Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on December 15, 2025 under Arena Football One (AF1)

BASEBALL

American Association: An ownership group with ties to the independent American Association is exploring various sites in Colorado Springs (CO) for construction of new baseball stadium that could become home to a future American Association team. The Colorado Springs market became vacant after the independent Pioneer League's 2025 season when the Colorado Springs-based Rocky Mountain Vibes suspended operations and the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, a temporary team added by the Pioneer League during the 2025 season for the disbanded Northern Colorado Owlz (Windsor) team, folded. The American Association group does not want to use the ballpark that was home to the Pioneer League teams.

Appalachian League: The summer-collegiate Appy League, which operates under the Major League Baseball and USA Baseball Prospect Development Pipeline, announced its 2026 season schedule will feature eight teams aligned in four-team East and West divisions with each team playing a 48-game schedule from June 4 through July 30, 2026. The league had ten teams in 2025 but the Tri State Coal Cats (Huntington, WV) will not return, while the Bristol (VA) State Liners will sit out the 2026 season and hope to return in 2027 after a proposed new ballpark is completed.

Northwoods League: The summer-collegiate Northwoods League announced its 2026 season will feature 26 teams playing from May 25 through August 8, 2026. The league had 24 teams last season and added an expansion team called the Richmond (IN) Flying Mummies for the 2026 season. To keep an even number of teams, the league's Minnesota Mud Puppies travel-only team, which was used by the league for four previous seasons (2021-24), will return in 2026. The Mud Puppies will be based out of a training facility in Savage (MN), south of Minneapolis, and will play 36 road games while all other teams will play a 72-game schedule.

Texas Collegiate Baseball League: The summer-collegiate TCBL recently announced its 2026 season schedule that will feature eight teams aligned in a single-table format with each team playing a 48-game schedule from June 2 through July 26, 2026. All six 2025 teams, three in Texas and three in Louisiana, will return in 2026, but with the addition of the Texas-based Sherman Shadowcats and Abilene Flying Bison from the Mid-America League, the divisional alignment was dropped. The league's Seguin River Monsters are moving about 30 miles west to San Antonio and the team has been renamed the San Antonio River Monsters.

BASKETBALL

Liga Mexicana de Baloncesto Profesional Femenil: The Mexican women's LMBPF professional basketball league, also known as the La Liga de Mexico, announced its 2026 season will run from January 24 through April 19, 2026. Of the nine teams from last season, five returning teams along with a new team called the Estrellas de Puebla have committed to the 2026 season while four other teams from last season have yet to register for 2026.

Upshot League: The proposed new women's developmental professional basketball league known as the Upshot League announced its inaugural season will start on May 15, 2026, and run through September 2026. A complete schedule will be announced next month. The new league will have four southeastern teams called the Charlotte Crown, Greensboro (NC) Groove, Jacksonville Waves and the Savannah Steel. A Baltimore expansion team was recently announced for a start in the 2027 season.

FOOTBALL

Arena Indoor Football: The AIF announced its 2026 expansion team called the Odessa (TX) Drillers will play an independent schedule for the 2026 season as the team prepares for full league play in the future. There have been no updates on another previously announced 2026 Texas-based expansion team called the Tyler Crude.

Arena Football One: The AF1 announced its 2026 season schedule that will feature 9 teams each playing 12 games from April 10 through July 19, 2026. The league had eight teams last season but lost four teams and added five other teams for 2026. The Corpus Christi Tritons were dropped due to financial instability; the Salina (KS) Liberty and Southwest Kansas Storm (Dodge City) moved to the National Arena League; and the Billings (MT) Outlaws are sitting out the 2026 season as the team looks to relocate. The AF1 added expansion teams called the Kentucky Barrels (Highland Heights/Cincinnati area), Michigan Arsenal (Saginaw) and the Oceanside (CA) Bombers, along with existing teams called the Beaumont (TX) Drillers from the 2025 National Arena League and the Minnesota Monsters, who played as the Duluth (MN) Harbor Monsters in the 2025 The Arena League. The league's Nashville Kats team will move about 50 miles northwest to the F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville (TN) for the 2026 season and the team will retain the Nashville Kats name.

Canadian Football League: The CFL announced its 2026 season schedule will again feature the same nine teams aligned in a five-team West Division and a four-team East Division with each team play 18 games from June 4 through October 24, 2026.

European League of Football: The American-style professional football ELF announced the Tirol Raiders (Austria) will be part of the 2026 season. The Raiders were one of several ELF teams that left to join the new European Football Alliance (EFA) after the 2025 season but the ELF and EFA have since agreed to unify for the 2026 season. The EFA had announced two new teams called the London Guard and Milano Giants (Italy) but those teams will not start in the ELF until 2027. With the proposed move of the Rhein Fire (Germany) to the new EFA, the team planned to change its name but it recently obtained rights to continue in the ELF as the Rhein Fire.

National Football League Flag Football: The NFL announced it will invest up to $32 million in financial support for the development and launch of a professional flag football league for both men and women. Flag football has been added as a sport for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. A professional league called the American Flag Football League (AFFL) planned to start in April 2024 with four men's teams called the Boston Brigade, Dallas Ocelots, Nashville Nighthawks, and the Las Vegas Lucky Sevens and start a women's division in 2025. In March 2025, the AFFL announced that both men's and women's divisions would start playing in 2026 but the league has provided no updates since and its website (affl.com) is unavailable.

