Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on February 23, 2026 under Major League Rugby (MLR)
BASEBALL
Atlantic League: The independent Atlantic League's Hagerstown (MD) Flying Boxcars will play select games during the 2026 season as the Hagerstown Wienerschnitzels, named after a traditional German dish, and to celebrate the area's German lineage and history.
Prospect League: The summer-collegiate Prospect League's new Decatur (IL) expansion team will be called the Decatur Bean Ballers when starting as the 20th team in the 2026 season. The league had 18 teams last season and also added a team in Kokomo (IN) called the Kokomo Creek Chubs for 2026. A team called the Decatur Blues played from 1986 to 2003 as part of the Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL), which was a precursor to the Prospect League that started in 2009 and included the five teams from the CICL's 2008 season.
Eastern League: The Akron RubberDucks of the Double-A Eastern League will play two games (July 24-25) as the Akron Cream Stick Donuts as part of the "Only in Akron" promotion and a tribute to the name for the custard-filled bar-shaped doughnuts that are popular in northeast Ohio. The league's Reading Fightin Phils will continue their popular morning-game breakfast tradition and play the 23rd Annual Morning Game on August 25 of the 2026 season as the Reading Iced Coffees.
South Atlantic League: The Jersey Shore BlueClaws of the High-A SAL will play a game during the 2026 season on June 18 as the Jersey Shore Pork Rollers celebrating two of New Jersey's favorites-the popular processed breakfast meat called the pork roll and the sport of bowling.
BASKETBALL
American Basketball Association: The semi-pro ABA announced teams called the Charlotte (NC) Angels and the Danville (VA) Devils will join the league for the 2026-27 season.
The Basketball League: Earlier this month, the men's semi-pro TBL held a player draft for 38 teams that are expected to be part of the 2026 season. There were a few recent changes as the Albany (NY) Patroons announced the team will sit out the 2026 season, the Sherman (TX) Stampede is now the Dallas Stampede, and the new Enid (OK) team has been named the Enid Outlaws. The proposed return of the Yakima (WA) SunKings team that played in the TBL's 2018 and 2019 seasons will not happen in 2026. A new team called the Yakima Heat is now listed as a member of the United States Basketball League that is restarting in 2026.
United States Basketball League: The men's springtime professional USBL, which started in 1985 and has been dormant since completing its 2007 season, has undergone some team membership changes ahead of its March 2026 restart. Original plans were for 14 teams, most of which were members of the 2025 The Basketball League (TBL), aligned in 7-team Eastern and Western conferences. The seven Eastern Conference teams, along with the Western Conference San Diego Sharks, have broken away to form a new eight-team league that is undergoing a "Name the League" (NTL) contest with teams to play a 24-game season from March 6 through June 6, 2026. This new "NTL" (nametheleague.com) will include the new Baltimore Rhythm and former 2025 TBL teams called the Capital Seahawks (Bowie, MD), Reading Rebels, Frederick (MD) Flying Cows, New York Phoenix (Schenectady), Jersey Shore Breaks, Virginia Valley Vipers and the San Diego Sharks. The remaining six Western Conference teams, plus new additions called the San Diego Surf and Yakima (WA) Heat, are listed under the USBL banner (usbl.com) and the eight teams are scheduled to play 22 to 24 games from March 6 through May 31, 2026. The other six previously announced western teams include the Bakersfield Majestics, Los Angeles Blue Waves (renamed from the Long Beach Blue Waves), Salem (OR) Capitals and Seattle SuperHawks from the TBL, the new Vancouver (WA) Bears that evolved from the 2025 TBL's Vancouver Volcanoes, and a new team called the Spokane (WA) Lilac Legends.
FOOTBALL
American Football League Europe: The new professional AFLE American-style football league announced it will start a new team in Italy for its inaugural 2026 season. Milan has been mentioned as the location for the new team but more details will be announced next month. A new Milan team is being planned by the new European Football Alliance (EFA) for a start in 2027. Also, a team called the Milano Seamen played two seasons (2023-24) in the European League of Football but sat out the 2025 season with plans to return in 2026.
American Indoor Football: The AIF has terminated the membership of the North Michigan Muskies (Traverse City) team for failure to meet league requirements. The Muskies lost their first game of the 2026 season last weekend, a road loss to the West Michigan Ironmen, and the team was scheduled for three more road games and three home games. The Muskies' 2026 home games have been cancelled and the league's Pennsylvania Union travel-only team will fill in to play the remaining three road games. The Muskies played as the Coralville (IA) Chaos in the 2025 season before moving to Traverse City for the 2026 season.
