Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report

by Dan Krieger
Published on May 11, 2026 under BIG3 (BIG3)

BASEBALL

Canadian Baseball League: Canada's former semi-pro Intercounty Baseball League (IBL), which announced plans in the off-season to become a full professional independent league in 2026 under the Canadian Baseball League (CBL) name, started its 2026 season this weekend. All nine 2025 IBL teams based in southern Ontario are part of the new CBL and are aligned in a single-table format. Each team will play a 48-game schedule through August 30, 2026. Teams include the Barrie Baycats, Brantford Red Sox, Chatham-Kent Barnstormers, Guelph Royals, Hamilton Cardinals, Kitchener Panthers, London Majors, Toronto Maple Leafs and Welland Jackfish.

Frontier League: The independent Frontier League started its 2026 season this week with the same 18 teams as last season and again aligned in an Atlantic Conference with a five-team North Division and a four-team East Division and a Midwest Conference with a four-team Central Division and a five-team West Division. Each team will play 102 games through September 6, 2026. The Frontier League recently announced it will change its name to the National Association of Professional Baseball starting with the 2027 season.

Mavericks League: The independent Mavericks League started its 2026 season this week with the same four teams as last season with each team playing 48 games 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. Since its start in 2021, the league has had the same four teams called the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, Salem Senators, Portland Mavericks and Campesinos (Farm Workers) de Salem-Keizer.

Northwoods League: The summer-collegiate Northwoods League announced it will add two new teams for the 2027 season. One team will be based in Dyersville (IA), home of the "Field of Dreams" movie site and the new Field of Dreams Ballpark. The other new team was awarded to Dune Coast Baseball (New Buffalo, MI) and the team will represent the dune-lined Lake Michigan shoreline communities known as the Dune Coast. The league's Rochester (MN) Honkers will lose their home at the aging Mayo Field after this season and the team will need a new ballpark. The team is committed to the city and, despite various rumors, will not be moving to Dyersville next season. The team could sit out a year or play elsewhere until a new ballpark is built in Rochester.

International League: The Charlotte Knights of the Triple-A International League will play three games in 2026 as the Carolina Sweet Teas to honor the rich history of sweet tea in the Carolinas.

BASKETBALL

BIG3 League: The professional 3-on-3 BIG3 basketball league announced its 2026 season schedule will feature the same eight city-based teams as last season and again aligned in a single-table format. The 2026 season includes 13 one-day events from June 20 through August 24, 2026. Each event usually includes four games with each team playing one game. Three teams (Boston, Chicago and Dallas) will each host one event and four teams (Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami) will each host two events. The DMV Trilogy will not host a home event but there will be two neutral-site events held in Atlanta and Charlotte.

Maritimes Women's Basketball Association: The Canadian amateur MWBA started its fifth season last weekend with eight teams aligned in a four-team New Brunswick Division and a four-team Nova Scotia Division. Each team will play ten games through June 7, 2026, followed by playoffs. All seven teams returned from last season and the Truro Tidal Queens (Nova Scotia) were added for 2026. The Nova Scotia Division has the new Tidal Queens along with the Halifax Thunder, Halifax Hornets and Lake City 56ers (Dartmouth/Cole Harbour). The New Brunswick Division has the Fredericton Freeze, Miramichi Her-icanes, Moncton Mystics and the Port City Fog (St. John).

Women's National Basketball Association: The WNBA started its 2026 season this week with 15 teams each playing 44 games through September 24, 2026. The league had 13 teams last season but added the new Toronto Tempo to the Eastern Conference that now has 7 teams and the new Portland (OR) Fire to the Western Conference that now has 8 teams. Included in the 44-game schedule will be the 6 or 7 games each team will play in the Commissioner's Cup in-season tournament (June 1-17) with those games counting in the standings. The WNBA will also take a break (September 4-13) for the FIBA Women's World Cup basketball tournament. The WNBA plans to grow to 18 teams with the addition of Cleveland in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia in 2030.

Canadian Elite Basketball League: The minor professional CEBL started its 2026 season this weekend and again has ten teams aligned in five-team Eastern and Western conferences with each team playing 24 games through August 3, 2026. The only change from last season was the Saskatoon-based Saskatchewan Rattlers team coming under new management and changing its name to the Saskatoon Mamba for 2026.

FOOTBALL

American Football League-Europe: The new professional AFLE American-style football league confirmed the London Warriors will be the league's eighth team when it starts playing later this month. The London Warriors have had a team in the senior-amateur British American Football Association's National League, the highest level of British American football, since 2009.

European League Football: Since filing for financial insolvency after the 2025 season, the professional ELF American-style football league has entered into a financial restructuring agreement to allow the operation to move forward. The ELF operated with 16 teams in the 2025 season but the majority of teams either folded or moved to other leagues like the new American Football League-Europe or the new European Football Alliance. The ELF had only two remaining teams that were operated by the league's managing director.

