BASEBALLWest Coast League: The…
by Dan Krieger
September 26, 2022 – Carolina League (CarL)
BASEBALL
West Coast League: The summer-collegiate WCL announced a partnership with Major League Baseball that will include player and coach development along with other joint initiatives. The MLB has had a partnership with the ten-team summer-collegiate Appalachian League for the past two seasons. The WCL completed its 2022 season with five teams in British Columbia, one in Edmonton (Alberta), four in Oregon and six in Washington.
Carolina League: The city of Lowell (MA) is hoping the recent sale of its local ballpark to the University of Massachusetts will help bring a professional baseball team back to the city, possibly a Single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. There had been talk of Boston’s current Single-A Carolina League affiliate called the Salem (VA) Red Sox relocating to Lowell, but the Lowell stadium has needed improvements. With the university taking control of the local ballpark, it is thought to have the resources to improve the ballpark. The Lowell Spinners of the former short-season Class-A New York-Penn League lost its MLB affiliation when that league was disbanded during Minor League Baseball’s restructuring prior to the 2021 season.
BASKETBALL
Fan Controlled Hoops: The group called Fan Controlled Sports, which created the indoor Fan Controlled Football (FCF) league, will start a new four-team fan-interactive basketball league called Fan Controlled Hoops in February 2023. Teams will play four-on-four basketball in the same FCF studio and will use an LED-lit floor, which will be smaller than that used by the National Basketball Association and will allow online fans to vote to illuminate certain zones for extra points when scoring.
American Basketball Association: The semi-pro ABA announced a new team called the Arizona Flames, based in the Phoenix area, has been added to the league for the upcoming 2022-23 season.
Professional Basketball Association: The PBA by 1891 announced teams called the Triangle Shooters (Williamsburg, VA) and the Seven Cities Vets (Hampton Roads, VA) have been added for the 2022-23 fall-winter season. The Shooters had been listed as a 2022-23 expansion team for the American Basketball Association (ABA). The Vets played as the Virginia Vets or Virginia Veterans in the 2019-20 season of the ABA. The PBA also announced teams called the Fayetteville (NC) Flight and the Charlotte Fear Brand have been added to the league’s new developmental D-League that starts play this fall.
FOOTBALL
XFL: The XFL, which will restart play in February 2023, is expected to announce the nicknames for its eight teams next week. Some reports identified the potential team names, which were previously listed on the league’s XFL Shop web site, as the Arlington (TX) Renegades, D.C. Defenders, Orlando Guardians, Houston Roughnecks, San Antonio Brahmas, Seattle Sea Dragons, Vegas Vipers and St. Louis BattleHawks.
European League of Football: The American-style football league known as the ELF recently completed its 2022 season with 12 teams and has announced plans to add six more teams called the Prague Lions (Czech Republic), Munich Ravens (Germany), Milano Seamen (Italy), Fehervar Enthroners (Hungary), Helvetic Guards (Zurich, Switzerland) and an unnamed Paris Football Team for the 2023 season.
HOCKEY
United States Hockey League: The Midwest-based Tier-I junior-level USHL, which is the highest level junior hockey league in the United States, started its 2022-23 season this week with the same 16 teams from last season and again aligned in eight-team Eastern and Western conferences. Each team will play 62 games through April 2023.
National Collegiate Development Conference: The United States Premier Hockey League’s top Tier-II junior-level NCDC started its 2022-23 season this week with 14 teams aligned in seven-team North and South divisions. The NCDC operated with 13 teams last season, but Philadelphia Hockey Club left the NCDC’s six-team South Division in the off-season. New teams called the Mercer Chiefs (Trenton, NJ area) and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights were added to the South Division for 2022-23.
Premier Hockey Federation: The women’s professional PHF announced its 2022-23 schedule that will feature seven teams each playing 24 games from early November 2022 to mid-March 2023. The PHF had six teams last season, but added the Montreal Force as a seventh team for the 2022-23 season. The Force will not have an official home arena for the 2022-23 season, but will play its 12 home games across the province of Quebec. The team will play two home games each in Montreal, Saint-Jerome, Quebec City, Sept-Iles, Rimouski and Riviere-du-Loup.
Western Hockey League: The major-junior WHL, which is one of three leagues that comprise the Canadian Hockey League organization, started its 2022-23 season this week with the same 22 teams and league alignment as last season. The WHL includes 5 teams in the Northwest region of the United States and 17 teams in western Canada. The Eastern Conference includes six-team East and Central divisions, while the Western Conference has five-team United States and British Columbia divisions. Each team will play a 68-game schedule through March 2023.
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League: The major-junior QMJHL, which is one of three leagues that comprise the Canadian Hockey League organization, started its 2022-23 season this week with the same 18 teams and league alignment as last season. The Eastern Conference includes a four-team East Division and a six-team Maritimes Division, while the Western Conference has a four-team West Division and a four-team Central Division. Each team will play a 68-game schedule through March 2023.
SOCCER
Major Arena Soccer League: The men’s professional MASL announced it will operate with a seven-team Eastern Conference and a seven-team Western Conference for the upcoming 2022-23 season. Each team will play a 24-game schedule that is still to be announced. The MASL’s Ontario (CA) Fury announced its rebranding as the Empire Strykers starting with the 2022-23 season. Last season, the MASL operated with 12 teams aligned in four-team East, Central and West divisions. All 12 teams will return from the 2021-22 season, while the Mesquite (TX) Outlaws and Monterrey Flash (Nuevo Leon, Mexico) have returned after voluntarily sitting out last season.
Canadian Premier League: As the eight-team professional CPL finishes up its 2022 season, the future of the league’s FC Edmonton team is still in question. The league took over operations of the team in late December 2021 when the team’s ownership stepped away, but the league has been unable to find new ownership for the team. If the CPL does not want to operate the FC Edmonton next season, the league could remain at eight teams since a previously announced Vancouver team is expected to start in 2023.
USL League One (USL): The USL and the FC Harlem (New York) club have entered into a partnership to try to create men’s and women’s USL Academy teams by 2024 and a possible men’s Division-III USL League One team by the 2026 season.
USL Championship (USL): The Oklahoma City Energy FC, which is a member of the Division-II USL Championship and sat out this season due to home stadium renovations, is expected to return for the 2023 season. The stadium work has been completed and the team has signed a stadium lease extension. Nothing new has been heard about the league’s proposed Queensboro FC (Queens, NY) expansion team that had hoped to start in 2021 and then in 2022.
OTHER
National Lacrosse League: The indoor professional NLL announced its 2022-23 season schedule that will feature 15 teams aligned in an eight-team East Conference and a seven-team West Conference with each team playing an 18-game schedule from December 2, 2022 to April, 29, 2023. All teams from last season’s eight-team East and six-team West will return and the Las Vegas Desert Dogs expansion team has been added to the West.
Dan Krieger is the creator of the Weekly Sports League & Franchise Report, which has been tracking changes in the sports world’s leagues, teams and nicknames since April 2007.
• Discuss this story on the Carolina League message board…
- – 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.
