Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on April 20, 2026 under Pecos League (Pecos)
BASEBALL
Pecos League: The independent Peco League's California-based Pacific Division will operate with only five teams in 2026 with the recent loss of the Vallejo Seaweed due to issues with its home field. The division had already added the travel-only Austin Weirdos team based in the Bay Area to replace the loss of last season's Monterey Amberjacks and did not want to create another travel-only team as a sixth team to replace Vallejo. Each Pacific Division team will play 48 games within the division from May 18 through July 25, 2026. The league will operate with a total 15 teams with a ten-team Mountain Division that is split into five-team North and South divisions.
Mavericks Independent Baseball League: The independent Mavericks League has posted its 2026 season schedule that will feature the same four teams as last season with each team playing 48 games from May 5 through August 30, 2026, and all games again played at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer (OR). The league was organized for the 2021 season by the owners of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes team, which was a member of the former short-season Class-A Northwest League and was not offered an affiliation during the 2021 restructuring of Minor League Baseball. The league has featured the same four teams called the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, Salem Senators, Portland Mavericks and Campesinos (Farm Workers) de Salem-Keizer since starting in 2021.
Liga Mexicana de Beisbol: Mexico's top professional LMB, or Mexican Baseball League, started its 2026 season this weekend with the same 20 teams as last season and again aligned in ten-team Norte (North) and Sur (South) divisions. Each team will play a 93-game schedule through August 6, 2026.
Major League Baseball: The mayor of Vancouver (British Columbia) wants MLB to consider the city for expansion and will put a motion before the city council next week that would help identify a qualified ownership group capable of bidding on an expansion franchise. The city is home to the Vancouver Canadians, the High-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays in the Northwest League, but an MLB team would need a new major league baseball stadium. MLB wants to add a team in the West and a team in the East, so Vancouver would have to compete with interests in Portland (OR) and Salt Lake City in the West. Other groups in Austin, Nashville, Orlando, Montreal, Charlotte and Raleigh (NC) have expressed interest in obtaining one of the two expansion teams, but Salt Lake City in the West and Nashville in the East are considered the frontrunners.
Northwoods League: The Madison (WI) Mallards of the summer-collegiate Northwoods League will play a game (June 5) as the Madison Mavericks to honor Maverick, the team's popular bat dog. The league's Kenosha (WI) Kingfish will play a game (July 25) as the Kenosha Keepers to honor the historic lighthouses and their keepers on the shores of the Great Lakes.
Texas League: The Double-A Texas League's Corpus Christi Hooks played the first of each Wednesday home game this season as the Corpus Christ Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits in an annual promotion with the Whataburger restaurant chain. The league's Wichita Wind Surge played two games this weekend as the Wichita Chili Buns to celebrate a Midwest comfort food that features a cinnamon bun placed on top of a bowl of chili.
BASKETBALL
Unrivaled Basketball: The eight-team Unrivaled 3-on-3 women's professional basketball league, which recently completed its second season with teams playing games at a facility in Miami, is considering adding six to eight tour stops to its schedule for next season. In 2025, six teams played all games at the Wayfair Arena in Miami. This season, two teams were added and all games were played in Miami except for a two-game stop in Philadelphia and two semi-final games played in Brooklyn. Previously, the league talked of possible selling franchises in the future and potentially attaching teams to specific cities.
Women's Premier Basketball Association: The women's developmental WPBA, which is based in the Oakland (CA) area and assists players looking for opportunities to play overseas, is preparing for its 2026 summer season and recently held a combine in Phoenix with five of its eight teams called the Bay Area Phoenix, Alameda Wolves, Bay City Blaze, Hayward Reign and Oakland Swish. The WPBA plays all games at one location in Oakland.
American Basketball Association: The men's semi-pro ABA announced four expansion teams called the Rio Ranch (NM) Roadrunners, Windy City NativHawks (Chicago), Lion Nation Pro-Am Basketball (Charlotte) and Phoenix Nomads have joined the league for the 2026-27 season.
FOOTBALL
Major League Football: The proposed professional fall-season MLF, not to be confused with another league by that name that failed to get off the ground from 2016 to 2022, has been trying to get off the ground since 2020 and now has names associated with 3 of its 30 proposed teams. The 30 markets are aligned in 15-team Eastern and Western conferences, each with 5-team North, South and Central divisions. The Georgia Generals are listed in the Eastern Conference South Division, the Arkansas Blades are listed in the Eastern Conference Central Division and the St. Louis Hops are list in the Western Conference South Division.
American Arena League: The AAL restarted play this week with four teams after sitting idle since the 2021 season. 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 nine game, six games against AAL teams and three non-league games, through June 20, 2026.
