Consolidation: Re-focus on 12 large markets

[arizonacub]

I'm an idiot college kid who was thinking in the fall..."wonder if any ABA teams need media people"... Well, I've followed the league this year and recognized the sad state of affairs.

Which got me thinking, how could the ABA be re-aligned. There really is a void for homey, local basketball teams much like the gazillion baseball teams that dot the country. The NBDL could/should expand...but the ABA should shrink itself into 12 good markets, after being bought away from Joe Newmann.

Big cities with arena and no team: Pittsburgh, Kansas City, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Nashville, Seattle

Mid-sized markets: Santa Fe, NM...Tucson, AZ...Columbus, OH...Providence, RI...Hartford, CT...

consolidated, quality rosters, big arena's with small prices....what other markets can be thought of?

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

I'm an idiot college kid who was thinking in the fall..."wonder if any ABA teams need media people"... Well, I've followed the league this year and recognized the sad state of affairs.

Which got me thinking, how could the ABA be re-aligned. There really is a void for homey, local basketball teams much like the gazillion baseball teams that dot the country. The NBDL could/should expand...but the ABA should shrink itself into 12 good markets, after being bought away from Joe Newmann.

Big cities with arena and no team: Pittsburgh, Kansas City, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Nashville, Seattle

Mid-sized markets: Santa Fe, NM...Tucson, AZ...Columbus, OH...Providence, RI...Hartford, CT...

consolidated, quality rosters, big arena's with small prices....what other markets can be thought of?

Two HUGE holes in your posts:

1 - after being bought away from Joe Newman. - Joe Newman will NEVER "sell" the ABA, if only because it is worth more to him in incremental market fees than it would be in a lump sum buy (since there would be some level of debt to be uincurred, and sale price would reflect that fact).

And, really, what is the value of the ABA as it currently stands? There is little to no advertising money, no national TV/radio contract, no property/office space (unless Joe and Connie move from Holliday Dr), and all operating expenses are carried by the individual teams. About all the league is worth - on paper - is the cost of the basketballs and other ABA-themed souveniers that are probably sitting in Joe's garage. There really is nothing to sell.

2 - shrink and consolidated - essentially, any terminology that refers to making the ABA roster of teams smaller - is anathema to Joe's thinking, and those terms are not part of his vocabulary. Joe has never seen a failed franchise that he couldn't offset (in his mind) by adding other, equally inept franchises to replace them on his master list.

The league needed to step back years ago, build a strong foundation of 8-10 teams at most, nurture them for a couple years while studying other markets, then expanding after all of the proper due diligence was completed.

Sorta like how Target, Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Burger King and all of the other companies Joe loves to use as comparisions would operate.

Instead, it is a cash grab of as many teams as possible, proper organizational structure be damned.

Good ideas, but not feasible with this ABA.

Maybe in a different league...

[Sam Hill]

Problem is...it costs more to be in a big market.

This league went big-market its first year. After about a week, the house of cards (in most markets) fell apart.

You can't do THIS league in big markets. You may not be able to do non-NBA basketball at all in big markets. Suburbs, maybe. But it seems like if you're going to have any modicum of success whatsoever, it's going to be in places like Sioux Falls and Yakima and hamlets like that.

[dougjohnson41472]

Arizonacub, Your idea is valid except for the fact that the ABA (or any other minor league) couldn't compete with the college programs in those areas. For example, Providence, Pittsburgh, Hartford and Cincinnati are in Big East country. Minor league basketball cannot compete with those programs in either the quality of the basketball or in the tradition those programs have.
Face it, most minor league basketball is doomed to failure I am sorry to say. The NBDL may be the exception to the rule, but that is because it is subsidized by the NBA.

[dougjohnson41472]

And you aren't an idiot Arizonacub, in a normal world, your idea has merit. But there is nothing normal about minor league basketball and especially in the world of the ABA.

[skippy]

This idea has been tried and failed.

Actually, I'm at a loss for idea that hasn't been tried and failed in minor league hoops.

[CHris902]

Big cities with arena and no team: Pittsburgh, Kansas City, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Nashville, Seattle

Mid-sized markets: Santa Fe, NM...Tucson, AZ...Columbus, OH...Providence, RI...Hartford, CT...


Even if you ignore the fact that Newman is not letting go of the ABA and even if he did then the league's brand is ruined beyond repair your plan still doesn't really work.

Pittsburgh had a franchise in a more stable minor league and it failed. In addition, the geographic footprint for the league needs to make sense and Seattle have no chance of working out with your proposed locations.

Big markets do not always (or even usually) make good minor league towns. How many franchises have failed in Vegas? People in those cities usually expect more than the C-list minor league that is the ABA, and the cost of everything (particularly rent in an arena) is higher.

[The Magician]

... Which got me thinking, how could the ABA be re-aligned.

The best thing for Minor League Basketball is for the ABA to shut down 4ever!

[Paul S]

Arizonacub - its a valid idea. The PBL is trying to do something similar. The problem with your idea is Joe Newman would screw it up.

The man cannot even get a schedule out for the tin pot teams in his tin pot league, trying to organize a real league would be impossible.