Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on March 23, 2026 under Pecos League (Pecos)
BASEBALL
Carolina League: The Columbia (SC) Fireflies of the Single-A Carolina League will play three games (July 9-11) during the 2026 season as the Capital City Bombers, which was the name of the city's previous minor league team from 1993 to 2004 before moving to Greenville (SC).
Major League Baseball Draft League: The Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Niles, OH) of the developmental MLB Draft League will play a game during the 2026 as the Mahoning Valley Grassmen, named for the sasquatch-like creature known as the Grassman that is reported to roam the wild areas of northeast Ohio. The league's State College (PA) Spikes and Penn State University are in a lease dispute over the team's university-owned home ballpark. The Spikes claim the university if trying to portray the team in a false light in an attempt to force the team out of business. Penn State claims it has been forced to subsidize the team that has fallen behind on payments.
Pecos League: The independent Pecos League announced that the league's new Grand Junction (CO) expansion team will be called the Grand Junction Razorback Suckers when it starts playing in the 2026 season. When the Grand Junction market was first proposed back in October, the team was listed as the Grand Junction Cliff Hangers but was changed after soliciting fans for potential team names.
Pioneer League: The independent Pioneer League's new Long Beach Coast expansion team will play every Friday home game as the Long Beach Regulators during the 2026 season. This secondary brand is a tribute to Long Beach's hip-hop roots and from a 1994 song called ¬ÅRegulate ¬Â by the team's co-owner, rapper Warren G.
South Atlantic League: The Jersey Shore BlueClaws of the High-A SAL will play a game during the 2026 season as the Jersey Tomatoes in a tribute to the agricultural products and farm communities that make New Jersey a national leader in fresh produce.
Women's Pro Baseball League: The new WPBL held a two-day training event in Florida this week ahead of the league's inaugural 2026 season that will feature four teams representing Boston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco and starting in August 2026 with all games played in Springfield (IL).
BASKETBALL
National Basketball Association: The NBA is expected to hold a vote next week on whether to explore the addition of expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle that would start the process to solicit bids from prospective ownership groups. The league is considering the 2028-29 season for these new teams that would grow the league from 30 to 32 teams. With the addition of two western teams, it is expected that either the Minnesota Timberwolves or Memphis Grizzlies would be moved from the Western to the Eastern Conference.
Women's National Basketball Association: The WNBA and the WNBA Players' Association announced they have reached a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, subject to ratification by the players and the league's Board of Governors. If ratified, the WNBA should be able to move forward with the player draft for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire expansion teams and start the 2026 on time.
FOOTBALL
American Indoor Football: The AIF recently announced the Syracuse-based Central New York Blue Devils have been added as an AIF associate travel team for the 2026 season. The Blue Devils have already played a couple of games against AIF teams and are scheduled for two more AIF games along with games against teams from the American Arena League 2.
American Football League Europe: The new AFLE's recently announced London (England) team is expected to be operated by the London Warriors from the British American Football Association.
American 7 Football League: The semi-pro A7FL, which plays outdoor full-contact 7-on-7 football with players wearing no helmets or hard pads, has started its 2026 season with ten teams aligned in a six-team Eastern Conference and a four-team Las Vegas-based Western Conference. The eastern teams will play five games and the western teams will play four to five games through April 19, 2026.
United Football League: The new co-owner of the eight-team spring-season UFL announced ambitious plans to expand the league to 16 teams by 2035 and eventually grow to 32 teams.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The National Hockey League's New York Islanders announced their intent to move its AHL affiliate called the Bridgeport (CT) Islanders to the renovated TD Coliseum in Hamilton (Ontario) for the 2026-27 season. The move still requires the approval of the AHL Board of Governors. Bridgeport has been part of the AHL since the 2001-02 season when the team was called the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Hamilton last had the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs team in the 2014-15 season.
Federal Prospects Hockey League: The FPHL is expected to announce next week the addition of a new Memphis-area expansion team that will play out of the Landers Center in suburban Southaven (MS).
North American Hockey League: The Tier-II junior-level NAHL has approved the relocation of the North Iowa Bulls (Mason City, IA) to Richmond (TX) in the Houston area where the team will be renamed the Houston Bulls for the 2026-27 season. The North Iowa Bulls' affiliated Tier-III NA3HL team called the Mason City Toros will remain in Mason City and will be renamed the North Iowa Bulls.
National Collegiate Development Conference: The Montreal Black Vees team, which has been part of the junior-level United States Premier Hockey League's Tier-III Premier Conference since the 2024-25 season, has been approved for a team in the USPHL's Tier-II NCDC and will operate teams in Laval (Quebec) at both the Tier-II and Tier-III levels for the 2026-27 season.
SOCCER
Major Arena Soccer League: The Oklahoma City-based Certified Lions FC of the MASL 2 announced the team has applied to join the MASL for the 2026-27 season as it moves to the new 8,000-seat OG&E Coliseum.
Major League Indoor Soccer - Extended: The men's MLIS's new amateur-level MLISX completed its inaugural 2026 this weekend with five teams called the Fort Wayne 1927 FC, United North FC (Northern, IN), FC Indiana (Lafayette), Kansas City (KS) Barilleros and the Summit City Sentinels (Fort Wayne). Teams played eight games from mid-January through mid-March, followed by playoffs.
Major League Soccer: MLS announced plans for its 2027 short season, which will be known as the MLS Sprint Season and run from February to May as the league transitions to a summer-to-spring schedule starting in July 2027 to match the schedules of the top international leagues. Each team will play 14 games from February to April, followed by playoffs.
United Women's Soccer: The women's developmental summertime UWS recently announced ten teams that will be joining the league for the 2026 season. The new teams include the Chicago Inter Soccer Club, San Fernando Valley FC, Prestige FC (Jurupa Valley, CA), Club Atletico Internacional (Santa Ana, CA), Worcester (MA) Wanderers and five Michigan-based teams called the Tulip City FC (Holland), Midland Soccer Club, Lansing City Football, Pass FC (Grand Rapids) and AC Grand Rapids Academy.
OTHER
Premier Lacrosse League: The men's PLL and the affiliated Women's Lacrosse League (WLL) held a series of events this week in Japan under the title of the PLL & WLL Global Games Japan. The program concluded with a professional lacrosse exhibition featuring PLL and WLL stars competing alongside Japan's top men's and women's players in the six-player version of lacrosse that will be featured at the 2028 Summer Olympics.
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.
Pecos League Stories from March 23, 2026
- 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.
