Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
USLSL Gainbridge Super League

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on August 25, 2025 under Gainbridge Super League (USLSL)


BASEBALL

Appalachian League: The ownership of the Bristol State Liners, who represent the twin cities of Bristol (VA) and Bristol (TN) and play in the summer-collegiate Appy League operated by Major League Baseball and USA Baseball, has come to an agreement with the city of Bristol (VA) for a new multi-use stadium to be built for the team. The stadium is expected to be ready for the 2027 season but it is uncertain where the team will play in 2026. For the 2024 season, the team was based out of Greeneville (TN), home of the league's Greeneville Flyboys, when plans fell through for a new stadium in Bristol (TN) to replace the ageing DeVault Stadium in Bristol (VA). For the 2025 season, the State Liners played their home schedule in Johnson City (TN), home of the Appy League's Johnson City Doughboys, while the city of Bristol (TN) planned to upgrade its Tod Houston Field to lure the team to Tennessee. Those plans to build a home for the State Liners in Bristol (TN) ran into problems and never developed.

International League: The Rochester (NY) Red Wings of the Triple-A International League played a game this week as the Rochester White Hots to honor the legendary local Zweigle's White Hot Dogs.

Major League Baseball: The MLB commissioner recently stated that if the MLB expands from 30 to 32 teams there is the possibility of breaking up the American League and National League and realigning teams based on geography. This led to various speculative realignment scenarios with Portland (OR) or Salt Lake City as possible western expansion candidates and Nashville, Charlotte or Raleigh (NC) as possible eastern expansion candidates. It appears that the MLB wants to add one western team and one eastern team. Salt Lake City and Nashville are considered to be the strongest markets for expansion.

Major League Baseball Draft League: The Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Niles, OH) of the MLB Draft League became the Mahoning Valley Mugunghwas for a game this week as part of a Korean Baseball Night promotion. The mugunghwa is the national flower of South Korea.

Pecos League: The independent Pecos League's KC Iola Hormigas (Ants) announced the team will make Iola (KS) its permanent home for the 2026 season. The 2025 expansion team was originally announced as the Kansas City (MO) Hormigas based out of Satchel Paige Stadium. Just before the start of the season the team moved its headquarters about 100 miles southwest to Iola and was renamed the KC Iola Hormigas. The team played all weekday home games in Iola and only the Sunday home games in Kansas City.

BASKETBALL

Canadian Elite Basketball League: As the ten-team minor professional CEBL held its 2025 season championship this weekend, the CEBL commissioner stated the league is ready to start looking at future expansion but no timetable was provided. The markets of Kelowna and Victoria in British Columbia along with Quebec City (Quebec) and Halifax (Nova Scotia) were mentioned but acceptable ownership groups would need to be in place.

National Basketball Association G-League: The new 3,500-seat Arena at Innovation Mile, which is 20 miles north of Indianapolis in Noblesville (IN) and the new home of the G-League's recently named Noblesville Boom, officially opened this month. The G-League team, which is the current affiliate of the NBA's Indiana Pacers, started as the Fort Wayne Mad Ants for the 2007-08 season and was purchased by the Pacers prior to the 2015-16 season. The team was moved to the home of the Pacers in Indianapolis for the past two seasons (2023-25) and renamed the Indiana Mad Ants while waiting for completion of the new arena. The team was renamed the Noblesville Boom in April ahead of the upcoming 2025-26 season.

National Basketball Association: The NBA commissioner recently traveled to Europe to meet with investors and teams to discuss a proposed NBA-operated European professional basketball league. The new league could include new teams and current teams from the 18-team EuroLeague. London, Barcelona, Paris, Madrid and Berlin are some of the markets under consideration. The NBA recently announced it will play six regular-season games in Europe over the next three years to include one game each in Berlin and London in 2026, one each in Manchester (England) and Paris in 2027, and one each in Berlin and Paris in 2028.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football One: The AF1 announced an expansion team called the Kentucky Barrels (Highland Heights), based in the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati market, has been added for the 2026 season. The team will play home games at the Truist Arena on the campus of Northern Kentucky University. This arena was home to previous indoor teams called the Northern Kentucky River Monsters that played in the 2011 Ultimate Indoor Football League and the 2014 Continental Indoor Football League. The Cincinnati market has had several former indoor football teams, the latest being the Cincinnati Commandos of the 2012 United Indoor Football League.