International Arena League: The new IAL started its 2026 season this week with 10 teams, 5 in the United States and 5 teams in Europe, with each team scheduled to play 12 games through July 25, 2026. The U.S. teams include the Arizona Juggernauts (Tempe), Cincinnati Slingers, Las Vegas Rockers, Pennsylvania Benjamins (Reading) and Utah Great 8's (Salt Lake City). The European teams include the Dusseldorf Warriors (Germany), England Eruptors (Nottingham), Glasgow Tartans (Scotland), Stuttgart Stallions (Germany) and Zurich Ibexx (Switzerland). The current IAL standings list all teams in a single-table format.
National Arena League: After the NAL dropped the Amarillo Dusters prior to the 2025 season for failing to meet league requirements, the team came under new ownership as the Bayou Bucks in January 2026 with plans to move to an unnamed city in southern Louisiana for 2027. Although a specific league has not been mentioned by the team, the Bayou Bucks recently stated they will announce their home city and venue next month.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The AHL's Bridgeport (CT) Islanders played their final regular-season home game in the city last weekend as the team relocates to Hamilton (Ontario) next season.
ECHL: The ECHL's Utah Grizzlies (West Valley) played their final home game in the city last weekend as the team relocates next season to Trenton (NJ) under new ownership as the Trenton Ironhawks.
North American 3 Hockey League: The Tier-III junior-level NA3HL announced a new team called the Fox Cities Forge, based in Appleton (WI), will be added to the Central Division and a new team called the Phoenix Inferno will be added to the South Division for the 2026-27 season.
Federal Prospects Hockey League: The owner of the FPHL's Watertown (NY) Wolves stated the team has about 30 days to find a new owner or the team will disband for at least the next season and possibly for good. The team has struggled with poor attendance this season and will lose a league subsidy next season. Also, the owner, who is also the FPHL commissioner, does not have time to manage both the team and the league.
National Collegiate Development Conference: The United States Premier Hockey League's Tier-II junior-level NCDC announced the promotion of five teams from the North Division and six teams from the West Division of the Tier-III USPHL Premier Conference to the NCDC for the 2026-27 season and those teams will each have teams in both the NCDC and the USPHL Premier Conference. Back in December, the NCDC promoted teams from the USPHL Premier Conference's Florida Division, Midwest Division and Southeast Division for 2026-27 The NCDC also announced its new Mountain Division team in Billings (MT) will be called the Billings Cattle Punchers when its starts in the 2026-27 season. The NCDC's Buffalo-based Bearcats Hockey Club will move to New Brunswick (Canada) as the Perth-Andover Bearcats. The USPHL Premier Conference's Red Bank (NJ) Generals and Toledo Cherokee will also add NCDC teams in 2026-27. A team called the Syracuse Lightning will start in 2026-27 with teams in the NCDC and Premier Conference. The NCDC's previously unnamed team to represent Chicago in the recently added Midwest Division will be called the Chicago Union and play at the Summit Ice Center in Lockport (IL) with teams in both the NCDC and Premier Conference.
SOCCER
National Independent Soccer Association: As the men's NISA awaits a decision from the United States Soccer Federation on sanctioning as a professional league for this fall, the league currently lists seven fall participants as the Arkansas Wolves (Little Rock), Capo FC (San Juan Capistrano, CA), DC Hyper (Washington, DC), Los Angeles Force, Northern Colorado Hailstorm (Windsor), Peak Eleven FC (Superior, CO) and Sin City FC (North Las Vegas).
National Women's Soccer League: The NWSL Board of Governors is supposed to vote later this month on whether to change the league's schedule from a spring-to-fall season to a two-part season beginning in late summer and ending in late spring with a winter break that would match the calendars for international soccer leagues. The NWSL Players Union stated the majority of the players oppose the switch because it would involve more games played in cold conditions for some markets. The men's Major League Soccer has already announced plans to switch its schedule to the international soccer calendar starting in 2027.
Ontario Premier League: The pro-am OPL, which was formerly known as League1 Ontario and is one of several provincial leagues under the Premier Soccer Leagues Canada (previously League1 Canada), started its 2026 season this week with three tiers of men's and women's teams. The top-tier OPL 1 has 12 men's teams and 10 women's teams in single-table formats. The men play 22 games through August 23, 2026, while the women play 18 games through August 2, 2026. The OPL 2 also has 12 men's teams and 10 women's teams. The OPL 3 has 28 men's teams in 3 divisions and 25 women's teams in 3 divisions.
USL Championship (United Soccer League): The group called Reno Pro Soccer has submitted plans to the city of Reno for permits to build a development that will include a 6,000-seat soccer stadium for a team in the Division-II professional USL Championship. The stadium is expected to be completed by March 2027. The city had a previous USL Championship team called the Reno 1868 FC that played four seasons (2017-20) before folding due to the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. That team played at the city's minor league ballpark, home of the Reno Aces in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.
OTHER
LIV Golf: As the men's tour-based professional LIV Golf league plays its current fifth season with 13 four-player teams, the Saudi Arabian investment fund that has provided the financial backing over the past five years is reported to be cutting its support for the league after this season and raising questions about the future of the league.
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 April 20, 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.
