Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on April 27, 2026 under Northern Super League (NSL)
BASEBALL
Atlantic League: The independent Atlantic League started its 2026 season this week with the same ten teams aligned in five-team North and South divisions. Each team will play 126 games in a two-part season through September 6, 2026. The league's dormant Spire City Ghost Hounds (Frederick, MD) team, which has not played since the 2023 season, is again sitting out the 2026 season to allow the league to operate with an even number teams and hopes to return when the league expands to 12 teams.
Carolina League: The Hill City Howlers (Lynchburg, VA) of the Single-A Carolina League will play some games in 2026 as the Poison Apples, which is a reference to tomatoes that were once considered to be poisonous until disproven by Virginia native Thomas Jefferson. The league's Kannapolis (NC) Cannon Ballers will play some 2026 games as the Kannapolis Towelers to honor the city's textile heritage and the name of former teams in the city.
Eastern League: The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Manchester) played the first of six 2026 games last weekend as the New Hampshire Space Potatoes honoring the state's history of cultivating the white potato and also a 1961 UFO abduction story that took place in New Hampshire.
Frontier League: The independent Frontier League announced it will change its name to the National Association of Professional Baseball (NAPB) for the 2027 season. The 18-team league started in 1993 and is the oldest and largest independent league in North America. The league's Gateway Grizzlies (Sauget, IL) will celebrate the disco dance rage of the 1970s and play two games in the 2026 season as the Gateway Disco Penguins.
Major League Baseball Draft League: The six-team MLB Draft League will host an International Series from June 12 through June 21, 2026, with the Canadian junior national team and the Mexican national team. The Aberdeen IronBirds, State College Spikes and Mahoning Valley Scrappers will each host the Canadian team for three games and the Williamsport Crosscutters, Trenton Thunder and West Virginia Black Bears will each host the Mexican team for three games. The Williamsport Crosscutters will adopt a Spanish-language name and play as the Los Cadejos, based on the myth of two dog-like creatures, for its series against the Mexican team.
Pacific Coast League: The Triple-A PCL's Las Vegas Aviators adopted a gambling-theme alternate identity and played a game this weekend as the Las Vegas Villains.
Pioneer League: The Oakland Ballers of the independent Pioneer League will actually play some 2026 games as the Oakland Blazers, an alternate identity that was originally announced as an April Fool's Day joke.
BASKETBALL
Women's American Basketball Association West: The semi-pro WABA West, which is affiliated with the WABA that has teams in the eastern half of the United States, started its inaugural 2026 season with four teams called the Arizona Ice (Phoenix), Colorado Phoenix (Colorado Springs), Denver Dynasty and New Mexico Lady Bullsnakes (Albuquerque). Teams will play four to six game through June 28, 2026. A previously listed fifth team called the Rio Rancho (NM) Lady Roadrunners did not make it to the 2026 schedule.
Project B Global: The proposed new tour-based Project B global men's and women's basketball league recently added Valencia (Spain) as the second tour stop that will run from March 12 to March 21, 2027. Tokyo was the first tour stop announced and will run from March 26 to April 4, 2027. More tour stops are expected to be announced as the league plans to hold seven ten-day mini-tournaments, three in Asia, three in Europe and one in North or South America, from November 2026 through April 2027. The plan is to have six men's teams and six women's teams playing side-by-side at each event but so far only some of the women players have been announced.
FOOTBALL
Pacific Indoor Football League: The semi-pro eight-man PIFL started its inaugural 2026 season last month with eight teams called the Arizona Coyotes (Phoenix), Arizona Nighthawks (Yuma, Chandler), Bay Area Aggies, Desert Sentinels (Palm Desert, CA), Las Vegas Force, Oakland Disruptors, Silver State Stealth (Las Vegas) and Visalia (CA) Sharks. Each team was scheduled for eight games through May 16, 2026. A team called the Palmdale (CA) Panthers was supposed to be a ninth team but did not make it to the 2026 season. The Arizona Nighthawks (0-3) were recently removed from the league for failing to meet league requirements.
Women's Football Alliance: The women's full-tackle WFA started its 2026 season this weekend and features a total of 40 teams at three levels (Pro, Division 2 and Division 3) with each team playing six games through June 13, 2026. The 11-team WFA Pro has an American Conference with a 3-team Central Region and a 4-team West Region, and a National Conference with a 4-team East Region. The WFA Division 2 has 26 teams in four regions while the WFA Division 3 has only 3 teams.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League: The National Hockey League's New York Islanders, who are moving their AHL affiliate from Bridgeport (CT) to Hamilton (Ontario) next season, have registered trademarks for three possible names for the Hamilton-based team to include the Hamilton Havoc, Hamilton Mustangs and Hamilton Hammers.
