Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
WNBA Women's National Basketball Association

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
July 21, 2025 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)


BASEBALL

Northwest League: The city council in Medford (OR) voted this week to place a proposed two percent increase to the city's lodging tax on the November ballot to help fund a proposed baseball stadium that could become the future home of the Eugene (OR) Emeralds of the High-A Northwest League. The Emeralds play at the University of Oregon's PK Park in Eugene but the facility does not comply with Major League Baseball's new standards for minor league ballparks. The city of Medford is currently home to the Medford Rogues of the summer-collegiate Pacific Empire League.

Pioneer League: The city council in Long Beach (CA) will decide next week whether a proposed new team in the independent Pioneer League can use the city's 3,200-seat Blair Field starting with the 2026 season. Long Beach last had an independent team called the Long Beach Armada that played five seasons (2005-09) as part of the former Global Baseball League.

Major League Baseball: The governor of Oregon signed a senate bill to provide $800 million in public funding to help finance a stadium in Portland for a possible MLB expansion team. The Portland expansion effort would still need an investor willing to pay any MLB expansion fee and other construction costs. The MLB is expected to make expansion decisions by 2029. The owner of MLB's Tampa Bay Rays has agreed in principle to sell the team to a group that is considering possible new stadium sites in the Tampa area. A group with a proposed MLB team called the Orlando Dreamers was hoping to lure the Rays to a new stadium to be built in Orlando.

Atlantic League: Under a partnership with Hartfield and Co., a distillery in Bourbon County (KY), the Lexington Legends of the independent Atlantic League were rebranded as the Kentucky Bourbon Barrels for a game this week.

Carolina League: The Hickory (NC) Crawdads of the Single-A Carolina played two games this weekend under the Hickory Dickory Docks alternate identity based on a nursery rhyme.

Eastern League: The Altoona Curve played a series of games this weekend as the Blair County Crickets in a tribute to the city's former Cricket Field that hosted various baseball teams until the 1960s.

Texas League: The Tulsa Drillers of the Double-A Texas League underwent their fifth annual rebranding as the Tulsa Noodlers for a series this weekend as a tribute to an Oklahoma tradition called noodling, which is a method of catching a fish (usually a catfish) by hand.

BASKETBALL

Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional: Mexico's top professional men's basketball league known as the LNBP started its 2025 season earlier this month with 14 teams aligned in a single-table format. The league had 16 teams last season but the Halcones Rojos de Veracruz (Veracruz City) and Lobos Plateados de la BUAP (Puebla) did not return. Also, the Plateros de Fresnillo were renamed the Gambusinos de Fresnillo for the 2025 season. Each team will play a 28-game schedule through September 27, 2025.

Women's National Basketball Association: The WNBA's expansion team to be based in Portland (OR) announced it will be called the Portland Fire when it starts play in the 2026 season along with another expansion team called the Toronto Tempo. The Portland Fire was the name of the city's former WNBA team that folded after only three seasons (2000-02).

FOOTBALL

International Football Alliance: The first-year outdoor professional IFA has lost two more teams, so all six teams that were supposed to be part of the inaugural 2025 season are now gone. The Huntsville (AL) Astros team, which played its first three games against non-league "showcase" teams, has withdrawn from the IFA but plans to keep playing as an independent team. The Chihuahua-based Rebelión Tarahumara, which played only one game against a non-league team, was supposed to restart in mid-July but has shut down for now due to financial problems. The IFA has one 2026 expansion team called the Arkansas Storm (Little Rock) that is supposed to play an exhibition game in Mexico City next month.

Women's Football Alliance: The semi-pro full-tackle WFA is looking to establish a new Canadian Division of teams in the future. The WFA is finishing up its 2025 season this month with 52 teams, 12 in the Pro Division, 14 in the Division 2, and 24 in the Division 3.

Women's Football League Association: A new version of the proposed full-tackle professional WFLA is trying to organize for a start in 2026. A previous version of the WFLA was proposed in 2019 under different ownership with plans to have 32 teams across the United States. By March 2021, the league was down to 20 teams for a proposed 2021 season but that never got off the ground when the league organizer ran into legal problems.

