Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

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FPHL Federal Prospects Hockey League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
June 9, 2025 - Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL)


BASEBALL

Appalachian League: The summer-collegiate Appy League, which operates under the Major League Baseball and USA Baseball Prospect Development Pipeline, started its 2025 season this week and features the same ten teams aligned in a five-team East and a five-team West. Each team will play a 48-game schedule through July 30, 2025. The league's Bristol State Liners will again be without their own home field in 2025 and will play 24 home games at TVA Credit Union Ballpark, home of the league's Johnson City (TN) Doughboys. The owner of the Doughboys recently purchased the State Liners and is working to renovate Tod Houston Field in Bristol (TN) as the future home of the State Liners.

Major League Baseball Draft League: The developmental MLB Draft League started its 2025 season this week and features the same six teams as last season with each team playing a two-part 80-game schedule through September 3, 2025. The 34-game first half runs through July 12 and features draft-eligible amateur players ahead of the MLB Amateur Draft, while the 46-game second half starts on July 16 and includes professional players who have lost their amateur status.

Northwoods League: The summer-collegiate Northwoods League recently started its 2025 season with 24 teams aligned in 6-team divisions (Great Lakes East, Great Lakes West, Great Plains East and Great Plains West). Each team will play a 72-game schedule through August 9, 2025. The league had 26 teams last season but the Kokomo (IN) Jackrabbits were dropped from the Great Lakes East after losing their stadium lease in the off-season. To keep an even number of teams, the league also dropped the Minnesota Mud Puppies travel-only team from the Great Plains East.

International League: The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Allentown, PA) of the Triple-A International League will become the Lehigh Valley Cornholers for a game in September as a tribute to the popular tailgating game of cornhole, also known as sack toss.

American Association: The Lincoln (NE) Saltdogs of the independent American Association will become the Lincoln Waltdogs for a game next month as part of a Travel & Tourism Night and a giveaway of a trip package to Walt Disney World in Orlando.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association: The NBA commissioner recently stated all team owners, acting as the board of governors, are meeting next month and he expects a discussion to be on the agenda to determine the owners' view on expansion to 32 teams. Seattle, and the return of the SuperSonics, along with Las Vegas are considered as the front runners. The expansion process could take up to three years.

Women's Basketball Association: The women's developmental WPBA, which is based in the Oakland (CA) area and assists players looking for opportunities to play overseas, started its fourth season this weekend with the same eight teams as last season. All teams play one game each Saturday for eight weeks through August 2, 2025, with all games played at a facility on the Oakland Hills Campus.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football One: As the owner of the AF1's Billings (MT) Outlaws considers selling or relocating the team due to a lack of support from city, the "Billings" name has been removed from the team logo that is now just "Outlaws Football."

Arena Indoor Football: The AIF's Cedar Rapids (IA) River Kings announced the team has been rebranded as the Cedar Rapids Titans, the name of the city's former Indoor Football League (IFL) team. The IFL team played six seasons (2012-17) as the Titans and one season (2018) as the River Kings before dropping from the league. The Cedar Rapids River Kings team was revived as part of the 2024 AIF season.

Canadian Football League: The CFL started its 2025 season this week with the same nine teams as last season and again aligned in a five-team West Division and a four-team East Division. Each team will play an 18-game schedule through October 25, 2025, followed by playoffs.

International Football Alliance: The new minor professional IFA recently started its inaugural 2025 season with a Mexican team called the Rebelion Tarahumara (Chichuahua), originally the Raramuris de Ciudad Juarez, and United States-based teams called the Tampa Tornadoes, Huntsville (AL) Astros, and Ohio Valley Ironmen (Wheeling, WV). The league originally planned to start with a mixture of teams from Mexico and the United States but the league has undergone numerous changes over the past year. Two previously announced Mexican teams called the Tequileros de Jalisco (Guadalajara) and Cancun Sharks disappeared as did the Las Vegas Kings, Baltimore Lightning and Alabama Beavers (Hunstsville). IFA teams called the Texas Pioneros and the San Antonio Caballeros have recently disappeared from the 2025 season. The Pioneros were originally Mexico's Pioneros de Queretaro team that moved to become the Dallas Pioneros when joining the IFA and then moved to the Austin area as the Texas Pioneros. The IFA has not posted an official league schedule or league standings, but individual team schedules are filled with games against various semi-pro non-league teams, some of which are considered as IFA showcase teams. The league lists the Little Rock-based Arkansas Storm as an expansion team for 2026.

