Sports stats

Weekly Sports League and Franchise Update

by Dan Krieger
November 19, 2007 - United Indoor Football Association (UIF)


BASEBALL

- Golden Baseball League: The GBL announced its 2008 regular-season schedule that will feature eight teams in two divisions. All six teams from last season will return, plus the league has added Calgary and Edmonton from the Northern League. The GBL North will feature the Calgary Vipers, Chico Outlaws, Edmonton Cracker-Cats and Reno Silver Sox, while the GBL South will include the Long Beach Armada, Orange County Flyers, St. George Roadrunners and Yuma Scorpions. In addition to looking at markets in British Columbia, the GBL is looking at the Alberta cities of Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, which had previous Rookie-level teams in the Pioneer League. The GBL wants to add at least two more Canadian teams by 2009. With the Pacific Coast League losing the Tucson Sidewinders to Reno in 2009, there was talk of a GBL franchise, possibly under the Tucson Toros name, being placed in the city.

- American Association: The league's new Wichita franchise will be called the Wichita Wingnuts as a tie-in to the city's history in the aviation field.

- Appalachian League: The Rookie-level Appy League is talking to three major league teams to try to bring an affiliate back to Pulaski (VA) for 2008 as the league's tenth team. The Blue Jays pulled out after the 2006 season and the league was forced to operate with only nine teams in 2007.

- Arizona Winter League: The Global Baseball League's Arizona Winter League has added an expansion team in the city of Blythe (CA), near the California-Arizona border. The Blythe team will start in the 2008 season that will run from January 28 to March 2.

BASKETBALL

- American Basketball Association: The Beijing Aoshen Olympian ABA franchise will play its 36-game schedule in Singapore this season. Other ABA teams are expected to travel to Singapore during the season. The ABA has authorized the Aoshen franchise to be the only ABA club to host, operate and conduct ABA games in Mainland China, including Macao, Hong Kong and Singapore.

- International Basketball League: The Gary Steelheads franchise, which participated in the 2007 spring/summer United States Basketball League, has switched to the spring/summer IBL for its 2008 season. Prior to the USBL, the Steelheads played in the Continental Basketball Association from 2000 to 2006.

- National Basketball Association Development League: The NBA D-League wants to place a franchise in Harlem (NY) that could become an affiliate of the New York Knicks. A basketball team called the Harlem Renaissance Big Five, or Rens, became famous in the 1920s and 1930s.

- Southeastern Exposure Basketball League: The Mac-Town Ballers of Macon (GA) will be participating in the semi-pro SEBL's independent winter season that will run from November 2007 to March 2008.

FOOTBALL

- Intense Football League: The IFL's new Fairbanks (AK) franchise will be called the Fairbanks Grizzlies when the team plays its inaugural season in 2008.

- Independent Indoor Football Alliance: The newly proposed IIFA is a professional development football league designed for independent indoor football teams and their affiliates. The league currently has seven Texas-based teams listed-Collin County Wranglers, Corsicana Thunder, Gainesville Pinners, Kaufman County Crunch, South Texas Rough Riders (San Antonio), Texas Tidalwave (Galveston) and Wichita Falls Kings. Several of the teams are located in the Dallas area and the Krunch, Rough Riders and Tidalwave had been mentioned previously as potential 2008 indoor teams in the American Professional Football League.

- United Indoor Football: The investors involved with last year's San Diego Shockwave of the National Indoor Football League have bought controlling interests in the RiverCity Rage and Omaha Beef franchises in the UIF. The Shockwave franchise planned to sit idle for the 2008 indoor football season while waiting for a western division to develop.

- American National Indoor Football League: The proposed ANIFL plans to start play in several southeastern cities in March 2009. Some of the cities under consideration include the Florida markets of Lakeland, Tampa, Orlando, Daytona, West Palm Beach, Pensacola, and Jacksonville, along with Columbus (GA), Macon (GA), Baton Rouge (LA), Myrtle Beach (SC), Memphis, Mobile and Louisville.

HOCKEY

- American Hockey League: If the Dallas Stars move their current Des Moines-based AHL affiliate from Iowa to the Austin area in 2010, the Iowa Stars franchise will need to find a new affiliation if an AHL franchise is to remain in Des Moines. The city of Abbotsford in British Columbia wants to build a 7,000-seat arena for a possible AHL franchise, although an ECHL or Junior-level league were also being considered.

- Central Hockey League: The CHL's new Rapid City (SD) franchise will be called the Rapid City Rush, chosen for the significance of Mount Rushmore in the area. The franchise will start play in the 2008-09 season.

- ECHL: The Biloxi-based Mississippi Sea Wolves return to league play this season after sitting out the past two seasons due to arena damage in August 2005 from Hurricane Katrina.

SOCCER

- Major League Soccer: The MLS officially announced the city of Seattle as home to the league's 15th franchise that will start play in 2009. The MLS wants to expand to 16 teams by 2010 and could expand to 18 teams by 2012. Philadelphia and St. Louis are considered the frontrunners for the next expansion franchise. Other possible expansion locations are Atlanta, Las Vegas, Miami, Montreal, Portland, Vancouver and a second New York team.

- United Soccer Leagues First Division: The Seattle Sounders of the USL First Division will return to play in 2008 under the stipulation that the MLS can draw players from the Sounders for the 2009 season. The USL is currently looking for investors in the Northwest to continue operating a First Division club to replace the Sounders. Tacoma was once mentioned as a location for the USL club.

OTHER

- National Pro Fastpitch: The NPF approved a 48-game schedule for its 2008 season and the league will consist of the same six teams as last season-Chicago Bandits, Rockford Thunder, Philadelphia Force, New England Riptide, Akron Racers and Washington (DC) Glory.

Dan Krieger is the creator of "Leagues, Teams & Nicknames", which tracks the changes in league alignments, franchise movements and team nicknames in today's sports world. The latest version can be found at http://www.lulu.com/content/1375144. Dan can be contacted at dankrieger@leaguesteamsnicknames.com.



United Indoor Football Association Stories from November 19, 2007


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.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central