Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on April 13, 2026 under Arena Football One (AF1)

BASEBALL

California League: The Single-A California League recently started its 2026 season and again has eight teams aligned in four-team North and South divisions with each team playing 132 games through September 6, 2026. There were three changes in the league's MLB affiliations after the 2025 season. The Seattle Mariners moved their North Division Modesto Nuts affiliate to San Bernardino and became a new version of the Inland Empire 66ers in the South Division; the Los Angeles Angels moved their Inland Empire 66ers affiliate to Rancho Cucamonga as a new version of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes; and the Los Angeles Dodgers moved their Rancho Cucamonga Quakes affiliate to a new ballpark in Ontario to become the Ontario Tower Buzzers. To even out the divisions, the Visalia Rawhide was moved from the South Division to take Modesto's spot in the North Division.

Carolina League: The Single-A Carolina League recently started its 2026 season and again has 12 teams aligned in six-team North and South divisions with each team playing 132 games through September 6, 2025. The league's Carolina Mudcats moved from Zebulon (NC) to Wilson (NC) in the off-season and the team is now the Wilson Warbirds. The league's Salem (VA) Red Sox were renamed the Salem RidgeYaks and the Lynchburg (VA) Hillcats were renamed the Hill City Howlers for the 2026 season.

Florida State League: The Single-A FSL recently started its 2026 season with the same ten teams and affiliations as last season and teams again aligned in a four-team East Division and a six-team West Division. Each team will play 132 games through September 6, 2026.

Major League Baseball Draft League: The Trenton Thunder of the MLB Draft League has come under new ownership. The team is in the second phase of renovations to bring its stadium up to MLB's minor league standards as it continues efforts to return to operating as an affiliated team. The Trenton Thunder lost its Double-A Eastern League affiliation during the restructuring of Minor League Baseball prior to the 2021 season and opted to join the developmental MLB Draft League. One long range option for Trenton is the proposed MLB expansion by two teams that would add four new affiliated teams per each new MLB team.

Boom Ball: The tour-based Boom Ball, which was inspired by the Savannah Bananas and its version of baseball entertainment called Banana Ball, recently started its inaugural 2026 tour in Glendale (AZ). Each event will feature a two-hour six-inning modified version of baseball with live performance, comedy and music. Each inning is its own mini-game with its own set of rules. Boom Ball features two co-ed teams called the Lucky Llamas and the Chaos Crew.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association - Europe: Potential investors in the NBA's proposed new European basketball league recently started submitting non-binding bids as the league expects to start in the fall of 2027 with 14 to 16 teams in 12 European cities. The new league is currently focused on placing teams in London, Manchester, Paris, Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Milan, Berlin, Munich, Athens and Istanbul. Some of those markets have current teams in the 20-team EuroLeague. The NBA and the international FIBA are planning to structure the new league with 10 to 12 permanent teams and remaining slots earned by teams that qualify through other competitions.

Women's Premier Basketball Association: The WNBA formally approved expansion teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Cleveland will start in 2028, Detroit in 2029, and Philadelphia in 2030. A U.S. senator from Connecticut wants the Department of Justice to launch an antitrust investigation into the WNBA's role in the recent sale of the league's Connecticut Sun to interests in Houston. The sale amount was reported to be lower than what two other bidders offered to purchase and move the team to Boston or Hartford.

Upshot Basketball: The new professional women's developmental basketball league known as the Upshot League, which plans to start next month with four teams called the Jacksonville Waves, Savannah Steel, Greensboro Groove and Charlotte Crown, announced a 2027 expansion team will be added in Nashville along with a previously announced 2027 expansion team in Baltimore. The Nashville team will announce its name in July 2026.

FOOTBALL

Arena Football One: The AF1 started its 2026 season this weekend with 9 teams aligned in a single-table format and each team playing 12 games through July 18, 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 moved about 50 miles northwest to the F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville (TN) for the 2026 season and the team retained the Nashville Kats name.

American Arena League 2: The developmental AAL2 has started its 2026 season that features 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 through June 6, 2026, and 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 restarted American Arena League in 2026, 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 (Ann Arbor), Ohio Legends (Marion), New Jersey Eagles (Cherry Hill), Tri-State Panthers (New Castle, DE), formerly the Southern New Jersey Panthers, Virginia Legion (Richmond), Carolina Aviators (Raleigh) and Peach State Cats (Suwanee, GA).

American Women's Football League: The semi-pro full-tackle AWFL started its 2026 season this weekend with 34 teams aligned in a Southwest Conference with an eight-team Apex Division and a nine-team Gulf Division, and a Northeast Conference with an eight-team Great Lakes Division and a nine-team Atlantic Division. Teams are scheduled to play five games through June 6, 2026.

