor the name of a former local hockey team from the early 1920s and as a tribute to the mules that use to pull barges on a former Syracuse portion of the Erie Canal.

Federal Prospects Hockey League: The minor professional FPHL's new 2025-26 Topeka (KS) expansion team announced fans' submissions for a possible team name will be accepted until April 7. The top five names will then be put to a public vote (April 14-27) with the winning name announced on May 5. The FPHL is reported to be considering the addition of a new team in Florence (SC), which was home to a team in the ECHL for eight seasons (1997-2005). The ECHL team was called the Pee Dee Pride except for the 2003-04 season when it was the Florence Pride.

Western Hockey League: The 22-team major-junior WHL, which currently has 18 teams in Western Canada and 4 in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, awarded an expansion franchise to the ownership of the Penticton Vees (British Columbia) from the independent Junior-A British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). The Penticton Vees will retain their name and move up to the WHL starting with the 2025-26 season. The new WHL Penticton Vees will be added to the league's current five-team British Columbia Division. The WHL also announced it has opened the application process for a 2026-27 expansion team to be based in Chilliwack (British Columbia), which had a previous WHL team called the Chilliwack Bruins for five seasons (2006-11) and has a current team called the Chilliwack Chiefs in the BCHL. The BCHL stated the ownership of the Penticton Vees will retain its membership in the BCHL and look to relocate that franchise. The BCHL also stated the ownership of the Chilliwack Chiefs will not be associated with the future Chilliwack WHL expansion team and the Chiefs have committed to the BCHL for the 2025-26 season. The Chiefs are expected to relocate before the WHL team starts in Chilliwack.

SOCCER

National Women's Soccer League: The NWSL's 2026 Boston expansion team that was originally announced as the BOS Nation FC has changed its name to the Boston Legacy Football Club, or Boston Legacy FC, after negative fan reaction to the previous name. The city's previous NWSL team was called the Boston Breakers and played five seasons (2013-17) before folding. The NWSL had a similar name-change situation when the Louisville expansion team was added for the 2021 season. The Proof Louisville FC was the first name selected as a tribute to the city and state's bourbon industry but before the team played a game it was changed to the Racing Louisville FC in honor of the area's racing industry and the Kentucky Derby.

USL Championship (United Soccer League): The Las Vegas Lights FC of the Division-II professional USL Championship announced the team will remain in Las Vegas even though its home at Cashman Center was recently sold to a homebuilder. The team has a lease through the 2026 season and it will begin exploring sites for a new venue. The Lights could consider a move to the USL's proposed new Division-I league when developing plans for a prospective stadium. In the past, the Lights' ownership wanted to convert the Cashman Center site to a Major League Soccer-style stadium with the Lights becoming an MLS expansion team. The ownership of the USL Championship's Indy Eleven has been trying to build a new 20,000-seat stadium in downtown Indianapolis and that team could also consider a move to the new USL Division-I league. The Indy Eleven wanted the proposed stadium to be its ticket to becoming an MLS expansion team, but the city of Indianapolis decided to back plans by another group looking to build a new stadium for an MLS expansion team at a different site. The group trying to bring a Northwest Arkansas team called the Ozark United FC (Rogers, AR) to the USL Championship is moving forward with plans for a new soccer stadium that has changed its location. The team's start could be pushed back to 2027 due this change. Ownership also plans to start a team in the women's professional USL Super League.

OTHER

Pro Volleyball Federation: Although the ownership of the Omaha Supernovas team in the indoor women's professional PVF will be moving the team to a new start-up league called Major League Volleyball in 2026, the PVF plans to add a new Dallas expansion team that should keep the league at eight teams for its third season 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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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.


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