British Columbia Hockey Conference: The BCHC was announced for a start in the 2026-27 season as a new 22-team Junior-A hockey league comprised of 14 teams from the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) and 8 teams from the Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJHL) as the two leagues break away from an affiliation with the independent British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). The BCHC is affiliated with BC Hockey and Hockey Canada and has applied to join the nine-league Junior-A Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) that is affiliated with Hockey Canada. After the 2020-21 season, the BCHL ended its association with the CJHL and broke away from Hockey Canada in 2023 to become an independent league. The BCHL classified itself as a Junior-A Tier-1 league under BC Hockey while British Columbia's KIJHL and PJHL were designated as Junior-A Tier-2 leagues. The KIJHL, which is now defunct, operated with 21 teams for the 2025-26 season but 8 teams have left to form the new independent Western International Junior Hockey League, an affiliate of the BCHL, while the remaining 13 teams and a 2026-27 Summerland Jets expansion team will move to the new BCHC. The PJHL operated with 16 teams for the 2025-26 season but 8 teams will move to the new BCHC and the remaining 8 teams will continue operating as the PJHL but as an under-20 developmental Junior-B league.
ECHL: The ECHL's Iowa Heartlanders (Coralville) finished their 2025-26 season this week as the team begins a voluntary suspension for the 2026-27 season. After five seasons in the league, the team plans to stabilize the franchise through new investments or partnerships for a possible return in the future.
Federal Prospects Hockey League: After two seasons in the FPHL, the Athens (GA) Rock Lobsters are reported to be moving to the higher-level SPHL for the 2026-27 season, while the league's Baton Rouge Zydeco and Biloxi Breakers are reported to be on the verge of folding. The FPHL's new Memphis area team to be based in Southaven (MS) is considering the Mid-South Kingsmen, Mid-South Monarchs and Mid-South Outlaws as possible names.
United States Premier Hockey League: The USPHL announced a new team called the Salt Lake Ghost Riders (West Valley City, UT) will join the West Division of the Tier-III USPHL Premier Conference for the 2026-27 season and the team will be affiliated with the Ventura (CA) Vikings of the USPHL's Tier-II National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC). As the Tier-II NCDC undergoes major expansion for the 2026-27 season through promotion of Tier-III Premier Conference teams, each NCDC team will be required to either operate or be affiliated with a team in the Premier Conference. With the promotion of Premier Conference teams to the NCDC in a new seven-team West Division and a new five-team North Division for 2026-27, the USPHL announced this week the Premier Conference teams that will serve as affiliates for each of these 12 recently promoted NCDC teams.
SOCCER
National Women's Soccer League: The 16-team NWSL announced the addition of an expansion team based in Columbus (OH) that will be the league's 18th team and start playing in the 2028 season along with a previously announced 17th team to be based in Atlanta. The new Columbus NWSL team will play home games at the city's ScottsMiracle-Gro Field, which is home to Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew.
Northern Super League: The Canadian women's professional NSL started its 2026 season this week and features the same six teams from the inaugural 2025 season with each team playing 25 games through October 26, 2026, followed by playoffs. Teams include the AFC Toronto, Calgary Wild FC, Halifax Tides FC, Montreal Roses FC (Les Roses de Montreal), Ottawa Rapid FC and Vancouver Rise FC.
USL Championship (United Soccer League): Now that funding has been secured, the Des Moines-based group called Pro Iowa is moving forward on design work for a new downtown soccer stadium that is expected to become home to a men's team in the Division-II professional USL Championship and a women's pro team. Original plans called for a seating capacity of 6,300 but that could change. The stadium is expected to be completed in 2028.
OTHER
Ultimate Frisbee Association: The men's professional UFA started its 2026 season this week with 22 teams aligned in 4 divisions with each team playing 12 games through July 19, 2026, followed by playoffs. The league had 24 teams in 4 divisions last season but it lost the Detroit Mechanix from the Central Division and the Los Angeles Aviators from the South Division. For 2026, the Vegas Bighorns were moved from the West Division to the South Division creating an alignment with six-team East and South divisions and five-team Central and West divisions. After the 2025 season, the UFA's Denver-based team known as the Colorado Summit allowed the new Denver-based National Women's Soccer League expansion team to use the Summit name so the UFA team changed to the Colorado Apex ahead of the 2026 season.
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.
Northern Super League Stories from April 27, 2026
- Vancouver Rise FC Sign Australian Defender Tori Tumeth - Vancouver Rise FC
- AFC Toronto Redeems Themselves in Season Opener - NSL
- 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.