HOCKEY

American Hockey League: The AHL's new Hamilton (Ontario) team, which will be the relocated Bridgeport (CT) Islanders starting with the 2026-27 season, will announce its new name on May 21, 2026.

Federal Prospects Hockey League: The FPHL announced expansion into California for the 2026-27 season with the addition of new teams in Oceanside, about 40 miles north of San Diego, and Fresno, where the team will be called the Fresno Falcons. San Diego is home to the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League. Fresno has had previous teams called the Fresno Falcons in other minor hockey leagues, the latest being the Fresno Falcons that played parts of six seasons (2003-09) in the ECHL before folding in December 2008.

Professional Women's Hockey League: The eight-team PWHL announced the addition of a Detroit expansion team for the 2026-27 season as the league could add as many as four teams for the 2026-27 season. Other markets like Hamilton (Ontario), Las Vegas, Chicago, Denver, San Jose, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary and Quebec City have been mentioned as possible locations for an expansion team.

SPHL: The minor professional SPHL's new Mobile (AL) expansion team that will start in the 2027-28 season, has filed a trademark registration for "Mysticks" indicating that could be under consideration as the team's name. A former team called the Mobile Mysticks played seven seasons (1995-2002) in the ECHL before suspending operations and then moving to Duluth (GA) as the Gwinnett Gladiators for the 2003-04 season.

United States Hockey League: The 16-team Tier-I junior-level USHL is looking to expand and is considering Middletown (OH), about midway between Dayton and Cincinnati, where Warren County commissioners have voted to move forward with funding towards a new development that is to include a 3,500-seat hockey arena for a possible future USHL expansion team.

SOCCER

Alberta Premier League: The pro-am APL, which was previously called League1 Alberta and is part of the Premier Soccer Leagues Canada (renamed from League1 Canada), recently started its 2026 season with an eight-team Men's Division and an eight-team Women's Division both aligned in single-table formats. Each team in both divisions will play 14 games through July 31, 2026.

Major League Indoor Soccer: The men's MLIS announced the Denver-based Boulder United FC has come under new ownership and the team has been renamed the Colorado Foxes FC for next season.

National Premier Soccer League: The men's NPSL, which is considered a Tier-I national amateur league under the United States Adult Soccer Association, recently started its 2026 season with 55 teams aligned in 8 regional conferences. Teams will play 6 to 10 games through July 4, 2026.

Women's Premier Soccer League: The elite-amateur WPSL started its 2026 season this weekend with 148 teams aligned in four regions (Central, East, South and West) each aligned in four conferences, some of which are further split into regional divisions. Each team will play 8 to 10 games through July 2, 2026. The league also has a Division-II with 54 teams aligned in 8 regional conferences.

USL W-League (United Soccer League): The women's pre-professional USL W-League started its 2026 season this weekend with 95 teams aligned in four regional conferences (Central, Eastern, Southern and Western) that are each further aligned in 4 regional divisions. Teams will play 8 to 12 games through June 28, 2026.

WPSL Pro (Women's Premier Soccer League): The ownership of the Cleveland team in the proposed new WPSL Pro, which plans to be a Division-II professional league starting in 2027, announced the team will be called the Cleveland Astra when it starts playing in 2028.

OTHER

LIV Golf: The Saudi Public Investment Fund has confirmed that it is ending its investment in LIV Golf after the 2026 season raising questions about the future of the league and the status of the players.

Premier Lacrosse League: The men's professional 10-on-10 outdoor (field lacrosse) PLL started its 2026 season this weekend with all eight teams returning and again aligned in four-team Eastern and Western conferences. The schedule will feature 12 weekend events and an All-Star weekend event through August 16, 2026, followed by playoffs in 3 separate locations. The New York Atlas, which represents the state of New York, moved to Long Island after playing home events in Albany the past two seasons. The 2026 schedule will have each team hosting one weekend event in its home market and will include four neutral-site events in Chicago, Columbus (OH), Fairfield (CT) and Providence (RI).

Women's Elite Rugby: The professional WER, which plays the 15-player rugby union style, started its second season last weekend with the same six teams called the Bay Breakers (San Francisco Bay Area), Boston Banshees, Chicago Tempest, Denver Onyx, New York Exiles (Mt. Vernon), and TC Gemini (Minneapolis-St. Paul). Each team will play ten games through July 26, 2026. The WER evolved from the amateur-level pay-to-play Women's Premier League (WPL) that operated with seven teams in its final season of 2024. All six of the WER markets had teams in the 2024 WPL.

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.

BIG3 Stories from May 11, 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.