Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
July 14, 2025 - Carolina League (CarL)
BASEBALL
Carolina League: The renderings were released for the new stadium to be built in downtown Wilson (NC) for the relocated Carolina Mudcats (Zebulon, NC) of the Single-A Carolina League. The Carolina Mudcats will be renamed the Wilson Warbirds to coincide with the team's 2026 move to the Wilson stadium that is expected to be ready in April 2026.
Coastal Plain League: The summer-collegiate CPL is playing its 2025 season with the same 15 teams as last season and again aligned in a 7-team East Division and an 8-team West Division. Each team will play a 48-game schedule through August 2, 2025.
Futures Collegiate Baseball League of New England: The summer-collegiate Futures League is playing its 2025 season with only six teams each playing a 62-game schedule through August 9, 2025. The league had eight teams last season but the Brockton Rox and the travel-only Futures League Road Warriors team did not return in 2025.
Independence League Baseball: The summer-collegiate ILB is playing its 2025 season with the same eight teams as last season that includes five league members and three unaffiliated travel-only teams to even out the schedules. League members will each play 50 games through July 27, 2025.
Mid-America League: The new Fort Scott (KS) expansion team in the MAL, which features collegiate, post-collegiate and former pro players, announced it will be called the Fort Scott Dragoons when it starts play in the 2026 season along with another expansion team to be based in Beaumont (TX).
Western Association of Professional Baseball Clubs: The proposed independent Western Association, which has been trying to get off the ground since 2019, recently announced the league will start in June 2026 with a minimum of eight teams based in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas and Utah and each team playing a 78-game schedule. The league currently lists the Henderson (NV) Hoo as its first and only team.
BASKETBALL
Women's American Basketball Association: The semi-pro WABA started its 2025 season last weekend with 19 teams aligned in a 6-team North Lower, a 4-team Midwest and a 9-team South that is split into a 4-team Subdivision 1 and a 5-team Subdivision 2. The league had 16 teams last season, lost 6 teams, and added 9 new teams for 2025. Teams will play nine to ten games through August 31, 2025.
Women's National Basketball Association: The WNBA's 2026 expansion team to be based in Portland (OR) will announce its name next week. The league filed a trademark registration for the "Portland Fire," which was the name of the city's former WNBA team that folded after only three seasons (2000-02). The WNBA's Connecticut Sun, which is owned by the Mohegan Tribe and plays at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville (CT), is reported to be in discussions about a possible sale and move to Providence (RI).
FOOTBALL
United Indoor Football Association: The fall-season UIFA announced its 2025 season schedule will feature teams called the Iowa Power (Dubuque), Ohio Boom (Dayton), St. Paul (MN) Bears and Wisconsin Aviators (Milwaukee). Each team will play nine games from September 6 through November 22, 2025.
European Football Alliance: Eight current teams from the European League of Football (ELF), an American-style professional football league, announced the creation of a new league called the European Football Alliance (EFA), originally called the ELF Franchise Association. The new EFA plans to address some of the financial and organizational deficiencies of the ELF, which is currently playing its 2025 May-to-August season with 16 teams.
United States Arena League: After recently losing the New Jersey Roughnecks to the Winter Indoor Football league, the new developmental fall-season USAL announced its inaugural 2025 season will feature eight teams called the Brownsville Chiefs (Cheswick, MI), Detroit Bandits, Goshen (IN) Guardians, Indianapolis Enforcers, Michigan Eagles (Detroit), Michigan Island Boyz (Detroit), Midwestern Bulldogs (Indiana/Ohio) and Ohio Legends (Columbus). Each team is scheduled to play eight games from September 6 through November 1, 2025, followed by playoffs.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The minor professional AHL, which has each team serving as an affiliate for a team in the 32-team National Hockey League, announced its 2025-26 season schedule will feature the same 32-team alignment as last season and each team will play a 72-game schedule from October 10, 2025, through April 19, 2026.
