CBA is now on the Clock....and its ticking away

[a1sports]

The cost of jet fuel just keeps going up. And in response, airlines keep jacking up ticket prices. Now that they've cut every bit of fat (and then some) out of their operations, carriers have little choice but to pass the rising cost of fuel onto consumers through repeated fare increases and new charges. Are they recouping? Most of the time they're not even coming close.

There is no reason why the CBA should exist with the way the teams are spread out all over the place. Now dont say the word "History", History doesnt pay the travel costs.

I will wait and see which team(s) go to the PBL....if they dont and try to stay as a 6 team league....then they deserve what they get,,,which is lots of lost cash and for what reason???

Smeone Please go into the CBA office and change the calendar from 1988 to 2008. !

[Patroons1]

I'd like to offer the CBA doomsday machine drivers a couple facts. Advanced air fares are still very reasonable. An 18 game home schedule could mean 9 road trips for each team, travel thurs/return sunday, play two games on each trip. That's an 18 week season, 4 months (Nov-Feb with March playoffs). I looked at Albany to Pitt, Albany to Oklahoma, Albany to Houston (RGV) in the Nov time frame (USAIR and Southwest) had round trip fares between $200-300.

I agree that regionalization HAS to happen, but this alone will NOT kill the CBA for 1 year.

If 12 people travel (10 player, coach, assistant) and even at $350/ticket (high estimate) = $37,800 for the season.

If 12 people get $25 per diem from thurs-sunday for 9 trips, that's $2700.

If 12 people share 6 double bed hotel rooms at $65/night for 9 trips, 3 nights per trip, That's $10,530 per season.

Pretty good soup to nuts budget is $51K per team, per year, less than $6K per trip! That's ALOT less than last year and some teams could actually bus cutting down further Pitt/Kt, RGV/OK which is not included here.

Get the schedule set! Get the fares locked in! Let's go with six while the PACMAN Basketball League (PBL) gets ready to implode on itself.

[DazedAndAmused]

I'd like to offer the CBA doomsday machine drivers a couple facts. Advanced air fares are still very reasonable. An 18 game home schedule could mean 9 road trips for each team, travel thurs/return sunday, play two games on each trip. That's an 18 week season, 4 months (Nov-Feb with March playoffs). I looked at Albany to Pitt, Albany to Oklahoma, Albany to Houston (RGV) in the Nov time frame (USAIR and Southwest) had round trip fares between $200-300.

I agree that regionalization HAS to happen, but this alone will NOT kill the CBA for 1 year.

If 12 people travel (10 player, coach, assistant) and even at $350/ticket (high estimate) = $37,800 for the season.

If 12 people get $25 per diem from thurs-sunday for 9 trips, that's $2700.

If 12 people share 6 double bed hotel rooms at $65/night for 9 trips, 3 nights per trip, That's $10,530 per season.

Pretty good soup to nuts budget is $51K per team, per year, less than $6K per trip! That's ALOT less than last year and some teams could actually bus cutting down further Pitt/Kt, RGV/OK which is not included here.

Get the schedule set! Get the fares locked in! Let's go with six while the PACMAN Basketball League (PBL) gets ready to implode on itself.

No offense, but I think you take this a1 kook too seriously. He speaks only for himself and seems to be out to create yet another war between leagues. If you (presumably in a position of influence with the CBA) take care of your house and reorganization, nobody on this board matters. I do think your travel estimates are low though moving forward, and I wonder (based only on what I have read) about the financial health of some of the remaining clubs and their ability to play next year. Whether or not the PBL implodes I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but that may not be known for a season or two. The immediate concern is what happens to the CBA this year. Personally, I had hoped the CBA and PBL would find some common ground. This business is too tough to not create allies.

[Patroons1]

I hear you dazedandamused, I probably do take him a little too serious. ;) BTW, I am only a fan, not involved otherwise with CBA.

I do hope PBL and CBA someday get together, take the best of both. But, in the mean time, I also think this CBA travel thing can be managed especially if they put 6 talented, competitive teams on the floor at a reasonable price.

I don't want to fall into a1's trap of adding to the war but they PACMAN has been active and at times, appears reckless ("Com'on... Groove?!) :o

As far as travel estimates, the airfare will be the biggest cost driver so the league should be working on that asap which means they have to put a stake in the ground, get the 6 teams on the same page, set the schedule, start the marketing, get the advanced fares and focus, focus, focus on putting the best talent possible on the floor.

Opening day is less than 172 days away! :-D

[Chuck the Writer]

I hear you dazedandamused, I probably do take him a little too serious. ;) BTW, I am only a fan, not involved otherwise with CBA.

I do hope PBL and CBA someday get together, take the best of both. But, in the mean time, I also think this CBA travel thing can be managed especially if they put 6 talented, competitive teams on the floor at a reasonable price.

