Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on September 8, 2025 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
BASEBALL
Coastal Plain League: With the move of the Single-A Carolina League's Carolina Mudcats from Zebulon (NC) to Wilson (NC) as the Wilson Warbirds for the 2026 season, the Capitol Broadcasting Company (CBC) has submitted a proposal to operate Zebulon's Five County Stadium and place a new summer-collegiate Coast Plain League (CPL) team in the stadium for the 2026 season. CBC purchased the CPL in 2022 and also owns the CPL's Holly Springs (NC) Salamanders and the Durham (NC) Bulls of the Triple-A International League.
Pioneer League: The city of Long Beach (CA) has decided to move forward with adding an expansion team in the independent Pioneer League for the 2026 season and a name-the-team contest has begun with potential names being accepted through September 12. Three finalists will be selected for fan voting. The Long Beach team will be the league's 13th team. The city of Modesto (CA), which is losing its team called the Modesto Nuts in the Single-A California League after this season, is still in discussions with the Pioneer League about a possible team being added for 2026.
Eastern League: The Hartford Yard Goats of the Double-A Eastern League played a game this week as the Hartford Leaf Peepers in a tribute to the people who travel to New England each year to see the leaves change colors.
BASKETBALL
National Basketball Association Gatorade League (G-League): The NBA G-League announced its 2025-26 season schedule will again feature 31 teams aligned in a 16-team Eastern Conference and a 15-team Western Conference. The only change was the move of the Indiana Mad Ants from Indianapolis to a new arena in Noblesville (IN) for the renamed Noblesville Boom. Each of the 30 NBA teams again has an owned or operated G-League affiliate with the league's Mexico City Capitanes as the only unaffiliated G-League team. Each team will play at least 50 games from November 7, 2025, through March 28, 2026, in a two-part season. Teams will play 14 games in a Tip-Off Tournament in November and December followed by 36 regular season games in January through March. The Long Island Nets, the G-League affiliate of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, will play four of their regular-season home games in Laval (Quebec) where the team will be known as "Les Nets." The Nets played six games in Laval last season.
American Basketball Association: The men's semi-pro ABA announced teams called the Tallahassee (FL) Musketeers and the Wichita Falls (TX) Netburners have been added as 2026-27 expansion teams.
FOOTBALL
American Indoor Football: The AIF announced a new expansion team called the Tyler (TX) Crude has joined the league and will be part of the 2026 season.
United Indoor Football Association: The UIFA started its 2025 season this weekend with four teams called the Iowa Power (Dubuque), Ohio Boom (Lima), St. Paul (MN) Bears and the Wisconsin Aviators (Sturtevant). Teams are scheduled to play eight to nine games through November 22, 2025.
Professional Independent Football League: The proposed new PIFL announced a team called the Florida Smoke has been accepted into the league and will be part of the Florida Division when the league starts playing in May 2025. The team is looking at Gainesville or Tampa as a possible home.
HOCKEY
Ligue de Hockey Junior AAA du Quebec: The LHJAAAQ (Quebec Junior AAA Hockey League), which is one of the nine Junior-A leagues under the Canadian Junior Hockey League, started its 2025-26 season this week with the same 13 teams as last season and again aligned in a single-table format. Each team will play a 48-game schedule through March 6, 2026.
National Collegiate Development Conference: The junior-level United States Premier Hockey League's Tier-II NCDC announced the league's 2025-26 expansion team called the St. Croix Seawolves, based in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, has come under new ownership and was renamed the St. Stephen County Moose.
North American 3 Hockey League: The Tier-III junior-level NA3HL started its 2025-26 season this week with 38 teams aligned in 6 divisions (Central, East, Frontier, Southeast, South and West). Each team will play 47 games through March 8, 2026. The league had 35 teams last season but the Northeast Generals (Attleboro, MA) did not return and teams called the Bayou State Rougarou (Monroe, LA), Carolina Rage (Greer, SC), Pelham (AL) Prowlers and West Texas Wranglers (Amarillo) were added. The league's Maine Nordiques moved from Lewiston to nearby Auburn (ME) for the 2025-26 season.
