With the addition of 7 teams to the league (8, if you include the Salt Lake Trappers, who only took an exhibition role last season), the GSL will undergo some division realignment in 2022. We won't know what the final division pairing will be until all 32 teams are on board for the 2022 season, but there are some things we do know.

First, we know which teams have confirmed that they will be returning for the 2022 GSL season.



We also know which teams have yet to confirm their return to the GSL for 2022. For these teams to not be included in the 2022 season, the owners will have to explicitly state they would like to remove their team from the league, otherwise their team will be put up for sale for a new owner to purchase.



If no 2021 teams relocate or leave the GSL, there will be two cities which will not get a team in 2022, from the list of available cities for GSL play.

City	State	Notes
Birmingham	AL
Boston	MA	Must be a team in either Boston or New York in 2022
Chicago	IL	Must be a team in either Chicago or Minneapolis in 2022
Dallas	TX	Required to have a team in 2022 to replace the Dallas Diesel
Kansas City	MO
Minneapolis	MN	Must be a team in either Chicago or Minneapolis in 2022
New York	NY	Must be a team in either Boston or New York in 2022
Oklahoma City	OK
Vancouver	BC

The relocation and opt out period ends August 30th for current franchises, while applications for expansion franchises will start to be accepted September 1st.

There will still be an Eastern and Western conference, but each conference will add another division, making 4 divisions of 4 teams per conference. The conference logos will undergo an update to reflect the new 4th division in each conference. The new Conference logos will be released Monday August 9th.

The Division names that will make up each conference for 2022 have been decided on. What will be most notable, is that the South division name is moving from the Eastern to the Western conference, and the Central division name is moving from the Western to the Eastern conference. Division names will be as follows:

Eastern Conference:
East, North, Atlantic, Central

Western Conference:
Pacific, West, South, Heartland

If there are no more relocations, or if no teams leave the league (haven't heard any rumors there), there are some teams whos division is pretty much set.

Eastern Conference

East	=>	Baltimore	Washington	?	?
North	=>	Toronto	Wisconsin	?	?
Atlantic	=>	Atlanta	Carolina	Jacksonville	Miami
Central	=>	Louisiana	Louisville	?	?

Western Conference

Pacific	=>	Oakland	Portland	Seattle	?
West	=>	Las Vegas	Los Angeles	Salt Lake	?
South	=>	Albuquerque	Arizona	Dallas Exp.	San Antonio
Heartland	=>	St. Louis	?	?	?

The GSL has created a full map of possible division alignments (assuming no city changes for current teams).



The 2022 GSL offseason is set to begin this coming Sunday August 8th.

Austin Snelick
August 6, 2021