I don't want to fall into a1's trap of adding to the war but they PACMAN has been active and at times, appears reckless ("Com'on... Groove?!) :o

As far as travel estimates, the airfare will be the biggest cost driver so the league should be working on that asap which means they have to put a stake in the ground, get the 6 teams on the same page, set the schedule, start the marketing, get the advanced fares and focus, focus, focus on putting the best talent possible on the floor.

Opening day is less than 172 days away! :-D

I concur with Patroons1 regarding airfares - if you get the schedule built ahead of time, you can make arrangements with travel agencies so that flights can be arranged in a cost-effective manner. Nobody's going to book same-day flights throughout the season, and with double-headers scheduled throughout the year, it's not going to be 36 or 48 flights out and 36 or 48 flights back.

Also, the CBA has put a rule into effect (I think it's been on the books for a couple of years now) that the team can only send 10 players and a coach, anybody else has to be an added expense for the team and is not covered by the league travel plans.

[psbf]

Seeing as I hate flying, obviously, airfair would be no good to me. But I did look up Amtrak, which has a train that goes from here to Minot. Despite having to make connections in Chicago, I totaled it at over $300 no including meals and lodging. Also, Pikesville is about 5 1/2 hours from here by driving, including a toll road.

[PikevilleOT]

[QUOTE=psbf;94495]Seeing as I hate flying, obviously, airfair would be no good to me. But I did look up Amtrak, which has a train that goes from here to Minot. Despite having to make connections in Chicago, I totaled it at over $300 no including meals and lodging. Also, Pikesville is about 5 1/2 hours from here by driving, including a toll road.[/QUOTE

I can make it even cheaper for you..... I made the trip to Pitt from Pikeville (no s psbf) and there was no tolls to pay... it does take about 5 to 5 1/2 hours but its an easy drive.

[heatht]

Sounds good but there's a couple flaws in this.

(1) Per Diem math is off: 12p x $25 x 4days x9trips = $10,800 not $2,700.

(2) CBA teams do not pay for their own travel...its pooled by the league. Therefore, Albany has to subsidize Minot and all the faraway teams regardless of how close a bus ride is. Last year the travel cost each team about $80,000 (plus any additional people).

(3) Dues...the CBA requires dues as its business model. That could've been $50/$60/$70,000 last year (?). With less teams projected for this year, that figure can only go UP per team.

Thus when the PBL offers teams no travel expense, no dues, and then throws in no ref expense, no uniform expense, and now their on TV...the correct choice seems obvious. And I think alot of teams are seeing that.


I'd like to offer the CBA doomsday machine drivers a couple facts. Advanced air fares are still very reasonable. An 18 game home schedule could mean 9 road trips for each team, travel thurs/return sunday, play two games on each trip. That's an 18 week season, 4 months (Nov-Feb with March playoffs). I looked at Albany to Pitt, Albany to Oklahoma, Albany to Houston (RGV) in the Nov time frame (USAIR and Southwest) had round trip fares between $200-300.

I agree that regionalization HAS to happen, but this alone will NOT kill the CBA for 1 year.

If 12 people travel (10 player, coach, assistant) and even at $350/ticket (high estimate) = $37,800 for the season.

If 12 people get $25 per diem from thurs-sunday for 9 trips, that's $2700.

If 12 people share 6 double bed hotel rooms at $65/night for 9 trips, 3 nights per trip, That's $10,530 per season.

Pretty good soup to nuts budget is $51K per team, per year, less than $6K per trip! That's ALOT less than last year and some teams could actually bus cutting down further Pitt/Kt, RGV/OK which is not included here.

Get the schedule set! Get the fares locked in! Let's go with six while the PACMAN Basketball League (PBL) gets ready to implode on itself.

[psbf]

I appreciate that, ot. I only mentioned tolls because I looked up the route on mapquest and learned about it, so apparently they just added the tolls, as it said tolls in some areas. It would help a lot if it was toll-free. I'm hoping to make it down to Pikesville this season to meet a friend and take in a game as well.

Heathe(sorry if I misspelled), what I don't understand is, if the league is paying for travel, why would one team have to re-pay another?

[heatht]

Heathe(sorry if I misspelled), what I don't understand is, if the league is paying for travel, why would one team have to re-pay another?

Not sure if I know what you mean. What I'm saying is the PBL pays for travel. In the CBA, the travel costs are pooled together and paid by the CBA and then each team pays a % of that based on the number of teams.

[psbf]

I did not understand what you meant, Heatht, but it makes sense now, thanks. I can relate to teams paying a percentage of it, but they should pay the league not their host team, as I understood you to say.

[FrontOffice]

That's not what he meant. He means because travel to and from Minot or Yakama is that much more than out of Pitt or Albany, that teams are having to pay more into the pot to make up for it. Essentially, Minot having to travel long distances for every single game racks up that much more in travel costs compared to your Xplosion who only have to travel out to Yakama and Minot once, where the rest of their travel schedule is relatively short in comparision. But in the end Minot is not paying more than Pitt even though they are the ones incurring those additional costs.