The Arena League: The summertime professional 7-on-7 indoor TAL, which had four teams playing 6-on-6 indoor football during its inaugural 2024 season, has started its 2025 season with six teams aligned in a single-table format. All four teams from last year have returned with the Kansas City (MO) Goats relocating to become the St. Joseph (MO) Goats. The TAL added expansion teams called the Hot Springs (AR) Wiseguys and the Eau Claire (WI) Axemen, which was originally announced as the Jammers. Each team is scheduled to play eight games through July 26, 2025.

HOCKEY

Federal Prospects Hockey League: After recently coming under new ownership, the minor professional FPHL's formerly named Mississippi Sea Wolves team has been renamed the Biloxi Breakers. Other nicknames that were up for fan voting included the Gulf Coast Cruisers and Mississippi Mosquitoes.

United States Premier Hockey League: The junior-level USPHL announced the addition of four new teams-three in the Tier-III USPHL Premier Conference and one in the Tier-III USPHL Elite Conference-for the 2025-26 season. The Casper (WY) Warbirds of the USPHL's Tier-II National Collegiate Development Conference are adding a USPHL Premier Conference team. The new Burlington (VT) Beavers are joining as a USPHL Premier Conference team, while the new Evansville (IN) Mariners will place teams in both the USPHL Premier Conference and the USPHL Elite Conference.

SOCCER

Major Arena Soccer League 2: Mexico's Hermosillo-based Soles de Sonora team is returning for the 2025-26 season but it will play in the MASL2 and not in the MASL where the team last played in the 2019-20 season. 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. The new Soles de Sonora team will operate as the MASL2 affiliate for the MASL's Chihuahua Savage FC in the 2025-26 season.

Major League Indoor Soccer: The men's MLIS announced a team called the Rockford (IL) Thunder has been added for the 2025-26 season. The league had a Rockford-based Illinois Stateline Falcons team in the 2022-23 season. The MLIS announced a team called the Rockford FC for the 2024-25 season but it never started playing and was listed as an inactive team during the 2024-25 season.

National Women's Soccer League: Due to delays in renovations to Boston's White Stadium for the NWSL's 2026 expansion team called the Boston Legacy FC, the team will play its inaugural 2026 season at the 65,000-seat Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, MA), which is home to the National Football League's New England Patriots and Major League Soccer's New England Revolution. The team expects to play at White Stadium in the 2027 season.

Women's Major League Indoor Soccer: With the Utah Uprising FC (Salt Lake City) adding a new men's team in Major League Indoor Soccer for the 2025-26 season, the club also announced plans to start a women's team in the 2025-26 season as part of the WMLIS.

OTHER

Athletes Unlimited Softball League: The women's Athletes Unlimited new professional AUSL started its inaugural 2025 season this weekend with four teams called the Bandits, Blaze, Talons and Volts. Each team will play 24 games through July 23, 2025, and each team will travel to four to six markets during the season. The AUSL will be tour-based in 2025 and each team will be assigned to a specific city starting in 2026. The ten venues hosting AUSL games will be in Chicago (Rosemont, IL), Wichita, Omaha, Salt Lake City, Chattanooga, Sulphur (LA), Tuscaloosa (AL), Seattle, Norman (OK), and Round Rock (TX).

Premier Lacrosse League: The men's professional field lacrosse PLL recently started its 2025 season with eight city-based teams aligned in four-team Eastern and Western divisions. Each team will play in ten weekend events through August 9, 2025, with each of the eight teams hosting one weekend event, plus there will be two neutral-site events in Fairfield (CT) and Chicago.

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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