Minor Sports Leagues

By Dan Krieger
Leagues, Teams & Nicknames

BASEBALL
Golden Baseball League (Orange County): 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.


BASKETBALL
American Basketball Association (San Diego, Orange County): 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.

FOOTBALL
Arena Football League (Los Angeles): 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).

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.

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.