HOCKEY

3ICE League: The independent three-on-three professional 3ICE League started its third season this week with eight teams called 3ICE Boston, 3ICE Buffalo, 3ICE Chicago, 3ICE Dallas, 3ICE Minnesota, 3ICE NY/NJ, 3ICE Pittsburgh and 3ICE Tennessee playing a short, four-week season at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale. Each event features four teams and each team will participate in two of the four events followed by a Championship Week on August 14. The 3ICE was a six-team tour-based league for its first two seasons (2022 and 2023) and did not play in 2024.

American Premier Hockey League: The amateur senior-level APHL announced a new team called the Jamestown (NY) Railraiders has been added to the Eastern Division for the 2025-26 season. The Railraiders nickname appeared in 2005 for a proposed professional American Hockey League team to be called the Cincinnati RailRaiders but the team failed to get off the ground.

Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League: The sale of the dormant Junior-B EOJHL's Brockville Tikis franchise, which last played in the 2022-23 season, has fallen through and a Brockville team that was to be called the Brockville Bulldogs will not be part of the 2025-26 season as previously announced.

North American Hockey League: The Maine Nordiques (Lewiston) of the Tier-II junior-level NAHL have not been able to come to a lease agreement at the Lewiston Colisée for the upcoming season due to debts owned by the team. The Nordiques have been based in Lewiston for the past six seasons (2019-25) and also operated a Tier-III NA3HL team in 2024-25. The Colisée will become home to a team called the Lewiston MAINEiacs from the United States Premier Hockey League's Tier-II National Collegiate Development Conference for the 2025-26 season. The ownership of the NCDC team is transferring the Boston Dukes team, which was part of the Tier-III Eastern Hockey League last season, to Lewiston.

Pacific Junior Hockey League: The independent British Columbia-based PJHL, which is splitting its teams into two levels (Junior-A Tier 1 and Junior-A Tier 2) for the 2025-26 season, recently announced a new Tier 2 team called the Cloverdale Junior Hockey Club has been added for the 2025-26 season and it will have a naming campaign during the season. The league's Burnaby-based Grandview Steelers announced the team has been renamed the Burnaby Steelers for the 2025-26 season.

United States Premier Hockey League: The junior-level USPHL announced a team called the Ottawa Valley Centennials, based in Almonte (Ontario) about 30 miles from Ottawa, has been added to the Canada Division of the Tier-III USPHL Premier Conference for the 2025-26 season.

SOCCER

Liga de Expansión MX: The Mexican second-tier men's soccer league known as the Liga de Expansión announced the Apertura opening phase of the two-part 2025-26 Apertura/Clausura season will again feature 15 teams aligned in a single-format. Each team will play 14 games from August 2 through November 19, 2025. There was one change since the end of the 2024-25 season. The Club Deportiva Irapuato (Guanajuato) was promoted to the Liga de Expansión from the Liga Premier while the Club Celaya (Guanajuato) was relegated to the Liga Premier from the Liga de Expansión.

National Independent Soccer Association: The men's NISA, which lost its Division-III professional status from the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) after the 2024 season and is not playing this season, has confirmed the Los Angeles Force and the Arkansas Wolves FC (Little Rock) will participate in the NISA-sponsored 2025 NISA Pro Cup tournament this fall.

Major Arena Soccer League Women: The women's indoor MASLW, which is affiliated with the men's MASL, announced a new Kansas City (Lenexa, KS) team called the KC Astras has been added for the 2025-26 season.

USL League One (United Soccer League): As the Corpus Christi FC Sharks move up from the pre-professional USL League Two to the Division-III professional USL League One for the 2026 season, the owners announced the team will keep the Corpus Christi FC Sharks name in the new league. The Sharks have been part of the USL League Two since the 2018 season.

USL League Two (United Soccer League): The men's pre-professional USL League Two announced the Eagles FC, based in Mechanicsburg (PA), has been added for the 2026 season.

OTHER

TGL Golf (The Golf League): The men's team-based indoor TGL Golf league, which had six teams playing all matches at a 2,000-seat custom-built virtual indoor golf course simulator in Palm Beach Gardens (FL) for its inaugural season earlier this year, announced the Detroit-based Motor City Golf Club will be added as an expansion team for the league's third season in 2027.

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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