Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

Sports stats

UFL United Football League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
June 23, 2025 - United Football League (UFL)


BASEBALL

Empire Baseball League: The independent developmental EBL started its 2025 season this week with five teams each playing 32 to 35 games through August 4, 2025. All of last season's teams called the Saranac Lake Surge, Malone Border Hounds, Tupper Lake Riverpigs and North Country Thunderbirds (Plattsburgh) from upper New York State have returned and the league added a new travel-only team called the Los Angeles Bullies for the 2025 season.

Atlantic League: The Lancaster (PA) Stormers of the independent Atlantic League played a game this week as the Harrisburg Giants to honor the area's former Negro League team by that name.

Dominican Summer League: Major League Baseball's developmental DSL started its 2025 season earlier this month with 52 teams of prospects aligned in 8 divisions. Each MLB team has one or more teams based in complexes among five cities (Boca Chica, Guerra, San Cristóbal, San Pedro de Macorís and La Victoria). Each team plays 56 games through August 19, 2025.

Liga Mexicana del Pacifico: The new Tucson team in the 2025-26 season of Mexico's professional fall-winter season LMP, or Mexican Pacific League, is soliciting potential names for the team currently known as the Tucson Baseball Team. The Tucson team resulted from the relocation of the league's Mayos de Navajoa and it will be the only non-Mexican team in the LMP.

Texas League: As a tribute to the city's former Negro League team, the Tulsa Drillers of the Double-A Texas League were rebranded as the "T" Town Clowns for three scheduled games (June 19-21) this week.

BASKETBALL

Women's National Basketball Association: The WNBA completed the conference-play portion of its in-season Commissioner's Cup tournament this week. Starting on June 1, each team played one game against teams in their conference with six Eastern Conference teams playing five games and the seven Western Conference teams playing six games. The top two teams, the Indiana Fever and the Minnesota Lynx, will play a championship game on July 1. The WNBA has filed a trademark registration for the "Portland Fire" as a possible name for the league's Portland expansion team that is set to start playing in the 2026 season along with the new Toronto Tempo team. The Portland Fire was the name of a previous WNBA team that played only three seasons (2000-02) before folding.

American Basketball Association: The men's semi-pro ABA announced the addition of two Indiana-based teams called the Team Redeem (South Bend/Elkhart) and the Evansville B.F.G. Elite for the 2025-26 season.

FOOTBALL

National Gridiron League: The second version of the proposed professional NGL, which has been trying to get off the ground since March 2024 and plans to play 8-man outdoor football on a 60-yard field, has posted a revised schedule that pushes the start back until June 28, 2025. Originally, the league announced 18 teams for its inaugural 2025 season but that was scaled back to 8 teams starting in April. More recently, the start was pushed back to May 31 and then to June 14.

Professional Independent Football League: The proposed new Florida-based PIFL announced four teams called the Florida Sharks, Tennessee Bears, South Carolina Bobcats and Kentucky Stampede have been added for the league's inaugural 2026 season.

United Football League: The eight-team springtime UFL recently filed trademark registrations for the New Jersey Generals, Oakland Invaders, Philadelphia Stars and Tampa Bay Bandits. Although there has been talk of possible expansion, the league finished its second season last weekend with a decrease in overall attendance from last season and officials stated there will be no expansion announcements anytime soon. There is also speculation the UFL could relocate a couple of teams with poor attendance.

HOCKEY

ECHL: The ECHL's New Mexico expansion team to be based in the Albuquerque suburb of Rio Rancho starting with the 2026-27 season announced the Cutthroats, Goatheads and Tarantula Hawks as the three nickname finalists for fan voting through July 3, 2025.

North American Hockey League: The Tier-II junior-level NAHL announced its 2025-26 season schedule will feature 34 teams aligned in a ten-team East and eight-team Central, Midwest and South divisions. Each team will play 59 games from September 12, 2025, through April 11, 2026. The league had 35 teams last season but the Colorado Grit (Greeley) is sitting out the 2025-26 season due to arena lease issues. Also, the Wisconsin Windigo moved from Eagle River to the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield. The NAHL's Maine Nordiques (Lewiston-Auburn) might need a new home as The Colisée in Lewiston is in the process of being sold and the team and the arena have decided to walk away from the previous lease.

