Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on May 18, 2026 under UPSHOT League (UPSHOT)
BASEBALL
American Association: The independent American Association started its 2026 season this week with the same 12 teams and six-team East and West divisional alignment as last season. Each team will play 100 games through September 7, 2026. The league's Kane County Cougars (Geneva, IL) will play three games this season as the Kane County Swedish Meatballs to celebrate the strong Swedish population in the Geneva area.
Atlantic League: The York (PA) Revolution of the independent Atlantic League will play all Wednesday "Bark in the Park ¬Â home games as the York Rescues in a promotion by the York County SPCA from where the team dog Rosie was adopted.
Major League Baseball: The cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento are expected to announce plans for a proposed MLB expansion team in the near future. West Sacramento is in the process of purchasing 2.9 acres as a site for a for a possible MLB stadium near Sutter Health Park, which is the current home of the MLB's Athletics and the Triple-A Pacific Coast League's Sacramento River Cats. Sacramento would face competition from other western expansion groups in Portland (OR), Salt Lake City and Vancouver (British Columbia). The MLB's Tampa Bay Rays reached a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County detailing the costs for a proposed new baseball stadium to be built on the campus of Hillsborough College. If this stadium deal falls through, the group called the Orlando Dreamers wants Orlando to be an option for relocating the Rays.
Major League Baseball Draft League: The Trenton Thunder of the MLB Draft League will play one game (July 30) as the Trenton Fighting Finches to honor the state of New Jersey on "Garden State Night" and the finch as the New Jersey state bird.
Northern League: The Northwest Indiana Oilmen (Whiting) of the unaffiliated pre-professional Northern League announced the team has lost the use of the local Oil City Stadium so the team is suspending operations for the 2026 season. Including the NWI Oilmen, the league only had four teams last season and there have been no updates on the league's 2026 schedule that usually starts in early June. The NWI Oilmen are being replaced by the Pipeline Patriots, a summer-collegiate expansion team in the Crestwood Collegiate League, and the Region Razzles, a new Savannah Bananas-style "funball" entertainment team that will play select games in Whiting.
United Shore Professional Baseball League: The independent developmental USPBL started its 2026 season this week with the same four teams as last season and includes the Utica Unicorns and Eastside Diamond Hoppers in the East and the Westside Woolly Mammoths and Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers in the West. Each team will play 45 games through September 5, 2026, with all games played at the renamed United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) Field, formerly Jimmy John's Field, in Utica (MI).
BASKETBALL
American Basketball Association: The semi-pro ABA recently announced teams called the Henderson (NV) Gamblers, Port Huron (MI) Wolves, Roanoke Rapids (NC) Pirates, Imago Dei SC (Denver), Lubbock Blaze, Amarillo Shock, New York Wolverines (Sullivan County) and the Salt Lake City Dream have been added for the 2026-27 season. Also, the New Jersey Soldiers (Mahwah) will return in 2026-27 after a two-year hiatus.
The Basketball League: The minor professional TBL plans to add a new developmental division called the Prep2Pro League in 2027 for young men aged 15 to 19. The league also announced the Gulf Coast Basketball Association, which is a collection of academies and tournaments for youth development in the Southeast, plans to add six Prep2 Pro teams and six TBL teams throughout Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Florida in 2027.
Upshot League: The new women's minor professional basketball league known as the Upshot League started its inaugural 2026 season this week with four teams called the Charlotte Crown, Greensboro (NC) Groove, Jacksonville Waves and the Savannah Steel. Each team will play 34 games through August 27, 2026. The league plans to add expansion teams in Baltimore and Nashville for the 2027 season and eventually wants to grow to 30 teams.
Women's National Basketball Association: The WNBA officially approved the sale of the Connecticut Sun to the owner of the National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets and the relocation of the team to Houston for the 2027 season. The WNBA is confident the relocated team will be called the Houston Comets, the name of a previous WNBA team that played from 1997 through the 2008 season.
FOOTBALL
European Football Alliance: The new professional EFA American-style football league started its inaugural 2026 season this week with six teams that broke away from last season's European League of Football (ELF). Teams include the Munich Ravens, Frankfurt Galaxy, Paris Musketeers, Prague Lions (Czech Republic), Nordic Storm (Copenhagen) and Raiders Tirol (Austria) aligned in a single-table format. Each team will play ten games through August 10, 2026. This week, a regional court in Hamburg (Germany) rejected an application for a preliminary injunction filed by the ELF in a bid to prevent their former teams from competing elsewhere in 2026.
