Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

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SL Southern League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
April 7, 2025 - Southern League (SL)


BASEBALL

Eastern League: The Double-A Eastern League started its 2025 season this week and again features 12 teams aligned in a six-team Northeast Division and a six-team Southwest Division with all of the Major League affiliations remaining the same. There was one name change as the Bowie (MD) Baysox were recently rebranded as the Chesapeake Baysox for the 2025 season. Each team will play a 138-game schedule through September 14, 2025.

Southern League: The Double-A Southern League started its 2025 season this week and again features eight teams aligned in four-team North and South divisions with each team playing 138 games through September 14, 2025. All of the Major League affiliations remained the same but there were two changes in the off-season. The Tennessee Smokies moved out of their stadium in the Sevierville area to a new stadium in downtown Knoxville where the team was renamed the Knoxville Smokies. The Mississippi Braves (Pearl/Jackson) relocated to become the Columbus (GA) Clingstones for the 2025 season.

Texas League: The Double-A Texas League started its 2025 season this week and again features ten teams aligned in five-team North and South divisions with each team playing a 138-game schedule through September 14, 2025. All teams and Major League affiliations remained the same as the 2024 season.

Midwest League: The High-A Midwest League started its 2025 season this week with the same 12 teams and affiliations as last season and the teams are again aligned in six-team East and West divisions. Each team will play 132 games through September 7, 2025.

Northwest League: The High Class-A Northwest League started its 2025 season this week with the same six teams and affiliations as last season and teams again aligned in a single-table format. Each team will play 132 games through September 7, 2025.

South Atlantic League: The High-A SAL started its 2025 season this week and again features 12 teams aligned in six-team North and South divisions. Each team will play 132 games through September 7, 2025. In the off-season, Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers moved its Hickory (NC) Crawdads affiliate from the SAL to the Single-A Carolina League and moved its Carolina League affiliate called the Down East Wood Ducks (Kinston, NC) to Spartanburg (SC) as part of the SAL where the team was renamed the Hub City Spartanburgers for the 2025 season. Hub City took Hickory's spot in the SAL South Division for the 2025 season.

California League: The Single-A California League started its 2025 season this week with the same eight teams and affiliations as last season and teams again aligned in four-team North and South divisions. Each team will play 132 games through September 7, 2025.

Carolina League: The Single-A Carolina League started its 2025 season this week and again has 12 teams aligned in six-team North and South divisions with each team playing 132 games through September 7, 2025. The league underwent some realignment. Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers moved their Down East Wood Ducks (Kinston, NC) affiliate from the Carolina League to the High-A South Atlantic League (SAL) where the team is now the Hub City Spartanburgers, based in Spartanburg (SC). The Rangers moved their Hickory (NC) Crawdads affiliate from the SAL to the Carolina League where the team was placed in the South Division. The Carolina League's Fayetteville (NC) Woodpeckers were moved from the South Division to the North Division to replace the departed Down East Wood Ducks.

Florida State League: The Single-A FSL started its 2025 season this week with the same ten teams and affiliations as last season and teams are again aligned in a four-team East Division and a six-team West Division. Each team will play 132 games through September 7, 2025. Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays are playing their 2025 home schedule at Steinbrenner Field, home of the FSL's Tampa Tarpons, due to hurricane damage to the Rays' home at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg so the Tarpons are playing home games at another field within the minor league complex.

BASKETBALL

BIG3 League: The professional 3-on-3 BIG3 basketball league announced its upcoming 2025 regular season schedule will feature eight weekly one-day sets of games from June 14 through August 17, 2025. Each of the eight new city-based teams called the Boston Ball Hogs, Chicago Triplets, Dallas Power, Detroit Amplifiers, DMV Trilogy (Baltimore), Houston Rig Hands, Los Angeles Riot and the Miami 305 will host one set of games featuring all eight teams.

American Basketball Association: The men's semi-pro ABA announced four former teams called the Seattle Mountaineers, Worcester (MA) Majors, West Michigan Lake Hawks (Muskegon) and the Hudson Valley Rivermen (Fallsburg, NY) will be returning to the league for the 2025-26 season. The ABA also announced new teams called the CTX Assassins (Temple, TX), Lincoln (NE) Cobras and the Long Island Strong Arm Ballers will join for the 2025-26 season.