Championship Football Association: The proposed new 9-man indoor CFA announced it will operate in 2026 as a Showcase Season from June through December to introduce teams and test its 9-man indoor concept. The league will be fully operational in 2027 and that will be considered the inaugural season. The CFA is planning to have teams in seven different regions across the United States. Currently, there are five teams in Texas and Oklahoma listed as part of the Big South region's West Division and one New York team in the North East region.
Continental Football League: The proposed new minor professional CoFL, which plans to start playing in May 2026 with four-team Southern and Northern divisions, announced the Michigan Arrows (Detroit area) as the third team in the Northern Division along with the Cincinnati Dukes and Ohio Ironmen (Wheeling, WV). Michigan-based minor pro football teams called the Arrows played parts of six seasons (1962-68) in the former Midwest Football League and a Michigan Arrows team played in the 1968 season of the 1960s version of the CoFL. The current CoFL's Southern Division was up to four Texas-based teams called San Angelo Sidewinders, Tall City Black Gold (Midland), San Antonio Toros and the Texas Syndicate (Austin) but the San Angelo team recently dropped out.
Liga de Futbol Americano: Mexico's top professional American-style outdoor football league known as the LFA announced its 2026 season schedule will feature only seven of the eight teams from last season as the Arcángeles de Puebla team will not be participating. The Puebla team joined the LFA as a new team in 2025 but was facing financial issues. The seven returning teams will be aligned in a single-table format with each team playing a six-game schedule from April 9 through May 23, 2026.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The AHL's Springfield (MA) Thunderbirds played their annual game as the Springfield Ice- O-Topes this weekend in a tribute to "The Simpsons" television series based in the fictional town of Springfield that had a fictional hockey team called the Ice-O-Topes.
Eastern Hockey League: The independent Tier-II EHL recently announced the addition of a new team called the Elite Golden Knights that will be operated by the Elite Hockey Academy and based in Bridgeport (CT) starting with the 2026-27 season. The team will be added to the EHL Central Division.
ECHL: When the ECHL's new expansion team called the New Mexico Goatheads (Rio Rancho) starts playing in the 2026-27 season, the team will be the ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche and their American Hockey League affiliate called the Colorado Eagles (Loveland). The ECHL's Utah Grizzlies (West Valley) have been the Avalanche's ECHL affiliate since the 2018-19 season but that team is relocating to become the Trenton (NJ) Ironhawks for the 2026-27 season. The Goatheads will become the ECHL's 31st team and the league is planning to have one-to-one affiliations for all NHL teams by the 2027-28 season when the Augusta (GA) expansion team joins the ECHL as the 32nd team.
SOCCER
Major League Soccer: MLS started its 2026 season this weekend and again has 30 teams aligned in 15-team Eastern and Western conferences. Each team will play 34 games through November 7, 2026, and the league will take an in-season break (May 25 to July 16) for the FIFA Men's World Cup. MLS announced it will move its regular season from a February-to-November schedule to a summer-to-spring schedule starting in July 2027 to match the schedules of the top international leagues.
National Women's Soccer League: A group called Sunny Day Sports has purchased the 80-acre former Fiesta Mall site in Mesa (AZ), about 20 miles east of Phoenix, with plans to build a domed soccer stadium for a Division-I professional women's soccer team, possibly in the NWSL. In December the city approved a special tax district, the Palo District, which includes the site for the proposed stadium that could become home to both a Major League Soccer team and an NWSL team. The NWSL will have 16 teams in 2026 and a 17th team announced for Atlanta plans to start in 2028. The NWSL also wants to add an 18th team for 2028.
USL W-League (United Soccer League): The women's pre-professional USL W-League recently announced the addition of the New England Mutiny (Ludlow, MA) and the Monterey City FC, which will be operated by the men's team by that name in the USL Championship, for the 2026 season. The league also announced the 2026 season will feature 96 teams aligned in four regional conferences (Eastern, Central, Southern and Western) with each conference further aligned in four regional divisions. Teams will play up to 12 games from May 9 through June 28, 2026.
OTHER
Major League Rugby: In an effort to expand the league's footprint by introducing professional rugby to new markets, the men's professional rugby union (15-player) MLR will play a regular-season neutral-site game in Nashville on April 19, 2026. The league's Chicago Hounds and New England Free Jacks will play in the Music City Rugby Showdown to be held at the 30,000-seat soccer-specific GEODIS Park stadium. The MLR dropped from 11 to only 6 teams for the upcoming season and wants to grow the league to at least 8 teams.
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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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.
