Weekly Sports League and Franchise Update
by Dan Krieger
December 3, 2007 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)
BASEBALL
- Frontier League: The Frontier League will remain at ten teams for 2008, but has dropped the three-division alignment for a two-division alignment. The Slippery Rock Sliders will not return and the league will operate a travel team called the Midwest Sliders as its 12th team. The Chillicothe Paints, Florence Freedom, Kalamazoo Kings, Midwest Sliders, Traverse City Beach Bums and Washington (PA) Wild Things will play in the East. The West will include the Evansville Otters, Gateway Grizzlies, River City Rascals, Rockford RiverHawks, Southern Illinois Miners and Windy City ThunderBolts. The Waterford Township in Oakland County (MI) approved a zoning variance for a proposed ballpark that is planned for a Frontier League franchise. Another proposed Frontier League location is Avon (OH), which has moved forward on designs for a new ballpark that could be ready for the 2009 season.
- Can-Am League: The city of Ottawa has agreed to allow the Can-Am League assume the ballpark lease of the former Ottawa Lynx of the International League. The Lynx are moving to Allentown (PA) as the Lehigh Valley IronPigs for 2008. The Can-Am League will place a 2008 franchise in Ottawa as its eighth team, eliminating the need for the league-operated Grays travel team. The Can-Am League was also trying to add a Montreal team for the 2009 season.
- United League Baseball: With the departure of the Coastal Bend Aviators from Robstown (TX) in the Corpus Christi area, Nueces County is looking for a new ballpark tenant. The ULB and the Continental Baseball League have expressed interest in the market. The ULB already announced a seventh team in Brownsville for 2008 and would like to add another team.
- Golden Baseball League: The GBL is getting closer to placing a team in the Bay Area. Officials at Ohlone College in Newark (CA) voted to sign a letter of intent with the league to negotiate a lease for a new ballpark to be built on the campus.
- South Atlantic League (SALLY): An investor has exercised an option to purchase an unnamed Class-A level baseball team that will be moved to Bowling Green (KY). The financing plan for a proposed 4,000-seat ballpark is in the final phase and a Bowling Green team could begin play in the 2009 SALLY season.
BASKETBALL
- American Basketball Association: Various teams are dropping from the ABA after only one month of the season. The Red Conference Central Division was down to three teams after recently losing the Minnesota Ripknees, Rochester Fire, Anderson Champions, Detroit Panthers and Cicero Cometas USA. The Red Conference Northwest Division lost the Sacramento Heatwave and the Southwest Division lost the Los Angeles Push. The league eliminated the Northwest Division and merged the three remaining teams into the Southwest Division, which now has six teams. The Corning Bulldogs franchise of the Blue Conference North Division has cancelled the remainder of its season due to low attendance. Several other teams have sat idle due to the departure of teams on their schedules. The ABA announced another new 2008-09 franchise called the Hollywood Showstoppers. A team called the Hollywood Fame participated in the 2006-07 season.
- Texas Basketball League: The semi-pro TBL begins its inaugural season in January 2008 with eight teams in two divisions. The Southwest Division includes teams called the Bulls, Celtics, Knicks and Pistons. The West Division includes teams called the Lakers, Mavericks, Spurs and Suns.
- United States Basketball Association: The USBA plans to start play with a 12-team Southeastern Conference in April 2008 and add a 12-team Midwestern Conference in 2009. The Richmond Colonials and the Huntsville Storm have replaced the Montgomery Generals and the Asheville team, which was originally listed as the Mountaineers and later changed to the Sequoia, in the 2008 Southeastern Conference. Several other future teams like the Norfolk Blaze, Kentucky Stallions, Baltimore Firebirds and West Virginia Capitals are now listed by the league.
- Southeastern Exposure Basketball League: The SEBL's independent fall/winter 2007-08 season features four different divisions-Military Division, Post Grad Elite Division, Post Grad Select Division and a Pro Division. The Pro Division has the Atlanta Speedboys, Cartersville Baseline Warriors, Daytona Beach Blue Waves, Jonesboro (GA) South, Mac-town Ballers (Macon), Marietta Outlaw, Orangeburg (SC) Krazy Katz and Team Macon.
FOOTBALL
- Arena Football League: The AFL's new Cleveland franchise announced the team will be called the Cleveland Gladiators. Before relocating to Cleveland after the 2007 season, the franchise was known as the Las Vegas Gladiators (2003-07), New Jersey Gladiators (2001-03) and the New Jersey Red Dogs (1997-2000). The AFL had an earlier franchise called the Pittsburgh Gladiators (1987-1990).
- American Professional Football League: The indoor APFL is planning to add a South Division to include some Texas-based teams and a Bradenton-based area team called the Florida Knights. The Florida Knights evolved from the short-lived Sarasota Knights of the 2007 National Indoor Football League.
- American Indoor Football Association: The owner of the Tallahassee Titans announced the team will not play in 2008, but will continue to seek investors for a return in 2009. The Titans played in the 2007 AIFA and then switched to the World Indoor Football League, which has since disbanded. The franchise was not in a good financial position to return to the AIFA in 2008.
- Independent Indoor Football Alliance: The new Texas-based IIFA has two new teams called the Fort Bend Militia in Sugar Land (Houston area) and the DFW Doom in Fort Worth. The IIFA now will have eight teams split into two four-team conferences for its inaugural 2008 season. A previous Gainesville (TX) Pinners franchise was no longer listed as one of the eight teams.
HOCKEY
- American Hockey League: The Rochester Americans' shared affiliation with the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers ends after the 2007-08 season. The Panthers have expressed an interest in operating its own AHL affiliate next season and the Sabres want to end its relationship due to some financial difficulties with the Rochester ownership group. Currently, Rochester is the only affiliate in the 29-team AHL that is shared by more than one NHL club. The cities of Glens Falls (NY) and Cornwall (Ontario) were reported to be interested in operating an AHL team.
SOCCER
- United Soccer Leagues First Division: The First Division lost the San Francisco-based California Victory after only one season and will operate with 11 teams in 2008. The USL hopes to return to the San Francisco market in 2009 with a new ownership group. The USL stated it was in discussions with prospective ownership groups in Texas and Florida for additional 2009 teams.
- United Soccer Leagues Second Division: The Second Division will again have ten teams in 2008. Two clubs from the 2007 season, the New Hampshire Phantoms and Cincinnati Kings, have decided to drop down to play in the Premier Development League for 2008. The Second Division replaces these teams with the new Real Maryland club and the returning Pittsburgh Riverhounds. Pittsburgh sat out the 2007 Second Division season.
- Major Indoor Soccer League: The MISL commissioner is interested in placing a franchise in Albany (NY) and recently visited the city. Albany had an indoor franchise called the New York Kick in the 1990-91 season of the National Professional Soccer League. The NPSL began as the American Indoor Soccer Association in 1984-85 and took the NPSL name starting in the 1990-91 season. The NPSL was reorganized as the current version of the MISL for the 2001-02 season.
- Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League: The developing CMISL will play a total of 17 league games from January to March 2008. The league currently has four participating teams-Calgary United FC, Edmonton Drillers, Saskatoon Accelerators and Winnipeg Alliance FC. This will be the league's second year of play and it hopes to eventually add teams in British Columbia and possibly Hamilton (Ontario).
OTHER
- National Professional Fastpitch: The Chicago Bandits will be moving its Chicago area home field from Benedictine University in Lisle to Judson University in Elgin. The team hopes to build a permanent home stadium in the future.
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.
Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from December 3, 2007
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Update - 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.