FOOTBALL

American 7's Football League: The semi-pro A7FL, which plays outdoor full-contact 7-on-7 football with players wearing no helmets or hard pads, recently started its 2025 season with a ten-team Eastern Conference and a five-team Las Vegas-based Western Conference. The Eastern teams will each play six games through May 4, 2025, while the Western teams will each play four games through April 13, 2025.

American Indoor Football: The AIF announced the Harrisburg-based Pennsylvania Union will join the league for the 2026 season. The Pennsylvania Union played a couple games in the 2021 season as part of the American Arena League (AAL) before moving to the new American Indoor Football Alliance (AIFA) with some other AAL teams for the 2022 season. Before playing in the AIFA, the Union left for the new 2022 American Professional Football League but never played a game in that league.

American Flag Football League: The professional AFFL, which had hoped to start playing in 2025 with a men's and a women's division, has pushed its start back until 2026. Originally, the AFFL planned to start in April 2024 with four men's teams called the Boston Brigade, Dallas Ocelots, Nashville Nighthawks, and the Las Vegas Lucky Sevens and start a women's division in 2025.

Women's National Football Conference: The women's semi-pro full-tackle WNFC started its 2025 season last weekend with 17 teams aligned in a six-team Pacific Division, a six-team Atlantic Division and a five-team Central Division. Each team will play eight games through May 17, 2025. The WNFC had 16 teams last season but underwent some changes to last year's five-team Atlantic Division. The Atlanta Phoenix and Philly Phantomz did not return but new teams called the Atlanta Truth, Chicago Winds and Jersey Shore Wave (Paterson, NJ) were added to that division for the 2025 season.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The AHL's Cleveland Monsters were rebranded as the Cleveland Pierogies for two games this weekend (April 4-5) to honor the significant Polish population in Northeast Ohio.

North American 3 Hockey League: The Tier-III junior-level NA3HL announced a new team called the Bayou State Rougarou, based in Monroe (LA), has been approved to begin play in the 2025-26 season.

Eastern Hockey League: The Tier-III junior-level EHL announced the Adirondack Junior Thunder (Glens Falls, NY) from the league's developmental EHL-Premier has been sold and will relocate to Atlantic City (NJ) as the Atlantic City Seals starting with the 2025-26 season. The Seals will be placed in the EHL-Premier's South Division.

SOCCER

Canadian Premier League: Canada's top-tier professional CPL started its 2025 season this weekend with the same eight teams as last season and again aligned in a single-table format. Teams include the Atletico Ottawa, Calgary FC, Forge FC (Hamilton), Halifax Wanderers, Pacific FC (Langford, British Columbia), Valour FC (Winnipeg),Vancouver FC and York United FC. Each team will play a 28-game schedule through October 18, 2025. As part of the CPL's ‚¬Å“On Tour ‚¬Â series, a regular-season neutral-site game between the York United FC and the Halifax Wanderers will be played in Quebec City on May 31.

National Independent Soccer Association: The men's Division-III professional NISA, which was started in 2019 and was having trouble obtaining sanctioning from the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) to continue as a Division-III professional league for the 2025 season, announced it will instead host a NISA Pro Cup Tournament in the fall with plans to return to a full-schedule in 2026. The NISA plans to use this tournament as part of its professional league application to the USSF for the 2026 season. The NISA played its 2024 season with nine teams in a five-team East Conference and a four-team West Conference.

National Professional Soccer League: A judge ruled this week that plans to renovate Boston's White Stadium for the NWSL's Boston expansion team, now called the Boston Legacy FC, do not violate a state law so renovation plans will move forward for the team's proposed start in 2026. Although the league does not have a timeline for expansion after it grows to 16 teams in 2026 with the addition of Boston and Denver, the NWSL commissioner is confident the league could eventually support 30-32 teams.

The League for Clubs: The new men's amateur-level soccer league called The League For Clubs (TLfC) recently announced its East Region will start in 2025 with a ten-team Northeast Conference split into five-team North and South divisions. Each team will play a ten-game schedule from May 10 through July 12, 2025. The league's West Region recently started playing with a 13-team NorCal Conference.

OTHER

Premier Ultimate League: The women's professional PUL ultimate frisbee league started its 2025 season this weekend with 11 teams aligned in a five-team North Division and a six-team South Division. Each team will play six games through June 8, 2025. The PUL had 11 teams last season but the Portland (ME) Rising did not return to the North Division and the league added the Los Angeles Astra team to the South Division. The Los Angeles Astra previously played four seasons (2020-23) in the women's Western Ultimate League and came under new ownership before moving to the PUL for the 2025 season.

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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