Ontario Junior Hockey League: The OJHL, which is one of the nine Junior-A leagues under the Canadian Junior Hockey League, started its 2025-26 season this week and again has 24 teams aligned in 12-team East and West conferences. The only change was the Toronto Jr. Canadians relocating to become the Newmarket Hurricanes for the 2025-26 season. The OJHL had a previous Newmarket Hurricanes team that moved to become the Milton Menace for the 2019-20 season. Each OJHL team will play a 56-game schedule through March 1, 2026.
Ontario Women's Hockey League: Canada's junior-level OWHL, which is known as the OWHL U-22 Elite league and is considered to be the highest level of amateur women's ice hockey in Ontario, started its 2025-26 season this week with 25 teams in a single-table format. Teams are scheduled to play 48 games through March 8, 2026.
United States Hockey League: The Tier-I junior-level USHL and the major-junior Ontario Hockey League have both expressed interest in placing a future expansion team in Niagara Falls (NY). Any new team would be a few years away since the city is in the early stages of trying to build a new Centennial Park multi-purpose center that would host a team.
SOCCER
Liga MX: The top Mexican men's professional soccer league known as Liga MX is expected to reinstate promotion and relegation with the second division Liga de Expansión MX for the 2026-27 season. During the 2019-20 season, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) decided to suspend promotion and relegation between the two leagues for six years (through the 2025-26 season) due to the financial effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Six teams from the Liga de Expansión MX filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in May 2025 to reinstate promotion and relegation a year earlier for the 2025-26 season. The CAS ruled this week against lifting the suspension for the 2025-26 season but reaffirmed the reinstatement of promotion and relegation for the 2026-27 season, most likely with some stricter requirements. The Liga MX is also said to be considering expansion to 20 teams in the future.
National Independent Soccer Association: The men's 2025 NISA Pro Cup tournament, which will start next month and be played at Total Sports Park just north of Detroit in Washington (MI), will include teams called the Arkansas Wolves, Capo FC (San Juan Capistrano, CA), DC Hyper, Los Angeles Force, Northern Colorado Hailstorm, Modesto City FC, Sin City FC (Las Vegas) and Temecula FC.
USL League Two (United Soccer League): The Lynchburg (VA) expansion team in the pre-professional USL League Two announced it will be called the Hill City FC when it starts playing in the 2026 season.
WPSL Pro (Women's Premier Soccer League): The proposed women's Division-II professional WPSL Pro, which currently lists 15 teams that have signed letters of intent with the league, has delayed its start until 2027 or possibly 2028. Originally, the league planned to launch with an abbreviated fall season this year after the 2026 men's World Cup before starting a full April-to-October season beginning in 2027.
OTHER
American Collegiate League: The ACL, which was the national governing body for four regional women's summer-collegiate fastpitch softball leagues last year, recently added the four-team New England Collegiate League (NECL), based in Boston, and the four-team Midwest Gem Collegiate League (MGCL), based in Kansas City (MO), to the organization. The NECL teams will include the Boston Green Monsters, Midnight Riders, Boston Duck Boats and the Boston Tea Spillers. The MGCL teams are the Amethyst Avengers, Midwest Moonstones, Ruby Sluggers and the Prairie Pearls. The other ACL leagues include the Florida Gulf Coast League (Bradenton), Scenic City Collegiate League (Chattanooga), Golden Bay Collegiate League (Irvine, CA) and the Lone Star State Collegiate League (Austin, TX).
Northwoods League Softball: The 2026 Grand Forks (ND) expansion team in the women's NWLS summer-collegiate softball league announced the Flying Aces, Spitfires, Spudniks, Sweet Beets, Voodoo and Wingnuts as the six nicknames that made it to the voting phase of a name-the-team contest. Fan voting will run through September 19 with the selected team name to 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.
United States Hockey League Stories from September 8, 2025
- Gamblers Trade Randle to Des Moines - Green Bay Gamblers
- Bucs Acquire Randle in Trade with Green Bay - Des Moines Buccaneers
- Dupaco Cowbell Cup Dates Set - Waterloo Black Hawks
- Saints to Compete for Seventh-Straight Cowbell Cup Title - Dubuque Fighting Saints
- 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.
