Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
Published on June 8, 2026 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
BASEBALL
Appalachian League: The summer-collegiate Appy League, which operates under the Major League Baseball and USA Baseball Prospect Development Pipeline, started its 2026 season this week with eight teams aligned in four-team East and West divisions with each team playing a 48-game schedule through July 30, 2025. The league had ten teams last season but the Tri State Coal Cats (Huntington, WV) did not return and the Bristol (VA) State Liners are sitting out the 2026 season due to the lack of a suitable home ballpark.
International League: The Des Moines-based Iowa Cubs of the Triple-A International League played their first game this weekend as the Capital City Cubs to honor Des Moines as Iowa's state capital. The alternate identity will be used by the team for the remainder of Saturday home games this season.
Major League Baseball Draft League: The developmental MLB Draft League started its 2026 season this week and again features six teams in a single-table format with each team playing 80 games through September 1, 2026. One off-season change involved the Frederick (MD) Keys switching to become an affiliated team in the High-A South Atlantic League (SAL) and the SAL's Aberdeen (MD) IronBirds moving to the MLB Draft League. The league operates under a hybrid amateur-professional format with the first half of the season featuring amateur, draft-eligible players and the second half featuring new professional players.
Pioneer League: The Ogden (UT) Raptors of the independent Pioneer League played a game last Saturday (May 30) as the Utah Fry Sauce in a tribute to the state's favorite "fry sauce" condiment comprised of one part ketchup to two parts mayonnaise. The team will play as the Utah Fry Sauce for all remaining Saturday home games in 2026.
Texas League: The Wichita Wind Surge of the Double-A Texas League announced the team will transition away from the Wind Surge nickname this season and officially become the Wichita Turbo Tubs for the 2027 season. The Turbo Tubs logo features a jet engine propelling a bathtub and pays homage to the city's aerospace industry and the porcelain bathtub races once seen in the Arkansas River. The Wind Surge nickname has not been a fan favorite since the team joined the league for the 2021 season. The Turbo Tubs name has been used as the team's alternate identity for select games since 2022.
BASKETBALL
Professional Basketball Association: The men's semi-pro PBA restarted playing early last month with a 2026 summer season featuring teams called the Atlanta Storm, Columbus (GA) Vipers, Dothan (AL) Snipers, Goated Buckets (Lithia Springs, GA), Lancaster (OH) Thunder, Mississippi Dawgz (New Albany) and West Virginia Highflyers (Clarksburg). Teams are each scheduled to play 10 to 12 games through August.
Women's National Basketball Association: This week, the WNBA started its Commissioner's Cup in-season tournament that runs through June 17, 2026. For the group-play portion, the seven-team Eastern Conference teams will play six in-conference games and the eight-team Western Conference teams will play seven in-conference games. The top two teams from each conference will play in a championship game. All intraconference Cup games will count toward a team's regular-season win-loss record.
FOOTBALL
American Arena League: The four-team AAL announced the addition of two expansion teams called the Montgomery (AL) Wings and the Texas Wild Hogs (San Antonio) for the 2027 season. The AAL restarted this season after being idle since the 2021 season.
American Arena League 2: As the 2026 season of the AAL2 ends this weekend, the league's Detroit-based Michigan Avengerz announced the team is leaving the AAL2. The Avengerz forfeited their last scheduled game this weekend against the Pittsburgh Outlaws. The Avengerz had a 2-4 record in the 2026 season.
Canadian Football League: The CFL started its 2026 season this week and again features the same nine teams aligned in a five-team West Division and a four-team East Division with each team playing 18 games through October 24, 2026. As the CFL works to establish a fifth team in the East Division, business leaders have developed a tentative plan to build a 25,000-seat open-air stadium in Quebec City for a potential CFL expansion team. The stadium would be built on the site of the closed Colisée de Québec, which was the previous home of the National Hockey League's Quebec Nordiques and is slated for demolition in 2027. The L'Attaque de Quebec (Quebec Attack) has been mentioned as a possible team name.
Entertainment Football Association: The proposed new indoor ENTFA, which has been trying to get off the ground with four men's teams called the Danbury (CT) Diesel, Garden State Heroes (Middletown, NJ), New Jersey Ciphers (Morristown) and New York Dragons (Long Island), is advertising tryouts for a women's professional flag football league in the New York City area with the same four team names listed.
International Arena League: The IAL announced it is taking a one-week midseason break and will restart on June 13 with one international team and five teams based in the United States.
