Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on September 1, 2025 under United Football League (UFL)
BASEBALL
Major League Baseball Draft League: The Trenton (NJ) Thunder of the MLB Draft League will start the second phase of its stadium renovations when the season ends next week. Team ownership wants to bring the stadium up to MLB standards for the minor leagues as it tries to obtain an affiliated team as soon as possible. The Trenton Thunder lost its Double-A Eastern League affiliation during the restructuring of Minor League Baseball prior to the 2021 season and opted to join the developmental MLB Draft League. One long range option for Trenton is the proposed MLB expansion by two teams. That would add four new affiliated minor league teams per each new MLB team.
Pecos League: The Austion Weirdos, who sat out the 2025 season in the independent Pecos League, are looking for a field manager for the 2026 season indicating the team could be returning.
South Atlantic League: The High-A SAL announced its 2026 season will again feature eight teams aligned in four-team North and South divisions but the Frederick (MD) Keys will replace the Aberdeen (MD) IronBirds in the North Division. The ownership of the Frederick Keys team, which operated in the developmental Major League Baseball Draft League the past five seasons (2021-25), is taking over the Aberdeen IronBirds' SAL affiliation with the Baltimore Orioles while the Aberdeen IronBirds will take over Frederick's place in the MLB Draft League for the 2026 season.
Southern League: The Montgomery (AL) Biscuits of the Double-A Southern League played a game this week as the Alabama Peanut Runners, named for the "runner" variety of peanut grown in Alabama and to honor the innovative work that George Washington Carver performed with peanuts along with his other work at nearby Tuskegee University.
BASKETBALL
Basketball Super League: The men's professional BSL, which played its 2024-25 season with five teams in Canada and three teams in the United States, has added a new team called the Saginaw (MI) Soul for its 2025-26 season.
East Coast Basketball League: The Winston-Salem (NC) Wolves of the men's semi-pro ECBL announced the team will be rebranded as the Winston-Salem Wolfpack for the 2026 season.
The Basketball League: The men's minor professional TBL has added a North Dakota-based team called the 4 Bears Roar to be based out of the events center at the 4 Bears Casino & Lodge in New Town (ND) for the league's next season starting in March 2026. The TBL also lists the Los Angeles Ignite as returning for the 2026 season after the team sat out the 2025 season.
Women's Basketball League: The proposed new professional WBL, which plans to start an inaugural season in 2026 with six teams, held its first WBL Showcase game this month in Detroit with teams called the Detroit Shock (originally the Motor City Shock) and the Cleveland Rockers (replaced the previously announced Toledo Wild). A second WBL Showcase game between the Detroit Shock and the league's Chicago Flames is scheduled for December. The three other first-season teams are listed as the Grand Rapids Soul, Indiana Thunder and Toronto North Stars. The WBL was formed in 2023 with original plans to start playing in 2024. During the league's development, the Flames team was originally listed as the Flint Flames and then the West Michigan Flames. Other early team names that disappeared were the Flint Fever and the West Michigan Fury.
FOOTBALL
Champions Football Association: The proposed new CFA, which plans to play nine-man indoor football without dasher boards, has apparently switched from a spring season to a winter season starting in 2026. The league announced an outdoor semi-pro team called the Fayetteville (NC) Ducks and the Syracuse-based CNY Blue Devils team, which is playing in the 2025 Winter Indoor Football, will be part of its inaugural 2026 season. Eventually, the CFA plans to have teams aligned in ten regional conferences.
Major League Football: The proposed new fall-season professional MLF did not start as planned this summer and pushed its proposed start back to June 2026. The league has been trying to get off the ground since 2020 and now lists 30 states or cities as potential markets aligned in 12-team Eastern and Western conferences, each with 5-team North, South and Central divisions.
The Arena League: The Hot Springs (AR) Wiseguys, which played as a 2025 expansion team in the 7-on-7 TAL, announced the team has been renamed the Arkansas Diamonds and it will remain in Hot Springs.
