Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on November 24, 2025 under Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)

BASEBALL

Coastal Plain League: The Wilson (NC) Tobs of the summer-collegiate CPL announced the team will be leaving its outdated Fleming Stadium and moving to Smithfield (NC), about 30 miles southwest in Johnston County, where a new ballpark will be built for the team in time for the 2027 season. The team will be renamed the Smithfield Tobs and will also operate under the alternate identity of the JoCo (Johnston County) TaterHogs as a tribute to the heritage of sweet potatoes and eastern North Carolina barbeque. It is uncertain where the Tobs will play in 2026. The city of Wilson is getting a professional team in 2026 and is building a new stadium for the Single-A Carolina League's Wilson Warbirds team that relocated from Zebulon (NC) where it played as the Carolina Mudcats.

Futures Collegiate Baseball League of New England: The summer-collegiate FCBL announced that a new team called the Lowell (MA) Spinners will be added for the 2026 season. A professional Lowell Spinners team played in the affiliated short-season High-A New York-Penn League from 1996 to 2019, but that team was eliminated when the league was disbanded during the 2020 restructuring of Minor League Baseball.

Eastern League: The Somerset Patriots (Bridgewater, NJ) of the Double-A Eastern League will rebrand as the Somerset Semiquincentennials, which means 250th anniversary, for four games during the 2026 season to commemorate the 250th birthday of the United States of America.

International League: The Louisville Bats of the Triple-A International League will take the weather-themed Louisville Humidity as an alternate rebranding for five games during the 2026 season.

Pioneer League: After a negative reception to the recently announced Modesto Glow Riders name, the ownership of the Modesto-based Pioneer League expansion team plans to announce a new permanent name for the team next week. The Classics, Roadsters and Graffiti are reported to be under consideration. The Glow Riders name could still be used in the future as an alternative identity for the new Modesto team.

Women's Professional Baseball League: The proposed new four-team WPBL announced the 5,200-seat Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield (IL) will serve as the home for all games in the league's first season that will start in August 2026. The stadium is home to the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes team in the summer-collegiate Prospect League. The WPBL is a single-entity organization that will own all teams representing the Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco markets. The league plans to start a Springfield-based developmental league in 2027. The WPBL also held its inaugural player draft this week.

BASKETBALL

American Basketball Association: The men's semi-pro ABA will return to Springfield (MA) next season with a new team called the Springfield Storm. The ABA has had previous Springfield-based teams called the Springfield Sting, West Mass Zombies and 413 Elite.

National Basketball Association European League: The NBA is working toward starting its new NBA Europe league in October 2027 with 16 teams, 12 of which would be considered permanent teams while the other 4 slots would be available on an annual play-in basis. Markets reported to be under consideration are Manchester and London in the United Kingdom, Paris and Lyon in France, Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, Milan and Rome in Italy, Berlin and Munich in Germany, Athens (Greece) and Istanbul (Turkey). The league is expected to be a combination of existing teams, new teams and soccer organizations starting a basketball program. A future tournament-style competition between NBA teams and NBA Europe teams is a possibility. The new NBA Europe will be in direct competition with the current 18-team EuroLeague.

FOOTBALL

American Arena League: The AAL, which is restarting in 2026 after sitting idle since the 2021 season, announced its 2026 season will feature four teams each playing nine games from April 16 through June 20, 2026. Teams include the Columbus (GA) Lions and Wheeling (WV) Miners from the 2025 National Arena League, and the Mississippi Wolfpack (Tunica) and Jersey Bearcats (Roselle, NJ) from the 2025 AAL2. Each team is scheduled to play six games against AAL teams and three non-league games. Columbus, Wheeling and Mississippi will play their non-league games against AAL2 teams while Jersey will play two AAL2 teams and a game against the CNY Blue Devils team that was part of the 2025 Winter Indoor Football.

American Arena League 2: The developmental AAL2 announced its 2026 season schedule will feature 14 teams aligned in a five-team East Division, a five-team North division and a four-team South Division. Each team will play eight games from March 28 through June 6, 2026. Most teams will play some non-league games as part of their schedules. The league finished the 2025 season with ten teams but lost four teams and added eight other teams. The Mississippi Wolfpack (Tunica) and Jersey Bearcats (Roselle, NJ) moved to the AAL, while the Georgia Indians (Suwanee) and New Jersey Roughnecks, since renamed the South Jersey Wave, did not return. The AAL2 added the Michigan Grizzlies (Detroit), Michigan Raptors (Monroe), Ohio Legends (Columbus), New Jersey Eagles (Camden), Tri-State Panthers (New Castle, DE), formerly the Southern New Jersey Panthers, Virginia Legion (Richmond), Carolina Aviators (Raleigh) and Peach State Cats (Suwanee, GA).

Canadian Football League: The CFL commissioner stated that expansion to ten teams is not a current priority but when it does happen it would be to a Canadian market and not somewhere in the United States. The recent announcement of some rule changes led to speculation the league would consider the United States for expansion.

Continental Football League: The proposed new minor professional CoFL announced a Midland (TX) team called the Tall City Black Gold will be the third of four teams in the South Division for the league's inaugural season starting in May 2026. The San Antonio Toros and Texas Syndicate (Austin) are the other two South Division teams.