The Arena League: The 7-on-7 TAL started its 2026 season this week with eight teams aligned in four-team North and South divisions and each team playing eight games through July 26, 2026. The TAL had six teams last season but lost the Duluth Harbor Monsters who left to become the Minnesota Monsters in the Arena Football One. The TAL added three new teams called the Memphis Hound Dogs, Monroe (LA) Greenheads and Nebraska Siege (Grand Island). Also, the Hot Springs (AR) Wiseguys were renamed the Arkansas Diamonds and the Iowa Woo moved its home from Waterloo to Cedar Falls.
HOCKEY
Federal Prospects Hockey League: A month after the FPHL's Baton Rouge Zydeco announced the team was folding, owners of the league's Binghamton Black Bears have stepped in to purchase the Baton Rouge team that will return for the 2026-27 season, most likely under a new name. The FPHL confirmed the Biloxi Breakers will not return as the team's players will be part of a dispersal draft.
North American Hockey League: The Lewiston-based Maine Nordiques of the Tier-II junior-level NAHL will not play in the league's 2026-27 season. The team's owner was unable to renew its lease at The Colisée due to unpaid bills and contracts. The owner's affiliated Maine Nordiques team in the Tier-III North American 3 Hockey League will also not play in the 2026-27 season. The NAHL's Rochester (NY) Junior Americans have been granted inactive status for the 2026-27 season with the possibility of returning in the future.
Ontario Junior Hockey League: Canada's Junior-A OJHL announced a dual relocation with the Haliburton County Huskies moving to Cobourg (Ontario) as a new version of the Cobourg Cougars, while the existing Cobourg Cougars franchise will relocate to become the Toronto Warriors based out Scotiabank Pond in North York.
United States Premier Hockey League: The junior-level USPHL's Tier-III Premier Conference announced the Hinton Timberwolves (Alberta, Canada), who last played in the 2024-25 season of the Canadian-American Junior Hockey League, will join the Premier Conference's Alberta Division for the 2026-27 season.
United States Hockey League: The 16-team Midwest-based USHL, which is the only junior-level league in the United States operating at the highest Tier-I classification, has reached an agreement for western expansion with certain stakeholders to establish member clubs in Arizona, California and Nevada. Additional details on the new teams and markets will be made on June 24, 2026.
SOCCER
Gainbridge Super League (United Soccer League): The United Soccer League's Division-I women's professional GSL, which started playing in August 2024 with a fall-to-spring 2024-25 season, plans to switch to a spring-to-fall season in 2027 to be more in line with the National Women's Soccer League schedule. To transition to the new schedule, the GSL teams will play an abbreviated 14-game 2026 fall season from August 15 through November 28, 2026. The league will start the inaugural full spring-to-fall season in 2027.
Major Arena Soccer League 2: The MASL2 announced the Beachtown FC, based in Ocean City (MD), has been added for the 2026-27 season and the team is expected to be added to the Eastern Division.
USL Championship (United Soccer League): The USL has included the new team called Atletico Dallas in its application to U.S. Soccer for continued sanctioning of its men's Tier-II professional USL Championship league in the 2027 season. The group called Buffalo Pro Soccer, which has been trying to build a new soccer stadium for a Buffalo team in the USL Championship, announced the team will not start in 2027. Plans for the initial site of the stadium fell through and the group is still trying find a final stadium site.
USL League One (United Soccer League): The USL has included new teams called the Sporting Cascades (Eugene, OR), Port St. Lucie SC (Florida), Fort Lauderdale United FC and a yet-to-be-named team in Thousand Oaks (CA) in its application to U.S. Soccer for continued sanctioning of its men's Tier-III professional USL League One in the 2027 season.
USL W-League (United Soccer League): The Portland (ME) Hearts of Pine men's team in the USL League One has secured the rights to a Portland team in the women's pre-professional USL W-League for the 2027 season. The W-League team is currently listed as the USLW Maine with an official team identity still to be announced.
OTHER
AVP League (Association of Professional Volleyball): The mixed-gender professional beach volleyball AVP League started its 2026 season last weekend with same eight teams as last season. The teams include the Austin Aces, Brooklyn Blaze, Dallas Dream, Los Angeles Launch, Miami Mayhem, New York Nitro, Palm Beach Passion and San Diego Smash. The regular season consists of eight weekend (Saturday-Sunday) events in Belmar (NJ), Aspen (CO), Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Central Park (New York City), East Hampton (NY) and Dallas, followed by the championship in Chicago. Each team will participate in four events and each event features four teams each playing four matches (two women's matches and two men's matches). Not all events are held in cities represented by the teams' names.
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.
United Soccer League Championship Stories from June 8, 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.