HOCKEY
ECHL: The minor professional ECHL announced its 2026-27 season will again feature 30 teams with each team playing 72 games from October 16, 2026, through April 11, 2027. The Iowa Heartlanders (Coralville) announced the team will sit out the 2026-27 season but the league added the expansion New Mexico Goatheads (Rio Rancho/Albuquerque) to remain at 30 teams. The league's Utah Grizzlies were sold and relocated to become the Trenton (NJ) Ironhawks for the 2026-27 season. The Eastern Conference will have an eight-team North Division and a seven-team South Division, while the Western Conference with have a seven-team Central Division and an eight-team Mountain Division. The Wheeling (WV) Nailers were moved from the North to the Central to take Iowa's spot. The relocated Utah Grizzlies were moved from the Mountain to the North as the Trenton Ironhawks, and the expansion New Mexico Goatheads were placed in the Mountain to take Utah's spot.
Federal Prospects Hockey League: After announcing two new California-based teams in Oceanside and Fresno last week, the FPHL announced another new California team in Stockton will be added for the 2026-27 season. The city had the Stockton Thunder that played ten seasons (2005-15) in the ECHL and the Stockton Heat that played seven seasons (2015-22) in the American Hockey League. The FPHL's Motor City Rockers, who sat out the 2025-26 season after playing three seasons (2022-25) in Fraser (MI), have found a new home at the Yack Arena in Wyandotte (MI) and will return for the 2026-27 season. The FPHL's previously announced Memphis-area expansion team based in Southaven (MS) will be called the Mid-South Monarchs when its starts in 2026-27.
Professional Women's Hockey League: The eight-team PWHL announced the addition of two more expansion teams to be based in Hamilton (Ontario) and Las Vegas for the 2026-27 season. The league is up to 11 teams with the addition of Detroit last week and it is expected to grow to 12 teams with addition of one more team. Denver and San Jose have been mentioned as frontrunners for the next team.
SPHL: The minor professional SPHL officially announced the Athens (GA) Rock Lobsters will be joining the league as an expansion team for the 2026-27 season after playing their first two seasons (2024-26) as part of the Federal Prospects Hockey League.
SOCCER
Western Indoor Soccer League: The elite amateur WISL, which has men's and women's teams located in the state of Washington, announced the FC Olympia Artesians will return to the men's league for the 2026-27 season after sitting out the past two seasons (2024-26).
Major Arena Soccer League: The men's MASL announced the Chihuahua Savage, which last played in the MASL's 2024-25 season along with an affiliated Chihuahua Savage II team in the MASL2, will return for the 2026-27 season with a team in the second-division MASL2. The Chihuahua Savage will also work with the MASL to create a future Mexican division of the MASL to be called the MASLMX. The MASL recently announced the player draft to stock the new Lehigh Valley (Allentown, PA) expansion team will be held on May 26, 2026.
Prairies Premier League: The pro-am PPL, which was previously called League1 Prairies and is part of the Premier Soccer Leagues Canada (renamed from League1 Canada), started its 2026 season last weekend with a six-team Men's Division and a six-team Women's Division both aligned in single-table formats. Teams are located in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and western Ontario and will each play ten games through July 17, 2026.
The League for Clubs: The men's amateur-level TLfC has started its 2026 season with 47 teams aligned in four regions (Central, East, South and West) that are further aligned in conferences. The West Region started in mid-March and plays through May 31, 2026, while the other regions started earlier this month and play through July 11, 2026, with all teams scheduled for ten games.
United Women's Soccer: The pro-am UWS started its 2026 season last weekend with 33 teams aligned in five regional conferences (Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast and West). Each team is scheduled for eight games through July 11, 2026. The league also lists seven teams in a lower-level UWS 2.
OTHER
Women's Lacrosse League: The four-team professional 10-on-10 (field lacrosse) WLL, which is affiliated with the men's Premier Lacrosse League (PLL), started its first full-season schedule with four teams called the Boston Guard, New York Charging (Long Island), Maryland Charm (Baltimore), and California Palms (San Diego). Each team will play four games across eight weekends from May 16 through August 8, 2026, with games coinciding with the dates of men's PLL events. An All-Star game (July 5) will be held in Annapolis (MD) and the league championship (August 15-16) will be played in Philadelphia. One game will be played on each of the eight weekends with each team hosting one game in either Boston, Long Island, Baltimore or San Diego. The other four games will be neutral-site games played in the non-WLL markets of Providence (RI), Charlotte, Chicago and Fairfield (CT).
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.
UPSHOT League Stories from May 18, 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.