United Football League: The UFL's Michigan Panthers have been mentioned for possible relocation but the league is trying to find a solution to keep the team in Detroit for the 2026 season. Although the team saw an increase in attendance for the 2025 season, the league's biggest obstacle is finding a suitable venue for the team other than Ford Field, home of the National Football League's Detroit Lions. One potential future home could be the new 15,000-seat soccer stadium set to open in 2027 for the Detroit City FC of the USL Championship.
HOCKEY
ECHL: The ECHL's Allen (TX) Americans, who were affiliated with the National Hockey League's Utah Hockey Club, now the Utah Mammoth, and the American Hockey League's Tucson Roadrunners last season, have signed a 2025-26 affiliation deal with the NHL's Ottawa Senators and the AHL's Belleville (Ontario) Senators.
Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League: The NOJHL, which is one of the nine Junior-A leagues under the Canadian Junior Hockey League, will play its 2025-26 season with 11 teams aligned in a single-table format. The league had 12 teams last season but the Elliot Lake Vikings are sitting out due to arena renovations.
Superior International Junior Hockey League: The SIJHL, which is one of the nine Junior-A leagues under the Canadian Junior Hockey League, will play its 2025-26 season with seven teams aligned in a single-table format. The league started the 2024-25 season with eight teams but the Kenora Devil's Gap Islanders (Ontario) dropped out during the season and did not return.
SOCCER
USL League Championship (United Soccer League): Cleveland State University (CSU) has entered into negotiations with the USL and a group called USL Cleveland to convert the site of CSU's arena called the Wolstein Center into a multipurpose stadium that could be the future home of a professional USL team in the Division-II USL Championship or possibly the proposed USL Division One league. Work on this new stadium would not begin for two to three years. Another entity called the Cleveland Soccer Group is trying to build an expandable 10,000-seat soccer stadium in Cleveland for a men's team in the Division-III MLS Next Pro and a women's team in the proposed Division-II WPSL Pro. The Sporting Club Jacksonville (Sporting Jax), which started a women's Division-I professional team this month in the USL's Gainbridge Super League, plans to start a men's team in the USL Championship in 2026 and then apply to the proposed new USL Division One league. The USL Championship's Tampa Bay Rowdies were given one more year to play at Al Lang Stadium in downtown St. Petersburg as the city decides on potential redevelopment plans for the stadium site.
Major Arena Soccer League 2: The men's MASL2, which is affiliated with the Major Arena Soccer League, has made some changes to its team lineup for the 2025-26 season. The league had 16 teams last season but lost 6 teams and added 5 for a total of 15 teams. The Muskegon Risers, St. Louis Ambush 2, San Diego Sockers 2, Chihuahua Savage II and Empire Jets (Ontario, CA) are listed as inactive while the Wisconsin Conquerors (Marshfield) are no longer listed after playing an 2025 outdoor season in the National Premier Soccer League. The Midwest/West Division is now the West Division. New teams for 2025-26 include the Soles de Sonora (Mexico), Deportivo Asunción de la Ciudad de México (Mexico City), the RGV Barracudas (Brownsville, TX) from the last season's MASL3, the Iowa Raptors FC (Cedar Rapids), which sat out the 2024-25 season, and the Omaha Kings FC, which returns after playing the past three seasons (2022-25) in the Major League Indoor Soccer.
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 did not play this summer, has confirmed the Sin City FC (Las Vegas) and the Modesto City FC (California) will participate in the NISA-sponsored 2025 NISA Pro Cup tournament this fall. The NISA also announced the tournament will start on October 15 with group-play through October 22. The top four teams will move on to the semi-finals on October 24 with the championship game held in Washington (MI) on October 26.
OTHER
Minor League Cricket: The men's MiLC, which is affiliated with the men's professional Major League Cricket, started its 2025 season this week with 26 teams each playing 10 matches through September 27, 2025. The league had 25 teams last season and added the new King XI Dallas team for 2025. The league's Golden State Grizzlies were renamed the San Ramon Grizzlies and the Houston Hurricanes are now the MetroPlex Tracers. Teams are aligned in an Atlantic Conference with six-team Southern and Eastern divisions and a Pacific Conference with a six-team Western Division and an eight-team Central Division.
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.
United Football League Stories from September 1, 2025
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
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.
