Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
April 14, 2025 - Northwoods League Softball (NWLS)
BASEBALL
Carolina League: The Salem (VA) Red Sox of the Single-A Carolina League announced the team will be rebranded ahead of the 2026 season with the new name announced in the fall of this year. The renamed team will continue to be an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
Pecos League: The independent Pecos League has not been able to work out a ballpark lease agreement for its Vallejo (CA) Seaweed team so it will be moved to Santa Rosa (CA) as the Santa Rosa Scuba Divers for the 2025 season. Vallejo joined the league in 2023 after the relocation of the Santa Cruz (CA) Seaweed. The league had a previous team called the Santa Rosa Scuba Divers that played in only the 2022 season. Santa Rosa will replace Vallejo in the league's California-based Pacific Division.
Pacific Coast League: The El Paso Chihuahuas of the Triple-A PCL will play three Friday night games in the 2025 season as the El Paso Bootmakers in honor of the city recently declaring itself the "Boot Capital of the World."
Northwest League: The ownership of the Eugene (OR) Emeralds in the High-A Northwest League has pitched a new 2,600-seat downtown ballpark proposal to the city of Medford (OR), about 170 miles south of Eugene. The Emeralds' current ballpark in Eugene does not comply with new standards for minor league facilities. A similar ballpark proposal to the city of Eugene asking for partial funding was voted down. The Emeralds are looking for Medford to finance half of the project's $90 million cost.
Northwoods League: Three Wisconsin-based teams from the summer-collegiate Northwoods League recently announced alternate identities for games in the upcoming 2025 season. The Madison Mallards will become the Madison Space Cows as a tribute to the Wisconsin dairy industry and the area's UFO sightings of 1987. The Green Bay Rockers will become the Green Bay Rollers for one game to celebrate the city being known as the "Toilet Paper Capital of the World". The Kenosha Kingfish will be called the Kenosha Bombers on an Italian Heritage Night to celebrate the Italian meatball bomber sub sandwich.
BASKETBALL
NBA Europe League: The National Basketball Association is reported to be in discussions with team owners and the International Basketball Federation known as FIBA about establishing a new NBA-operated European professional basketball league. The new league would start with eight to ten teams and could include some teams from the current 18-team European basketball league called the Euroleague. The NBA has been playing pre-season or regular-season games in Europe since 1993. The NBA is a partner with FIBA in the 12-team African league called the Basketball Africa League.
Women's American Basketball Association: The semi-pro WABA announced a team called the Savannah Grizzlies has been added to the league's South Division for the upcoming 2025 season.
FOOTBALL
Liga de Futbol Americano Profesional: Mexico's top professional American-style outdoor football league known as the LFA recently announced its 2025 season schedule for eight teams each playing an eight-game schedule from May 2 through June 21, 2025, followed by playoffs. The LFA had nine teams last season but the Galgos de Tijuana and Jefes de Ciudad Juarez are sitting out the 2025 season. The league added an expansion team called the Arcangeles de Puebla for the 2025 season.
American Women's Football League: After completing an inaugural 2024 season with eight teams, the semi-pro AWFL started its 2025 season last weekend and currently lists 18 teams aligned in 9-team Northwest and Southwest conferences. Each team is scheduled to play six games through May 17, 2025.
American Arena League 2: The AAL2 started its 2025 season last weekend with what appears to be 11 teams each playing eight games through June 2, 2025. Last month, a 12th team called the New York Smash (Syracuse) dropped out of the 2025 season. The AAL2 finished the 2024 season with eight teams but only the Steel City Stampede (Whitehall, PA) and the Jersey Bearcats (Roselle) returned. Two 2024 teams called the Maryland Eagles and the Western Maryland Warriors merged to form the Maryland War Eagles for 2025. The AAL2 added teams called the Michigan Avengerz (Detroit), Ohio Elite (Columbus), New Jersey Roughnecks (Pitman), Pittsburgh Outlaws, Mississippi Wolfpack (Tunica), Georgia Indians (Suwanee), Tri-City Rivergators (Madison, AL) and Carolina Predators (Wake Forest, NC).