The Arena League: The 7-on-7 TAL announced its eighth team for the 2026 season will be based in Monroe (LA). The city was home to two teams in the former National Indoor Football League with the Louisiana Bayou Bucks in the 2001 season and the Twin City Gators in the 2006 season. The TAL had six teams last season but the Duluth Harbor Monsters left to become the Minnesota Monsters in the Arena Football One. The TAL added three yet-to-be-named teams in Monroe, Grand Island (NE) and Memphis. The league will be aligned in two four-team divisions with Monroe and Memphis joining the returning Ozark Lunkers (Springfield, MO) and the Arkansas Diamonds, who played as the Hot Springs (AR) Wiseguys in 2025, in a division. The other division will feature Grand Island with the returning Eau Claire (WI) Axemen, Iowa Woo (Waterloo) and the St. Joseph (MO) Goats. A recently posted schedule has each team play eight games from May 29 through July 25, 2026.

HOCKEY

National Collegiate Development Conference: The junior-level United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) announced its 32-team Tier-II NCDC will add the New England Wolves (Laconia, NH) from the Tier-II Eastern Hockey League for the 2026-27 season. The NCDC will also increase from five to eight regional divisions for the 2026-27 season through the promotion of several current teams operating in the USPHL's Tier-III Premier Conference. The new NCDC Florida Division will add the current Coral Springs Jr. Cats, Florida Eels, Florida Jr. Blades, Palm Beach Typhoon, Tampa Bay Juniors and idle Bold City Battalion (Jacksonville). The new NCDC Midwest Division will add the current Columbus (OH) Mavericks, Fort Wayne Spacemen, Metro Jets (Fraser, MI) and Red River Spartans (Clarksville, TN) and a new Chicago team. The new Southeast Division will add the current Carolina Jr. Hurricanes, Charleston Colonials, Charlotte Rush, Hampton Roads Whalers, Potomac Patriots and the new Yorktown (VA) Admirals. Each NCDC team will be required to operate a Tier-III Premier Conference team.

Ontario Hockey League: The city council in Brantford (Ontario) unanimously agreed to move forward on a new sports and entertainment center that will become the future home of the major-junior OHL's Brantford Bulldogs starting with the 2028-29 season. The team was known as the Hamilton Bulldogs until temporarily moving to Brantford where it was to play three seasons (2023-26) and return to Hamilton after major renovations to the arena in Hamilton were completed. The team was a success in Brantford but the city needed a new arena to keep the team. In January 2025, the Bulldogs came under new ownership that agreed to keep the team in Brantford after the city agreed to build a new arena.

SOCCER

USL Championship (United Soccer League): The Division-II professional USL Championship announced its 2026 season schedule will feature 25 teams aligned in a 13-team Eastern Conference and a 12-team Western Conference. Each team will play a 30-game schedule from March 7 through October 24, 2026. Last season's 12-team Eastern Conference lost the North Carolina FC (Cary) but added expansion teams called the Brooklyn FC and the Sporting Jacksonville SC. There were no changes to the Western Conference for 2026. All funding is now in place to start site work and construction on a new soccer stadium in Des Moines (IA) for a USL Championship expansion team that has been in the works for several years. The Des Moines ownership also plans to add a women's professional team in the USL Division-I Gainbridge Super League.

USL League One (United Soccer League): The Division-III professional USL League One announced its 2026 season schedule that will feature 18 teams aligned in a single-table format with each team playing 30 games from March 7 through October 26, 2026. The league had 14 teams last season but the Texoma FC (Sherman, TX) is moving down to the pre-professional USL League Two, while five teams called the Athletic Club Boise, Corpus Christi FC, Fort Wayne FC, New York Cosmos and Sarasota Paradise were added for 2026. Expansion teams called the Sporting Cascades FC (Eugene, OR) and the Fort Lauderdale United FC have decided to wait until 2027 to start their teams in the USL League One.

USL League Two (United Soccer League): The men's pre-professional USL League Two recently announced the addition of six new teams for the 2026 season. The Loudoun United FC (Leesburg, VA) and Louisville City FC of the professional USL Championship are adding USL League Two teams in 2026. Teams called the Lakeland United FC (Florida), Hickory FC (North Carolina) and the Connecticut Rush (Old Saybrook) have been added along with a yet-to-be-named team in Greeley (CO). The Hickory FC played in the 2025 National Premier Soccer League.

OTHER

Major League Volleyball: The women's indoor professional MLV announced the ownership group for its NorCal (Northern California) franchise that will start playing in the 2027 season and will represent the area from San Jose, up through San Francisco to Sacramento. The team name and home venue are still to be announced.

Northwoods League Softball: The women's NWLS summer-collegiate softball league announced its 2026 season schedule will feature six teams each playing a 42-game schedule from June 10 through July 31, 2026. All five teams from last season will return and the league added a sixth team called the Grand Forks (ND) Spitfires for 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.

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