Indoor Football League: The IFL announced its dormant Albuquerque-based team, formerly the Duke City Gladiators, will be called the New Mexico Chupacabras when it returns in the 2026 season. The chupacabra is a mythological coyote-type reptile known for attacking and draining blood from livestock. The Gladiators joined the IFL in 2020 from the Champions Indoor Football and played four seasons (2021-24) before going dormant for the 2025 season and then coming under new ownership. The Chupacabras will play at the Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque.

United Football League: After announcing a season-ticket challenge last week to save the UFL's Birmingham Stallions from relocation, the league confirmed this week the team will not be relocating and will return for the 2026 season.

HOCKEY

ECHL: The ECHL has approved Augusta (GA) for an expansion team that will start in the 2027-28 season and play at a new 10,500-seat downtown arena currently under construction. The addition of Augusta gives the league 32 teams, the same number in the higher-level American Hockey League and the National Hockey League. The ECHL had 29 active teams for 2024-25 and will add the new Greensboro (NC) Gargoyles in 2025-26 and a New Mexico (Rio Rancho) expansion team in the 2026-27 season. Augusta had a previous ECHL team called the Augusta Lynx for ten and a half seasons (1998-2008) and a former SPHL team called the Augusta RiverHawks for three seasons (2010-13).

North American Hockey League: After being displaced from its home arena at The Colisée in Lewiston (ME) by the new Lewiston MAINEiacs of the United States Premier Hockey League's Tier-II National Collegiate Development Conference for the 2025-26 season, the Tier-II NAHL's Maine Nordiques will move across the Androscoggin River to the Norway Savings Arena in nearby Auburn (ME) for the 2025-26 season. The Nordiques' affiliated Tier-III NA3HL team by the same name will also move to Auburn.

SOCCER

Gainbridge Super League: The women's Division-I professional Gainbridge Soccer League, which is part of the United Soccer League and changed from the USL Super League this year under a sponsorship deal, started the Fall portion of its two-part 2025-26 season this week with nine teams aligned in a single-table format. For the inaugural 2024-25 season, the league had eight teams but added the Sporting Club Jacksonville, or Sporting Jax, this season. The nine teams will play a 28-game season that is divided into a Fall and Spring schedule, separated by a midseason Winter Break. The Fall schedule runs through December 20, 2025, and the Spring schedule runs from January 31 through May 16, 2026.

USL League Championship (United Soccer League): The Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the Division-II professional USL Championship announced plans to increase the seating capacity at its Highmark Stadium from 5,500 to 15,000 so it will meet the standards for the USL's proposed new Division-I professional league that plans to start in 2028 with 12 teams. The USL filed a trademark application in February 2025 for the "USL Premier" as a possible name for the new Division-I league. The USL Championship's Detroit City FC just announced plans to build a new 15,000-seat stadium for membership in the proposed USL Division-I league. The league's Sacramento Republic broke ground on a new 12,000-seat stadium that will be expandable to 20,000 seats for the USL Division-I or a possible Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion team, if one becomes available. The Sacramento Republic had an opportunity to join the MLS in 2019 but that bid fell apart when plans for an MLS-style stadium at the current site fell through in 2021. The USL Championship has only a few other teams whose current stadiums meet the USL Division-I requirements.

USL League One (United Soccer League): The men's Division-III professional USL League One announced its Eugene (OR) expansion team will be called the Sporting Cascades FC when it starts playing at a new 3,500-seat stadium in the 2026 season.

OTHER

National Lacrosse League: The indoor professional NLL officially announced the Albany (NY) FireWolves will be moving to Oshawa (Ontario), just outside of Toronto, for the 2025-26 season. The team will keep the FireWolves nickname but its full name is still to be announced. The NLL filed trademark applications for the Ontario FireWolves and the Oshawa FireWolves. The Albany FireWolves lasted only four seasons (2021-25) in the league after moving from Uncasville (CT) where the team was called the New England Black Wolves. Another Albany-based NLL team called the Albany Attack played four seasons (2000, 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2002-03) before moving to become the San Jose Stealth.

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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Gainbridge Super League Stories from August 25, 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.


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