Ontario Hockey League: The major-junior OHL announced its 2025-26 season schedule that will feature the same 20 teams as last season and each playing a 68-game schedule from September 18, 2025, through March 22, 2026. The OHL alignment again features an Eastern Conference with five-team East and Central divisions and a Western Conference with five-team Midwest and West divisions. The league's Brantford Bulldogs came under new ownership in January and the team will remain in Brantford as part of the sale. The team was the Hamilton Bulldogs until moving to Brantford in 2023 where it was to play three seasons and return to Hamiliton after major renovations were completed at Hamilton's FirstOntario Centre. The team was a success in Brantford and new ownership signed a 15-year lease agreement with the city, which has also approved construction of a new arena that is expected to open for the 2027-28 season.

United States Premier Hockey League: The Bearcat Hockey Club, which purchased the Motor City Gamblers (Fraser, MI) of the Tier-III junior-level USPHL in April, has come under new ownership and will move to Buffalo for the 2025-26 season. The team will play at the Cornerstone Ice Arena in Lockport (NY). The Gamblers were sold to the Bearcat Hockey Club in April, but due to health concerns of the previous buyer, the team was sold again. The Gamblers operated 2024-25 teams in both the USPHL's Tier-III Premier Conference and Elite Conference. The renamed Bearcats Junior Hockey Club will operate only one 2025-26 team in the Great Lakes Division of the USPHL Premier Conference.

SOCCER

Canadian Soccer League: The men's semi-pro CSL started its 2025 season this month with teams called the AEEM Canada FC, Scarborough SC, Serbian White Eagles FC and Unity FC. Teams will play a nine-game regular-season schedule through September 13, 2025, with all games played at Toronto's Esther Shiner Stadium. The league had six teams last season but the Toronto Falcons, Spanish Future Stars and Hamilton City did not return. The CSL added the AEEM Canada FC, also listed as the Manga Canada FC, as a 2025 expansion team.

Major League Indoor Soccer: The Panathinaikos Chicago (PAO Chicago) club, which was an expansion team in the 2024-25 season of the men's MLIS, announced it will not be returning to the MLIS for the 2025-26 season. After playing with 9 teams last season, the MLIS currently lists 12 teams with the loss of Chicago and the Omaha Kings and the addition of 5 new teams called the Atletico Orlando, Bridge City FC (Pittsburgh), Rockford Thunder, Utah Uprising FC (Salt Lake City) and an unnamed Las Vegas team.

MLS Next Pro (Major League Soccer): The city of Bridgeport has established a tax increment financing (TIF) district at the site where a new soccer stadium is planned for a future team called the Connecticut United FC in the Division-III MLS Next Pro league. There is still a significant shortfall in the stadium funding as the state's 2025 legislative session ended last week without a commitment to the project. The team still wants to start playing in 2026 although that would have to be at a temporary location.

The League for Clubs: The new amateur-level TLfC is into its inaugural 2025 season and currently lists 47 teams aligned in 6 regions (Gulf Coast, Mid-American, Mountain Premier, NorCal, Northeast and Texas) across the United States. The league was formed through a partnership between the ownership of the Women's Premier Soccer League and various men's clubs, many of which came from the amateur-level National Premier Soccer League. The TLfC season runs through mid-July.

OTHER

Women's Elite Rugby: The WER, which is America's first professional women's rugby league and plays the 15-player rugby union style, completed its inaugural 2025 regular season earlier this month with six teams called the Bay Breakers (San Francisco Bay Area), Boston Banshees, Chicago Tempest, Denver Onyx, New York Exiles, and the Twin Cities Gemini (Minneapolis-St. Paul). Each team played ten games from March 22 through June 4, 2025. The WER will hold its inaugural League Cup championship match between the New York Exiles and the Denver Onyx on June 29. The WER evolved from the amateur-level pay-to-play Women's Premier League (WPL) that operated with seven teams in 2024. All six of the WER markets had teams in the 2024 WPL.

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.

Check out the United Football League Statistics



United Football League Stories from June 23, 2025


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.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central