Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on May 4, 2026 under Women's Professional Baseball League (WPBL)
BASEBALL
Women's Pro Baseball League: The proposed new WPBL announced its inaugural 2026 season schedule will feature four teams representing Boston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco with each team playing 15 games from August 1 through September 6, 2026. All games will be played at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield (IL).
Arizona Complex League: Major League Baseball's pure rookie-level ACL, which was known as the Arizona League prior to the 2021 season and plays at MLB spring training complexes in Arizona, started its 2026 season this week with 15 MLB-affiliated teams aligned in five-team Central, East and West divisions. Teams will play about 43-47 games through July 20, 2026.
Florida Complex League: Major League Baseball's pure rookie-level FCL, which was known as the Gulf Coast League prior to the 2021 season and plays at MLB spring training complexes in Florida, started its 2026 season this week with 15 MLB-affiliated teams aligned in a five-team East, a four-team North and a six-team South. Each team will play 43 games through July 20, 2026.
Eastern League: The Double-A Eastern League's Binghamton (NY) Rumble Ponies will play a three-game series next month (June 18-20) as the Binghamton Bobbers. The name is a tribute to the city being the birthplace of Dick's Sporting Goods, which started as bait and tackle store, and to celebrate summer, baseball and fishing on the lake.
International League: The Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Allentown, PA) of the Triple-A International League will play a game next month (June 6) as the Lehigh Valley Squonk, named for a pig-like mythical creature from the forests of northern Pennsylvania.
Legacy League: The new summer-collegiate Legacy League will start its inaugural 2026 season on May 21, 2026, with six teams representing the Jackson (MS) metro area and playing all games at Jackson's Smith-Wills Stadium. Teams include the New Jack City Ballers (Jackson), Madison Mockingbirds, Brandon Reservoir Dogs, Ridgeland Boosters, Clinton Big Wheels and Flowood Flyers.
Southern League: The Columbus (GA) Clingstones of the Double-A Southern League will play three games in 2026 as the Columbus Scrambled Dogs in a tribute to a local culinary tradition that includes a hot dog chopped up in a bun and mixed with chili, cheese, onions, pickles and topped with oyster crackers.
BASKETBALL
Women's National Basketball Association: The WNBA, through its WNBA Enterprises (WNBAE), has filed an opposition to a 2024 trademark registered by another group for the "Houston Comets" name, which the league is planning to call the Connecticut Sun team when it moves to Houston next season. The WNBAE has two pending trademarks filed in 2025 for the "Houston Comets" name. If the WNBA plans to use two other previous team names, the Cleveland Rockers and Detroit Shock, for announced 2028 and 2029 expansion teams in those cities, trademarks for those names were filed in 2023 by a start-up league called the Women's Basketball League.
National Basketball Association Gatorade League (G-League): The NBA's Los Angeles Lakers are moving its South Bay Lakers G-League team from El Segundo (CA) to Palm Desert (CA) where the team will become the Coachella Valley Lakers for the 2026-27 season. The team started as the Los Angeles D-Fenders in 2006 and changed to the South Bay Lakers when moving to a new facility in El Segundo for the 2017-18 season.
National Basketball Association - Europe League: Representatives from the NBA and the current 20-team EuroLeague Basketball met in Switzerland this week with the FIBA international governing body to discuss the future of European basketball amid plans for the NBA to start a new European league as early as October 2027.
FOOTBALL
Arena Football One: The AF1's Duluth-based Minnesota Monsters, who played as the Duluth Harbor Monsters for the first two seasons (2024 and 2025) of The Arena League (TAL), are being sued by their former league for failure to pay for intellectual rights and to inform the league of its sale and move to the AF1. The TAL is seeking both a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against the AF1 team that has started its 2026 season.
Continental Football League: The proposed new eight-team minor professional CoFL has replaced the Michigan Arrows (Detroit area) team in the four-team Northern Division with the Norfolk (VA) Neptunes team, which was planning to join in 2027. The CoFL will work with the Michigan Arrows for their return in the 2027 season. The Neptunes will play a limited number of road games against Northern Division teams in the 2026 season that starts at the end of this month and the team will play a full schedule in 2027. A team called the Norfolk Neptunes played four seasons (1966-69) in the original version of the CoFL.
Indoor Football League: The ownership of a new indoor football team to be based in Athens (GA) plans to officially announce on May 21, 2026, the team will be joining the IFL for the 2027 season.
International Arena League: The new IAL, which recently started its inaugural 2026 season with five North American teams and five European teams, is having issues with the European operations. The league has shut down the Zurich Ibexx (Switzerland) team that cancelled its first two games and has suspended games in Europe as it works to realign the schedule. The IAL will bring the four remaining European teams to the United States next weekend for two showcase events. The Stuttgart Stallions and Glasgow Tartans will play a game in Cincinnati before the scheduled Cincinnati Slingers' game with Utah and the Dusseldorf Warriors and England Eruptors will play a game in Reading (PA) before the scheduled Pennsylvania Benjamins' game with Arizona.
