Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
May 26, 2025 - The Arena League (TAL)
BASEBALL
Pecos League: The independent Pecos League started its 2025 season this week and again features 16 teams aligned in a six-team California-based Pacific Division and a ten-team Mountain Division that includes a five-team Mountain North and a five-team Mountain South. Each team will play a 54-game schedule through July 29, 2025. In the Pacific Division, the Monterey Amberjacks returned after sitting out last season and replaced the departed Marysville Drakes. The Vallejo Seaweed had ballpark lease issues so the team was relocated to become the Santa Rosa Scuba Divers. The league then came to an agreement that will allow the Santa Rosa Scuba Divers to play nine of their 2025 home games in Vallejo as the Vallejo Seaweed. In the Mountain Division, the Santa Fe Fuego was moved from the Mountain North to the Mountain South to replace the departed Austin Weirdos, while the expansion Kansas City (MO) Hormigas were placed in the Mountain North. The Hormigas later announced that the team will play all weekday home games about 100 miles southwest in Iola (KS) and only the Sunday home games at Satchel Paige Stadium in Kansas City. The team is now listed as the KC Iola Hormigas.
Pioneer League: The independent Pioneer League, which is a Major League Baseball Partner League, started its 2025 season this week and again features 12 teams aligned in a single-table format. Each team will play 96 games in a two-part season through September 7, 2025. The only change from last season was the relocation of the Yoho County High Wheelers from Davis (CA) to Marysville (CA) where the team was renamed the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers.
Eastern League: The Erie (PA) SeaWolves of the Double-A Eastern League have been selected by comic John Oliver, host of HBO's show called "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver", to receive a new name, mascot and theme night developed by the show's staff. As part of a segment earlier this month on some of Minor League Baseball's unusual team names and rebranding promotions, Oliver offered to use the show's resources to create a personal rebrand of a minor league team. Erie was selected from the 47 teams that contacted the show.
United Shore Professional Baseball League: The independent developmental USPBL recently started its 2025 season that features the same four teams as last season: the Utica Unicorns and Eastside Diamond Hoppers in the East and the Westside Woolly Mammoths and Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers in the West. Each team will play a 45-game schedule with all games played at Jimmy John's Field in Utica (MI) through August 30, 2025.
Coastal Plain League: The Morehead City (NC) Marlins of the summer-collegiate CPL will play a game in 2025 as the Crystal Coast Booty Divers to celebrate the region's lost treasure of the pirate Blackbeard.
BASKETBALL
American Basketball Association: The men's semi-pro ABA announced the Chula Vista (CA) Suns team is relocating to San Diego and has been renamed the San Diego Suns. The league also announced a team called the Hartford (CT) Colts has been added as a 2025-26 expansion team.
Maritime Women's Basketball Association: The amateur-level MWBA started its 2025 season earlier this month and features the same seven teams as last season with each team playing a ten-game schedule 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).
FOOTBALL
Entertainment Football Association: After announcing the recent relocation of the Massachusetts Heroes from Fitchburg to the Middletown Township (NJ) as the Garden State Heroes, the new four-team 7-on-7 indoor ENTFLA announced its revised schedule that will feature each team playing an eight-game schedule from June 14 through August 2, 2025, followed by playoffs. Other ENTFLA teams include the Danbury (CT) Diesel, New Jersey Ciphers (Morristown) and New York Dragons (Long Island).
Professional Independent Football League: The Huntsville-based Alabama Beavers team, which was dropped by the proposed new outdoor International Football Alliance (IFA) last month due to alleged financial improprieties, announced it will now be part of the new Florida-based outdoor PIFL that plans to have teams in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, Tennessee, Louisiana and Kentucky. The PIFL announced a player draft will be held in Miami on February 21, 2026. The Beavers stated they will play this summer but have not posted an updated schedule since leaving the IFA.
The Arena League: The TAL, which plans to start its second season next week with four returning teams and two expansion teams, announced it has taken over operations of the new Eau Claire (WI) Axemen expansion team that lost its arena lease due to previous team ownership's breach of the lease. The TAL has assured fans that the team will play its 2025 home and away games as scheduled. Originally, the Eau Claire team was nicknamed the Jammers before switching to the Axemen.