Eastern Hockey League: The independent junior-level EHL, which now considers itself as a Tier-II league, recently announced its 2025-26 season schedule that will feature 18 teams aligned in 4-team East and North divisions and 5-team Central and South divisions. Each team will play 50 games from September 25, 2025, through March 22, 2026. The EHL finished its 2024-25 season with 20 teams but the Vermont Lumberjacks and Boston Dukes did not return. The EHL's developmental EHL-Premier will follow the same schedule as the EHL with 14 teams aligned in an 8-team Northeast Conference and a 6-team Mid-Atlantic Conference. The EHL-Premier had 16 teams last season but lost the Vermont Lumberjacks and the New Jersey Renegades. The Adirondack Junior Thunder (Glens Falls, NY) was sold and relocated to become the Atlantic City (NJ) Seals for the 2025-26 season.
Federal Prospects Hockey League: The board of directors for the David S. Palmer Arena in Danville (IL), which hosted the minor professional FPHL's Danville Dashers team that was dropped from the league after the lone season of 2024-25, is soliciting bids for a hockey team lease for the 2026-27 season.
National Collegiate Development Conference: The junior-level United States Premier Hockey League's Tier-II NCDC announced the addition of a 32nd team called the Lewiston MAINEiacs for the 2025-26 season. The team's home at The Colisée in Lewiston (ME) came under new management and for now the MAINEiacs are displacing the Tier-II North American Hockey League's Maine Nordiques team, which was based out of The Colisée for the past six seasons (2019-25) and is still looking for a home arena for the 2025-26 season. A former team called the Lewiston Maineiacs played eight seasons (2003-11) in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Also, the NCDC recently announced the names of two 2025-26 Canadian expansion teams based in New Brunswick will be the Eastern Charlotte Kingfishers and the St. Croix Seawolves (St. Stephen).
SOCCER
Gainbridge Super League: As part of a naming rights deal announced in April, the United Soccer League's Division-I women's professional soccer league, which was known as the USL Super League for its inaugural 2024-25 season, has officially been renamed the Gainbridge Super League for its second season that will start next month with nine teams.
Major Arena Soccer League 2: The Omaha Kings FC announced the team will return to the MASL2 for the 2025-26 season. The Omaha Kings played two seasons (2020-22) in the MASL2, which is a developmental league for the MASL, before moving to the league known as Major League Indoor Soccer for the past three seasons (2022-25).
National Women's Soccer League: The NWSL's new Denver expansion team to be added for the 2026 season will announce its name on July 26. The nicknames up for fan voting included the Denver Peak FC, Colorado 14ers FC, Colorado Summit FC, Denver Elevate FC, Denver FC and Denver Gold FC.
USL League One (United Soccer League): The group called North Jersey Pro Soccer, which plans to operate a 2026 expansion team in the men's Division-III professional USL League One, announced the team will be called the Cosmos when it starts play at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson (NJ). The team name comes from the area's New York Cosmos team that played 15 seasons (1970-84) in the former Division-I professional North American Soccer League (NASL) and played its last eight seasons at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford (NJ. Another professional New York Cosmos team played five seasons (2013-17) in a different Division-II version of the NASL and then in the 2020 Fall Season of the Division-III National Independent Soccer Association.
Liga MX: Mexico's top men's pro soccer league known as Liga MX started the Apertura, or opening phase, of the two-part 2025-26 Apertura/Clausura season this week with the same 18 teams as last season. The teams are again aligned in a single-table format and will each play 17 games through November 9, 2025. The Clausura, or closing phase, of the season starts in January 2026.
OTHER
National Thoroughbred League: St. Louis native and award-winning artist Nelly has purchased the former Seattle Gems franchise in the NTL team-based horse racing league and will move the team to the St. Louis area where it will be renamed the St. Louis Nellies after the famous horse term ¬ÅWhoa Nellie ¬Â. The NTL is midway through its third season, which features ten teams participating in four events in May (Baltimore), June (Philadelphia), July (St. Louis area) and August (Nashville area). The NTL had ten teams last season but the Miami Sea Horses were renamed the Miami Thunderbolts prior to the first 2025 event. The Seattle Gems team was listed as the St. Louis Racing Club or St. Louis Racing Team in the results of the first two events of this season.
Major League Cricket: The professional MLC completed its third season this weekend with the same six teams as last season. Each team played ten matches from June 12 through July 6, followed by playoffs. The 2025 regular season featured a total of 30 matches held in Oakland (CA), Grand Prairie (TX) and Broward (FL). Teams included 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.
Dan Krieger is the creator of the Weekly Sports League & Franchise Report, which has been tracking the changes in t205he sports world's leagues, teams, and nicknames since April 2007.
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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.