Major League Football: The proposed new professional fall-season MLF states it will be holding tryouts in June as it tries to start playing in the fall. The league has been trying to get off the ground since 2020 and still lists 24 potential markets aligned in 12-team Eastern and Western conferences, each with 4-team North, South and Central divisions. In January, a report claimed the Little Rock-based Arkansas Storm was part of the MLF but the Storm is a 2026 expansion team in the International Football Alliance.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were rebranded as the Carbondale UFOs for a game this weekend as part of a Cosmic Night and the remembrance of a reported 1974 UFO crash in Carbondale (PA).
ECHL: The ECHL's Reading Royals became the Reading Red Knights as part of a Reading Red Knights Night this weekend honoring the Reading School District.
United States Premier Hockey League: The Detroit-based Bearcat Hockey Club has purchased the Motor City Gamblers (Fraser, MI), which had 2024-25 teams in both the Tier-III junior-level USPHL Premier and the developmental USPHL Elite conferences. Both teams will return in 2025-26 but will be rebranded as the Bearcat Junior Hockey Club. In December, the Bearcat Hockey Club attempted to purchase the Motor City Rockers (Fraser, MI) of the Federal Prospects Hockey League with plans to rebrand the team. In January, this sale fell through and the team was sold to another group that planned to keep the Rockers name. The USPHL also announced the Bakersfield Roughnecks of the USPHL Premier Conference have relocated to McCall (ID) and will play as the McCall Smokejumpers starting with the 2025-26 season. The team will also be moved from the Pacific Division to the Northwest Division.
SOCCER
Major League Soccer: The MLS has been considering a switch from a winter-summer season (February to October) to a fall-to-spring season (August to May with a winter break) to match the international soccer calendar, but the league stated any proposed change would not happen until the 2027 season at the earliest.
Major Arena Soccer League: The Hermosillo-based Soles de Sonora (Mexico), which last played in the MASL's 2019-20 season, announced plans to return for the 2025-26 season but the team will be part of the second-level MASL2 and not the MASL. The Soles de Sonora voluntarily sat out the MASL's 2020-21 season and transferred its MASL membership to the Chihuahua Savage FC prior to the 2021-22 season.
USL Championship (United Soccer League): The group called Buffalo Pro Soccer, which is working to bring a men's professional Division-II USL Championship team to the city, announced plans this week for construction of a new 7,600-seat privately financed soccer stadium that should get underway this summer.
The League for Clubs: The Windsor-based Northern Colorado Hailstorm, which was dropped by the Division-III professional USL League One after the 2024 season, has joined the new amateur-level TLfC for the league's inaugural 2025 season. The Hailstorm will be part of a new TLfC Mountain Conference that is being formed through a partnership with the regional Mountain Premier League.
OTHER
Major League Cricket: The professional MLC announced the schedule for its third season in 2025 will feature the same six teams as last season with each team playing ten matches from June 12 through July 16, followed by playoffs. The MLC will host 9 matches in Oakland (CA), 12 matches in Grand Prairie (TX) and 9 matches in Broward (FL). Teams include the Texas Super Kings (Dallas), San Francisco Unicorns, Los Angeles Knight Riders, Seattle Orcas, Washington (DC) Freedom, and MI New York operated by the Mumbai Indians club.
Northwoods League Softball: The women's NWLS summer-collegiate softball league, which had four teams operated by affiliated men's baseball teams in the summer-collegiate Northwoods League during its inaugural 2024 season, announced its 2025 expansion team based in Wausau (WI) will be called the Wausau Ignite Softball. The league will start its second season in June with five teams each playing a 42-game schedule through August 2, 2025.
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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Northwoods League Softball Stories from April 14, 2025
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
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