National Arena League: The NAL has removed the Dallas Bulls for the remainder of the 2026 season for failing to meet league obligations. The Dallas Bulls, with a 2-3 record in their first NAL season, did not agree with the league's assessment and stated the team has not folded. The Dallas Bulls were previously known as the North Texas Bulls who were accepted into the NAL for the 2024 season but were terminated by the league about a month before the start of the season. The team changed its name to the Dallas Bulls in November 2024.
United Football League: The co-owner of the eight-team UFL mentioned Austin, Salt Lake, Omaha, Albuquerque and possibly New York City as future expansion markets. The league wants to expand to 10 teams by 2028 and 16 teams by 2035 and wants to focus on markets without National Football League teams, possibly becoming a future developmental pipeline for the NFL. Oklahoma City was recently announced as the location of the ninth UFL team and it will start in 2028.
HOCKEY
United States Premier Hockey League: The junior-level USPHL announced several changes to the Tier-III USPHL Premier Conference for 2026-27. A new team called the Danville (IL) Iron will be part of the Midwest Division. Canada's Bassano Beavers (Alberta), a proposed 2025-26 team that dropped out without playing due to a lack of players, will be part of the 2026-27 Alberta Division. The Chicago T-Rex will move to Northwestern Wisconsin as an affiliate of the Minnesota Blue Ox (Coon Rapids) in the USPHL's Tier-II National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC). The Chicago Cougars are moving to Rice Lake (WI) as an affiliate of the NCDC's Northwest Express, also in Rice Lake. The Battle Creek Kernels are in the process of being sold and will relocate to become the Flint Islanders.
American Premier Hockey League: The senior-A semi-pro APHL announced a new team called the Altoona (PA) Inferno has been added for the 2026-27 season.
Federal Prospects Hockey League: Although there has been no official announcement, the head of the FPHL's Baton Rouge Zydeco indicated it is the end of a three-year run for the team as staff layoffs are taking place. The league's Watertown (NY) Wolves are no longer on the verge of folding as new ownership has stepped forward.
North American 3 Hockey League: The Tier-III junior-level NA3HL, which is affiliated with the Tier-II NAHL, announced three new teams called the Garden State Gamblers (Brick, NJ), Minnesota Vulcans (Blaine) and the Oklahoma City Warriors will join for the 2026-27 season. The new Warriors will be affiliated with the NAHL's Oklahoma Warriors team, which has the Long Beach Sharks as its current NA3HL affiliate.
SOCCER
Major League Soccer: A potential buyer for the MLS's Vancouver Whitecaps FC, which has been on the market for 16 months, has submitted a proposal to the league with plans to move the team to Las Vegas where the buyer would build a new privately financed soccer stadium. The Whitecaps are struggling with the finances and scheduling at its current home at BC Place. Although a site has been identified for a proposed new soccer stadium in Vancouver, there has been little movement on this project and the funding sources are uncertain.
MLS Next Pro (Major League Soccer): The MLS and private equity firm KKR have created Hometown Soccer Holdings (HSH) to accelerate the growth of the developmental MLS Next Pro league. Through a significant investment by KKR into HSH, the league is hoping for expansion into new markets, new stadium developments, and new names and logos for current teams. The league currently operates with 30 teams, 27 of which are affiliates of MLS teams and 3 are independent, with 4 additional independent teams expected to join in 2027.
National Women's Soccer League: After evaluating whether to switch to a fall-to-spring schedule that would match the international soccer calendar, the NWSL has decided to continue playing a spring-to-fall season through the 2030 season. A change to the fall-to-spring schedule could be evaluated in the future.
USL League Two (United Soccer League): The men's pre-professional USL League Two started its 2026 season this week with 158 teams aligned in 20 divisions across 4 regional conferences (Central, Eastern, Southern and Western). Teams will play 12 to 14 regular-season games within their division followed by playoffs.
OTHER
Major Professional Volleyball: The ownership of the San Diego Mojo in the eight-team MPV announced the team would cease operations after this season with plans to sit out the 2027 season and return in 2028. The MPV stated it plans to move forward in San Diego and find new investors in San Diego for 2027. The San Diego Mojo was one of the teams in the first two seasons (2024 and 2025) of the Pro Volleyball Federation, which was merged into the new eight-team MPV prior to the 2026 season. The MPV wants to expand to 12 teams in 2027 and previously announced 2027 expansion teams for Washington (DC), Northern California and Minnesota (Twin Cities).
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.
Women's Professional Baseball League Stories from May 4, 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.