Indoor Football League: The IFL's Massachusetts Pirates officially announced their move from Lowell (MA) to Florida where the team will play as the Orlando Pirates starting with the 2026 season. The Massachusetts Pirates were based in Worcester (MA) when starting in 2018 as part of the National Arena League (NAL). The team switched to the IFL for the 2021 season and moved to Lowell for the 2024 season. Orlando most recently had the Orlando Predators that were part of the NAL for five seasons (2019-23) and last played in the 2024 version of the Arena Football League. The team joined the new Arena Football One for 2025 but dropped out of the league just prior to the start of the 2025 season and did not play.

National Football League: Pending league approval, the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars are planning a temporary move 150 miles south to Orlando for the 2027 season while renovations are completed on their current home at EverBank Stadium. The team is expected to play at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.

HOCKEY

3ICE League: The independent three-on-three professional 3ICE League announced it will play its fourth season in the summer of 2026 at the Xtream Arena, home of the ECHL's Iowa Heartlanders in Coralville (IA). The league will again have eight teams but the 3ICE Dallas team will be renamed the 3ICE Iowa for the 2026 season. Each team will play eight regular-season games from June 10 through August 8, 2026. The league played its 2025 season at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale.

Professional Women's Hockey League: The PWHL started its 2025-26 season this week with eight teams aligned in a single-table format and each team playing 30 games through April 25, 2026. For the league's third season, all six teams have returned from last season and will be joined by expansion teams called the Seattle Torrent and the Vancouver Goldeneyes. All 8 teams will participate in the second "Takeover Tour," which will feature 16 regular-season games played in 11 different neutral sites during the season. The PWHL is not satisfied with the city of Ottawa and its approval to build a reduced-capacity 5,850-seat arena for the league's Ottawa Charge. The league stated the team will not play at the new arena and will look for alternative options to try to remain in the area.

Ontario Hockey League: The Erie (PA) Otters of the major-junior OHL have signed a developmental affiliation agreement with the Fort Erie (Ontario) Meteors of the Junior-B Greater Ontario Hockey League.

United States Premier Hockey League: The Minnesota Outlaws (East Bethel) of the junior-level USPHL's Tier-III Premier Conference have shut down operations for the remainder of the 2025-26 season. The team was the Isanti (MN) Outlaws prior to moving to East Bethel for this season. The team had a 1-14 record.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer: MLS announced its 2026 regular season schedule will feature the same 30 teams and two-conference alignment as last season with each team playing 34 games from February 21 through November 7, 2026. The league will take an in-season break (May 25 to July 16) for the FIFA World Cup.

National Women's Soccer League: With the men's Major League Soccer switching its schedule to coincide with the international soccer calendar in 2027, the NWSL is also debating whether or not to make the same schedule change. The NWSL's current season runs from March to November, while the two-part international season runs from July to December and February to May. Weather issues, talent acquisition and stadium availability are some of the issues under consideration with a potential schedule change. Next season, 12 of the 16 NWSL teams will play in a venue shared with an MLS team. The other current Division-I women's professional league, the United Soccer League's nine-team Gainbridge Super League, started in 2024 and plays by the international soccer calendar.

Canadian Premier League: The Winnipeg-based Valour FC of the men's professional CPL has suspended operations due to poor attendance and financial losses. The team played seven seasons after becoming a charter member of the league when it started in 2019. The team was owned by the group that owns the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. The CPL operated with eight teams in 2025 and will remain at eight teams in 2026 with the addition of a Montreal-area expansion team called the FC Supra du Quebec.

Major Arena Soccer League - Women: The MASLW's new Kansas City Astras team, which planned to play at a facility in Lenexa (KS), was forced to change its name to the Kansas Astras and will play their 2025-26 home games in Des Moines (IA), home of the league's Iowa Demon Hawks. Lenexa is in the 35-mile territory of the MASL's Kansas City Comets men's team, which holds the rights to an MASLW team in the Kansas City market.

OTHER

Major League Volleyball: The women's indoor professional MLV, which was formed this summer through a merger with the Pro Volleyball Federation and will start in January 2026 with eight teams, announced a new yet-to-be-named Minnesota team based in St. Paul will join for the 2027 season. Additional MLV expansion teams in Washington (DC) and Northern California, expected to be Sacramento, will also start in 2027. The MLV's announcement comes a week after the women's indoor professional League One Volleyball (LOVB) announced the addition of a new Minnesota team for a yet-to-be-announced location will be added in 2027. The MLV and LOVB have other competing teams in the Omaha and Atlanta markets.

Premier Lacrosse League: The eight-team men's outdoor (field lacrosse) PLL and its affiliated four-team Maybelline Women's Lacrosse League (WLL) announced its off-season 2026 Championship Series will return to The St. James (Springfield, VA) facility outside of Washington (DC) with two weekends of games on February 27 and March 8, 2026. The top four PLL teams (New York Atlas, Denver Outlaws, California Redwoods and Carolina Chaos) from last season and all four WLL teams (Boston Guard, New York Charging, Maryland Charm and California Palms) will be participating in the round-robin tournament that will feature teams playing the Olympic Sixes version of lacrosse that will be played in the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. The WLL teams participated in the 2025 Championship Series and will be playing their first full season in the summer of 2026.

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.

Professional Women's Hockey League Stories from November 24, 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.