United Football League: The springtime professional UFL, which recently started its 2026 season with eight teams, announced the league will place a new team in Oklahoma City for the 2028 season. The team will play at a new 10,000-seat stadium that will also be home to a men's professional soccer team in the USL Championship league. The UFL plans to grow to ten teams for the 2028 season with another location still to be determined.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The AHL's Tucson Roadrunners signed a lease extension that will keep the team in the city through the 2027-28 season. There has been speculation the Roadrunners could be moving to Reno where the team's owner is behind the construction of the new Grand Sierra Resort Arena to be completed in the fall of 2027.

American Premier Hockey League: The Northern Michigan Warhounds (Gaylord) from the senior-A semi-pro APHL announced the team is moving to the Michigan Independent Hockey league for the 2026-27 season.

Professional Women's Hockey League: The PWHL is reported to be expanding from 8 current teams to 10 or 12 teams for the 2026-27 season. The league held neutral-site regular-season games this season in ten prospective markets as part of its "Takeover Tour," six in Canada (Edmonton, Quebec City, Calgary, Halifax, Hamilton and Winnipeg) and four in the United States (Detroit, Denver, Chicago and Dallas). Detroit is considered as the frontrunner for one of the new expansion teams.

National Collegiate Development Conference: The United States Premier Hockey League's Tier-II junior-level NCDC announced the addition of the new Jacksonville-based team called the Florida Surge that will be part of a previously announced new NCDC Florida Division for the 2026-27 season. The Florida Surge replaces the Jacksonville-based Bold City Battalion that was originally listed as part of the new NCDC Florida Division but that team folded early in the 2025-26 season. The Surge will also operate a team in the USPHL's Tier-III Premier Conference starting next season.

SOCCER

British Columbia Premier League: The pro-am BCPL, formerly known as League1 BC, has started its 2026 season with eight-team men's and women's divisions and teams playing 14 games through July 5, 2026. The BCPL is one of several member leagues in the Premier Soccer Leagues Canada, formerly called League1 Canada.

Ligue1 Quebec: The pro-am Ligue1 Quebec, which is member of the Premier Soccer Leagues Canada, has started its 2026 season with three levels of men's and women's teams. The top Ligue1 Men and Ligue1 Women each have 12 teams in a single-table format with the men playing 22 games through August 7, 2026, and the women playing 16 games through July 26, 2026. The Ligue2 Men has 12 teams and the Ligue2 Women has 10 teams. The Ligue3 Men has 25 teams and the Ligue3 Women has 9 teams.

Major Arena Soccer League: The men's professional MASL announced the league will add a Lehigh Valley expansion team based in Allentown (PA) for the 2026-27 season.

Major League Soccer: After reaching out to supporters for feedback on possible changes to their name and logo, MLS's Colorado Rapids announced the club will update its logo but will not change its name. The club, which was a charter member of MLS in 1996, stated that 90 percent of fans identify with the Colorado Rapids name.

MLS Next Pro (Major League Soccer): Plans for a proposed state-backed soccer stadium to be built in Baltimore for a future men's MLS Next Pro team, which would be affiliated with the MLS's D.C. United, and a women's team in the Gainbridge Super League have stalled due to location and financing issues. The city has failed in past attempts to build a soccer stadium to lure the MLS's D.C. United and an attempt at a smaller stadium for the former Baltimore-based Crystal Palace club.

National Women's Soccer League: The Columbus (OH) city council is debating whether to use a new tax to help fund a training facility for a proposed NWSL expansion team along with improvements to the city's current stadium that is home to Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew and the proposed future home of an NWSL team. Atlanta has been granted the NWSL's 17th team to start in 2028 and Columbus wants to be the league's 18th team. Other markets like Miami, Nashville, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia and Mesa (AZ) have expressed interest in an NWSL team.

OTHER

The Rock League: The new mixed-gender professional curling league called the Rock League played its inaugural seven-day (April 6-12) condensed preview season this weekend at a facility in Toronto and featuring six teams called the Alpine Curling Club (Europe), Frontier Curling Club (United States), Maple United (Canada), Northern United (Europe), Shield Curling Club (Canada) and the Typhoon Curling Club (Asia-Pacific). Each franchise had five men and five women curlers competing in four-player team matches (men's, women's and mixed). The league will return in 2027 with its first full four-week season that will feature four four-day events from January 7 through February 7, 2027, followed by a playoff event in April. The four 2027 events will be held in Moose Jaw (Saskatchewan), Halifax (Nova Scotia), Utica (NY) and Ottawa (Ontario).

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.