Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

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USL1 United Soccer League One

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
May 19, 2025 - United Soccer League One (USL1)


BASEBALL

Mavericks League: The independent Mavericks League started its 2025 season last weekend and again consists of four teams called the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, Campesinos de Salem-Keizer, Salem Senators and Portland Mavericks. Each team will play a 48-game schedule through August 24, 2025, and all games will be played at Roto-Rooter Park, formerly Volcanoes Stadium, in Keizer (OR).

Northern League: The four Indiana-based teams comprising the unaffiliated pre-professional Northern League have posted their 2025 season schedules that will have each team playing 40 games from June 4 through August 3, 2025. The league had five teams last season but the Indiana Panthers (Highland) did not return. The four returning teams include the Elkhart County Miracle, Griffith Generals, Hammond Vikings and Northwest Indiana Oilmen (Whiting).

Texas League: As part of a County Fair Night last weekend, the Amarillo Sod Poodles of the Double-A Texas League were rebranded as the Amarillo Calf Fries, named for a cowboy specialty of deep-fried bull calf testicles. This is the second appearance this season for the Amarillo Calf Fries.

Southern League: To celebrate barbeque in Alabama, the Rocket City Trash Pandas (Huntsville) will become the Bama Butts (June 13) and Alabama White Sauce (June 14) for two games next month.

Eastern League: As part of two Filipino American Heritage nights (June 14 and August 8), the Norfolk Tides of the Double-A Eastern League will be rebranded as the Norfolk Tandangs. The "tandang" is Tagalog for rooster.

International League: The Memphis Redbirds of the Triple-A International League became the Memphis BBQ Nachos for two games this weekend as a tribute to the barbeque nachos, a popular local ballpark concession.

Pacific Coast League: The Las Vegas Aviators of the Triple-A PCL played a game this weekend as the Las Vegas Belly Busters to celebrate the various buffets that are popular at Las Vegas casinos.

BASKETBALL

Basketball Super League: The Canadian city of Chatham-Kent (Ontario) is in discussions with the professional BSL about bringing a new BSL team to the market. The league recently completed its 2024-25 season with eight teams, three U.S. teams and five Canadian teams (four in Ontario and one in Newfoundland). The BSL is also reported to be considering teams for the Michigan markets of Saginaw, Flint and Kalamazoo.

Women's National Basketball Association: The professional WNBA started its 2025 season this week with 13 teams each playing a 44-game regular-season schedule through September 11, 2025. Each team will also participate in the 17-day WNBA Commissioner's Cup tournament (June 1-June 17). Last season, the WNBA had 12 teams aligned in six-team Eastern and Western conferences but the new San Francisco-based Golden State Valkyries expansion team was added to the Western Conference for 2025 The WNBA plans to add the Toronto Tempo and a yet-to-be-named Portland (OR) team for the 2026 season. The league wants to expand to 16 teams by 2028 and several markets are under consideration for that team.

Florida Basketball Association: The semi-pro FBA started its 2025 season last month with three teams called the Florida Fight, Clermont Crocs and North Florida Loaded playing games against FBA development teams called the Lions Perception, Alafaya Kings, Volusia Vipers and Osceola Tomahawks.

FOOTBALL

European League of Football: Europe's American-style football league known as the ELF started its 2025 season this weekend with 16 teams from 9 countries and aligned in 4 divisions (East, West, North and South). Last season, the ELF had 17 teams aligned in Eastern, Western and Central conferences. The Barcelona Dragons dropped out of the league while the Milano Seamen (Milan, Italy) will sit out the 2025 season with plans to return in 2026. The league added the new Nordic Storm team that will play home games in both Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmö (Sweden). Each team will play 12 games through August 16, 2025.

National Gridiron League: The second version of the proposed NGL, which plans to play 8-man outdoor football on a 60-yard field, has pushed back its start until June 14 with training camps opening on June 1. The league originally announced 18 teams for its inaugural 2025 season but that was scaled back to 8 teams starting in April. Last month, the inaugural season was pushed back to May 31 and now to a start in June.

United States Arena League: The new developmental fall-season USAL was recently announced with plans to start in September 2025 with eight teams called the Brownsville (PA) Chiefs, Detroit Bandits, Goshen (IN) Guardians, Indianapolis Enforcers, Michigan Eagles, Michigan Island Boyz, Midwestern Bulldogs and New Jersey Roughnecks. Teams will play eight games from September 6 through November 1, 2025, followed by playoffs

HOCKEY

ECHL: The minor professional ECHL announced its 2025-26 season schedule that will feature 30 teams each playing 72 games from October 17, 2025, through April 12, 2026. All 29 teams from last season have returned and the only change is the addition of the expansion team called the Greensboro (NC) Gargoyles to the Eastern Conference North Division. The Eastern Conference will have an eight-team North Division and a seven-team South Division, while the Western Conference will have an eight-team Mountain Division and an eight-team Central Division.

British Columbia Hockey League: With the ownership of the independent Junior-A BCHL's Penticton Vees moving the team to the major-junior Western Hockey League for the 2025-26 season, the remaining Penticton BCHL franchise still needs to find a new home for the 2025-26 season. The BCHL stated the team could go dormant if a new location is not found in time for next season.

National Collegiate Development Conference: The United States Premier Hockey League's Tier-II junior-level NCDC announced the addition of five more teams, four in Canada and one in Maine, for the 2025-26 season. Three of the Canadian teams will be based in New Brunswick, the Woodstock Slammers and yet-to-be named teams in the towns of St. Stephen and Eastern Charlotte, while the fourth Canadian team will be the Universel Quebec (Quebec City). The Maine team will be called the Presque Isle Frontiers. The NCDC operated with 22 teams in 2024-25 and has grown to 31 teams with the addition of these 5 teams and 4 other previously announced teams.

SOCCER

Canadian Soccer League: The men's semi-pro CSL has posted its 2025 season schedule that will feature only four teams called the AEEM Canada FC, Scarborough SC, Serbian White Eagles FC and Unity FC. Each team will play a nine-game regular-season schedule from June 22 through September 13, 2025, with all games played at Toronto's Esther Shiner Stadium.

Major Arena Soccer League 3: The men's MASL3, which is the third division under the MASL pyramid, announced a Wilmington-based team called the Delaware City FC will join the league's Atlantic Division for the 2025-26 season.

USL League One (United Soccer League): The USL awarded a franchise to a group called North Jersey Pro Soccer that plans to operate a team in the men's Division-III professional USL League One starting with the 2026 season. The group plans to add a women's team in the future and both teams will play at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson (NJ). The USL has pulled out of negotiations with the city of Fort Myers (FL) concerning proposed plans for an entertainment district and soccer stadium that was to become home to a USL League One team.

Women's Premier Soccer League: The elite-amateur WPSL started its 2025 season last weekend and lists over 150 teams across 4 regions (East, Central, South and West) with teams aligned in conferences and some conferences further aligned in regional divisions. The East has four conferences, the Central has five conferences, the South has four conferences and the West has three conferences. The WPSL season runs through early July.

OTHER

Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball: The women's Athletes Unlimited announced a restructuring of its indoor AU Pro Volleyball league for 2025 into the Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball Championship, which will feature 44 of the world's top volleyball players competing in an exclusive tournament to determine the champion of the sport. The tournament will be played in Omaha from October 1-15, and Madison (WI) from October 22-November 3. The competition will feature the same Athletes Unlimited scoring with players assigned to teams and earning points based on both team wins and individual performance. Teams will change each week with the top four players serving as captains and drafting the next week's teams. At the end of the season, the player with the most points will be crowned the champion.

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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