Northwoods League Set To Open Season.. In North Dakota

The Northwoods League announced the unconventional way it plans to open its season, with three teams stationed in Bismarck, North Dakota playing each other 48 times.

The Bismarck Larks are a preexisting NWL team, while the other two teams were created for the summer. The Thunder Bay Border Cats, who cannot play this summer due to COVID-19 restrictions, will send their roster to North Dakota and be known as the Bismarck Flickertails.

The third team was recruited by the Larks coaching staff, and will be known as the Bismarck Bull Moose. South Dakota will allow 500 fans to attend each game at Bismarck Municipal Ballpark, which has an official capacity of 1,900.

Games are scheduled to start on June 15th.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Northwoods League said:

Where it becomes possible in each sub-region of the Northwoods League for play to safely commence, and the teams within each area develop a comprehensive safety plan for their ballpark, the League will adopt a similar “pod” approach to schedule games within each sub-region so that fans in those communities can comfortably return to their ballparks as well.

The St. Cloud Rox were set to open the season on Tuesday on the road before the home opener on May 29th. No rescheduled opening day has been announced.