Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on August 18, 2025 under National Arena League (NAL)

BASEBALL

Carolina League: The Salem (VA) Red Sox of the Single-A Carolina League have selected the team's new name that will be revealed in the fall after the 2025 season. There has been a local effort to rename the team the Salem Hellbenders after a giant Appalachian salamander found in Southwest Virginia. Despite the new name, the team will remain an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.

Midwest League: The Lansing Lugnuts of the High-A Midwest League played a doubleheader this week as the Cap City Olive Burgers in a tribute to a popular mid-Michigan hamburger topped with olives.

Pacific Coast League: The Las Vegas Aviators of the Triple-A PCL played a game this week as the Las Vegas Cone Jesters in a tribute to ongoing construction in the city and the traffic cone, which the team considers to be the state's unofficial state flower.

Pioneer League: The Long Beach (CA) city council recently voted unanimously to move forward in discussions with the independent Pioneer League about bringing a team to the city's Blair Stadium.

BASKETBALL

American Basketball Association: The men's semi-pro ABA announced the MNL Elite, based in Mansfield (OH), has been added for the upcoming 2025-26 season. The league also announced teams called the Albany (GA) Team Motion and the High Point (NC) Pistons will join for the 2026-27 season.

Women's National Basketball Association: If the sale and relocation of the WNBA's Connecticut Sun (Uncasville) franchise gets approved, the league appears to be more interested in moving the team to one of the markets that have applied for an expansion team, such as Houston. A purchase offer from a group wanting to move the Sun to Boston was not presented to the WNBA board of governors by the commissioner and an exclusive negotiating period has expired. Another offer by a group wanting to move the team to Hartford, where it could possibly keep the Connecticut Sun name, is also under consideration. Boston and Hartford were not part of a recent expansion application process that included 12 markets. New expansion teams were awarded to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia and the league wants to consider the 9 other markets. Houston is considered to be at the top of the expansion list and the owner of the National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets is behind the Houston WNBA expansion effort.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football One: The Beaumont (TX) Renegades team, which played its inaugural 2025 season in the National Arena League, announced it will move to the AF1 for the 2026 season.

National Arena League: The NAL announced a team called the Dallas Bulls has been added for the 2026 season. The team changed its name from the North Texas Bulls in October 2024 after being idle since the 2022 season. The Fort Worth-based North Texas Bulls were part of the 2021 season in the American Arena League and played one game in 2022 as part of the Arena Football Association. The North Texas Bulls were accepted into the NAL for the 2024 season but were terminated by the league about a month before the start of the season. The NAL operated with nine teams in 2025 but the Beaumont Renegades have left for the Arena Football One, the league's Wheeling (WV) Miners and Columbus (GA) Lions are no longer on the NAL team list, and the status of the Idaho Horsemen is uncertain. The NAL has added the Pueblo (CO) Punishers along with the Dallas Bulls and plans to add additional teams for 2026.

Professional Independent Football League: The proposed new PIFL announced a Georgia-based team called American National has been added for the league's inaugural season starting in May 2026.

United Football League: Due to poor attendance figures for the UFL's Birmingham Stallions, the league's new co-owner and business director stated the prospect of the team remaining in the city is up to the fans. A challenge was issued to obtain 5,000 season-ticket subscribers within a week to save the Stallions. A few weeks ago, the UFL confirmed it will move at least two of its home markets, and possibly four markets, before the 2026 season and one of the new home markets will be Columbus (OH).

HOCKEY

American Premier Hockey League: A few teams in the amateur senior-level APHL will serve as affiliates to teams in the minor professional Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) for the 2025-26 season. The APHL's Wooster Bulls will be the affiliate of the FPHL's Carolina Thunderbirds, the APHL's Summit City Distillers (Fort Wayne) will be the affiliate of the FPHL's Monroe Moccasins, and the APHL's Northern Michigan Warhounds (Gaylord) will be the affiliate of the FPHL's Indiana Sentinels.

Federal Prospects Hockey League: A managing partner with the minor professional FPHL's Monroe (LA) Moccasins is in preliminary discussions with officials at the Laborde Earles Coliseum in Alexandria (LA) about bringing a potential FPHL team to the city. A team called the Alexandria Warthogs played two seasons (1998-2000) in the former Western Professional Hockey League.

Greater Metro Hockey League: Canada's independent junior-level GMHL announced the league's Ontario-based Almaguin Spartans, who shut down operations in October 2024 after playing only eight games in the 2024-25 season, has come under new ownership and will return to the league for the 2026-27 season. The GMHL's 2025-26 season will feature 15 teams aligned in a 7-team North Division and an 8-team South Division with teams playing 40 games from September 12, 2025, through February 15, 2026.

Pacific Junior Hockey League: The British Columbia-based PJHL, which is considered a Junior-A league under BC Hockey, will not be splitting teams into Tier-1 and Tier-2 levels for the 2025-26 season as previously announced. This two-tier system was created specifically for the Junior-A leagues as classified by BC Hockey.

United States Premier Hockey League: After announcing its 2025-26 league alignment late last month, the junior-level USPHL's Tier-III Premier Conference has lost two new teams that were supposed to be part of the 2025-26 season. The expansion Burlington (VT) Beavers, previously listed in the Canada Division, will push back its start until the 2026-27 season. The Casper (WY) Warbirds of the USPHL's Tier-II National Collegiate Development Conference planned to add a Tier-III Premier Conference team for the 2025-26 season but that Casper Warbirds team is no longer listed in the standings for the Premier Conference's Northwest Division. Also, the Premier Conference's Canada Division has been renamed the St. Lawrence Division.

SOCCER

USL League Championship (United Soccer League): The Oklahoma City Energy FC (OKC Energy FC), which has been dormant since last playing in the 2021 season of the Division-II USL Championship, has filed a trademark registration for the "OKC United" as a possible new name for the team. After seeking fan input, the team announced the OKC United, OKC Bison FC, OKC Lightning FC, OKC Thunderbird FC and OKC Wind FC as finalists for a name in March 2025. Groundbreaking on a new 12,300-seat downtown stadium is planned for later this year and the team is expected to restart in 2027.

USL League One (United Soccer League): The city of Modesto (CA) has selected a downtown site where a new 5,000-seat stadium will be built for a men's team in the Division-III USL League One and a future women's pro team. City and USL officials hope to finalize the project and secure financing by February. Construction could start in September 2026 with an opening in 2028.

USL W-League (United Soccer League): The men's Forward Madison FC (Wisconsin) of the USL League One has obtained the rights to a franchise in the women's pre-professional USL W-League and a team will start in the 2026 season. The women's team is currently called the USL W League Madison and it will have a name separate from the men's team.

OTHER

National Lacrosse League: According to several reports, the Albany (NY) FireWolves of the indoor professional NLL could be moving to Oshawa (Ontario), just outside of Toronto, prior to the 2025-26 season. The NLL filed trademark applications for the Ontario FireWolves and Oshawa FireWolves names.

Northwoods League Softball: The women's NWLS summer-collegiate softball league, which had five teams operated by owners of men's baseball teams in the summer-collegiate Northwoods League during its second season in 2025, announced a sixth team located in Grand Forks (ND) will be added for the 2026 season. A name-the-team process has been initiated and a team name will be announced in October.

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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