HOCKEY
Federal Prospects Hockey League: The minor professional FPHL held an expansion draft this week for the 2025-26 expansion teams called the Topeka Scarecrows and the Indiana Sentinels (Columbus). The league also held a dispersal draft for the non-returning Danville (IL) Dashers and Motor City Rockers (Fraser, MI) teams. The FPHL confirmed this week the Danville Dashers team is no longer a member but the league is looking for a new owner and team to return to that market in the future. The Motor City Rockers lost their arena lease and the team is sitting out the 2025-26 season. The FPHL's new Pee Dee IceCats (Florence, SC) are considered a relocation of last season's HC Venom (Poughkeepsie/Newburgh, NY). With two team losses and two additions, the FPHL will remain at 14 teams aligned in 7-team Empire and Continental divisions. The league's Biloxi-based Mississippi Sea Wolves team, which will be rebranded for the 2025-26 season after the team came under new ownership, announced the Gulf Coast Cruisers, Biloxi Breakers and Mississippi Mosquitoes as nickname choices for fan voting.
North American Hockey League: The junior-level Tier-II NAHL announced the Wisconsin Windigo (Eagle River) team has been sold and will relocate about 240 miles south to the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield for the 2025-26 season. The Windigo played three seasons (2022-25) in the NAHL after the Richfield-based Minnesota Magicians moved to Eagle River in 2022. After playing only two seasons (2023-25) of a five-year arena lease, the city of Greeley has terminated the lease of the NAHL's Colorado Grit and the team will most likely have to find a new home. The NAHL has granted the team an inactive status for the 2025-26 season and the team stated it will return for the 2026-27 season.
Professional Women's Hockey League: The PWHL announced details of the expansion draft to be held next month (June 9) to stock the league's two expansion teams in Vancouver (British Columbia) and Seattle that will start playing in the 2025-26 season. A league official stated further expansion is planned and a decision on possible expansion for the 2026-27 season will be made during next season.
SOCCER
Major League Indoor Soccer: The men's MLIS announced a Pittsburgh-based expansion team called the Bridge City FC has been added for the 2025-26 season.
United Women's Soccer: The pro-am UWS started its 2025 season last weekend with 25 teams aligned in four regional conferences (East, Great Lakes, Midwest and West) with a schedule running through July 26, 2025. The league is also operating a ten-team developmental UWS2 league for the 2025 season.
Liga de Expansión MX: Ten teams from Mexico's second-tier men's soccer league known as the Liga de Expansión MX have taken legal action against the first-tier Liga MX and the Mexican Soccer Federation as it tries to reinstate promotion and relegation between the two leagues. Previously, one team was relegated and one team was promoted between the two leagues but that was suspended for six seasons in 2020 due to the financial impacts on teams caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19). The Liga MX is in favor of ending promotion and relegation permanently and turning it into a closed league like Major League Soccer.
USL League One (United Soccer League): The USL has entered into a partnership with a group called Central Florida Pro Soccer that plans to build a 5,000-seat soccer stadium in the Orlando suburb of Winter Garden for a team in the men's Division-III professional USL League One.
USL League Two (United Soccer League): The men's pre-professional USL League Two recently started its 2025 season with 143 teams aligned in 4 regional conferences (Central, Eastern, Southern and Western), each further aligned in 4 or 5 regional divisions. The USL League Two season runs through July 13, 2025.
USL W-League (United Soccer League): The women's pre-professional USL W-League recently started its 2025 season with 93 teams aligned in 4 regional conferences (Central, Eastern, Southern and Western), each further aligned in 3 or 4 regional divisions. The USL W-League season runs through June 29, 2025.
OTHER
Global Fight League: The future of the proposed new GFL is uncertain after the league recently cancelled the first two events that were to be held this weekend in Los Angeles. The GFL, which was originally announced as the World Fight League, claimed to be the first international team-based mixed martial arts (MMA) league. The GFL was to have six city-based teams comprised of both men and women fighters representing Los Angeles, Dubai (U.A.E.), New York, Miami, London (England) and São Paulo (Brazil). There were plans to have each city host an event that included teams competing with fighters across various weight classes.
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.
The Arena League Stories from May 26, 2025
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
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.
