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Weekly Sports League and Franchise Update

by Dan Krieger
April 22, 2008 - Premier Basketball League (PBL)


BASEBALL

• Frontier League: The city of Avon (OH) plans to break ground next week on its 5,000-seat ballpark that will become home to a Frontier League franchise. The ballpark is expected to be ready for the start of the 2009 baseball season. A team called the Oakland (MI) County Cruisers is also expected to start play in 2009.

• Continental Baseball League: The four-team CBL plans to return for a second season in late May 2008 with all teams again based in Texas-Bay Area Toros (League City), Corpus Christi Beach Dawgs (Robstown), McKinney Blue Thunder and Texarkana Gunslingers. The new Corpus Christi and Texarkana teams replace last year's league-operated Dallas Heat travel team and the Lewisville Lizards. The Tarrant County Blue Thunder moved from the town of Keller to McKinney for 2008. McKinney is also home to the McKinney Marshals of the Texas Collegiate Baseball League.

• Pacific Coast League: The ownership of the Omaha Royals is not certain the team wants to be part of plans for a new 24,000-seat downtown stadium, which will be used to host the annual College World Series. The team has a contract through 2010 to play in Omaha's current stadium, which is expected to be torn down after the 2010 season. If the Royals do not want to play downtown, the team would have to find a new home. This has led to rumors of possible relocation to another city or to nearby Council Bluffs (IA).

BASKETBALL

• National Basketball Association: The NBA has approved the move of the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season, if the team can settle its lawsuit with Seattle and get out of its remaining two years on its lease. Seattle has rejected the Sonics' offer to buy out the remainder of the lease and a trial to settle the issue is set to start in June 2008. The Sonics entered the NBA as an expansion franchise for the 1967-68 season. The league's last franchise relocation was the Charlotte Hornets to New Orleans in 2002-03.

• Premier Basketball League: The PBL has announced that its Toronto Lazers expansion franchise will start play in the 2008-09 season. The team was originally listed as the "Lasers" on the PBL web site. The league also announced it will have a Southeast Asian All-Star team participating in the 2008-09 season. This was a result of the PBL's partnership with Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. The league plans to take a PBL All-Star team to Thailand this summer. The PBL has become a major investor in a new arena proposed in Montgomery County (MD), home of the Maryland Nighthawks. The league's web site has the Dallas Defenders listed simply as "Dallas" in the team line-up.

• Continental Basketball Association: The CBA is considering expansion into the Caribbean with a CBA Caribbean league. A meeting in the Dominican Republic next month will provide details for franchise opportunities.

• National Professional Basketball League: The NPBL has removed the West Virginia Wild franchise from the 2008 season after the Wild failed to show for its first game against the Elmira Bulldogs. The league has added the Delaware Destroyers of the Eastern Basketball Association to fill in for some of West Virginia's scheduled games.

• United States Basketball Association: The proposed USBA has delayed its inaugural season until April 2009. The league plans to start a 30-game season with a 14-team Southeastern Conference split into two divisions. The league will then add a Midwestern Conference in 2010. On the USBA's list of Southeastern Conference teams, the Macon Marauders are gone; the Montgomery Generals and Norfolk Blaze have returned; and the new Charleston (SC) Cadets have been added. In the Midwestern Conference, the Des Moines Capital is now listed as the Des Moines Diamond.

• New World Professional Basketball League: The NWPBL originally announced plans to start play back in April 2007, but its start has apparently been delayed until 2009. The league web site no longer has proposed teams listed and states that franchises will be awarded in the fall of 2008. Previously, the NWPBL had 12 proposed teams split into 4 divisions: South (Florida Conquistadors, Georgia Vultures, Mobile Stingrays), North (Chicago Stars, Kentucky Tomcats, Ohio Stealths), East (Nashville Knights, Mississippi Storm, West Tennessee Jaguars), and West (Arlington Heat, Oklahoma Bandits, Pine Bluff Armadillos).

FOOTBALL

• National Football League: A developer in the Los Angeles area announced plans to build a 75,000-seat stadium in the City of Industry to lure an NFL franchise to the market.

• American Professional Football League: The league's 2008 travel team called the Wichita Falls Diablos, which had basically merged with the Texas Rough Riders team that recently left the Independent Indoor Football Alliance (IIFA), decided not to play its second game of the season against the Conroe Storm. The Spring (TX) Bulls of the IIFA filled in for the Diablos/Rough Riders team against the Storm.

• The Indoor Football Association: It appears that only five teams will start the inaugural 2008 TIFA season in May-the Grand Rapids Thunder, Indiana (PA) Wolverines, Indiana Nightmare (Elkhart), Indianapolis Venom and Lynwood (IL) Knights. The Lansing Steelkatz team is no longer listed.

HOCKEY

• International Hockey League: All six teams from the 2007-08 season have committed to return next season. The league wants to eventually grow to 12 teams in the Midwest, but will consider expansion slowly. The owner of the Chicago Hounds, a former United Hockey League team that did not switch to the IHL for its inaugural season, is interested in the IHL. There was talk of a possible IHL team in Indianapolis, but the arena operators granted a new two-year lease to the junior-level Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League.

• Mid-Atlantic Hockey League: The MAHL has announced the Wooster (OH) Warriors team has moved to Trenton (MI), which is located in the southern suburbs of Detroit. The team will be called the Trenton Warriors when it starts play in the 2008-09 season. The league also announced a new franchise called the Battle Creek (MI) Revolution will start play in the 2008-09 season. The A-level league currently has six teams and could add more before its next season starts.

• Eastern Professional Hockey League: The EPHL has officially announced the addition of West Orange (NJ) for its inaugural 50-game 2008-09 season. West Orange joins Danbury (CT) as the league's first two of six franchises it plans to have in its first season. Both teams will hold name-the-team contests. The A-level EPHL is currently targeting Rome (NY) for another franchise.

• Central Hockey League: The CHL's plans for a franchise in Yuma (AZ) will have to wait. The Yuma city council has decided to put the issue of a new 6,000-seat arena before the voters on a November 2008 ballot.

SOCCER

• Premier Arena Soccer League: The Richmond Kickers of the United Soccer Leagues Second Division outdoor league have entered into a partnership with the city's new indoor sports facility and will operate a PASL indoor soccer franchise under the Kickers' player development umbrella. The Kickers will take over operations of the existing Richmond Rowdies franchise that competed in the 2007-08 PASL. An official name for the team has not been announced, but Richmond Kickers Indoor plans to play in the PASL's Mid-Atlantic Division during the 2008-09 season. The PASL is a development league for the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). The owner of the MISL's Stockton-based California Cougars has reconfirmed his interest in joining the PASL's new professional division, which plans to be a 16-team regional format. The PASL owners are expected to meet next month.

• Women's Professional Soccer: The WPS Chicago franchise has eliminated the name Chicago Blues from its list of ten proposed team names, based on fan voting. This nickname was the sixth of ten to be eliminated. The franchise will continue to eliminate nicknames from the remaining Riot, Wind, 1871 and Red Stars names as it prepares for the league's inaugural season in 2009.

OTHER

• Revolution Lacrosse: The Revolution Sports web site states that its indoor Revolution Lacrosse opens training camp and starts its regular season in May 2009. The organization's indoor Revolution Football starts in February 2009, while Revolution Hockey starts in 2010.

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.

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Premier Basketball League Stories from April 22, 2008


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.


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