ABA's Nashville is out; PBL bound?

[LightningMan]

By a 4-1 vote of some ABA ownership, the Broncs' protest has been denied. Maywood will play Kentucky for the ABA title. According to a source, Nashville announced to the rest of the ABA owners that it will not return to the league next year.
My first non-ABA related thought was that if Augusta survives the season, Nashville would help to create a southern region with Augusta and Wilmington and (hopefully) Florida. But the news articles posted about the Broncs in the ABA forum doesn't give me a lot of hope for crowds there.

So are they folding or moving and do we really want them to move?

There are also ABA teams in Knoxville and Kentucky that might be intriguing additions as well.

[CHris902]

Isn't Nashville still like 11 hours away from Wilmington? With Augusta likely on the rocks the PBL needs to get another team close to Wilmington to make travel make sense or else the Sea Dawgs will find themselves close to a Halifax-esque nightmare travel situation. (Not quite as bad since airfare is cheaper south of the border)

[LightningMan]

Nashville is 518 miles from Wilmington. Rochester is 618 by comparison. Yes, Nashville is a bit of a stretch, but as you note, everywhere is. Augusta is 242 miles away. Having someone near Wilmington is clearly a relative thing. Knoxville is a bit better: 361 miles. However the best ABA choice folded: Winston-Salem, so anyone even halfway close would be nice.

[Houston Caldwell]

My first non-ABA related thought was that if Augusta survives the season, Nashville would help to create a southern region with Augusta and Wilmington and (hopefully) Florida. But the news articles posted about the Broncs in the ABA forum doesn't give me a lot of hope for crowds there.

So are they folding or moving and do we really want them to move?

There are also ABA teams in Knoxville and Kentucky that might be intriguing additions as well.


Regarding crowds in Nashville, at the Nashville Broncs game I went to, I estimated a crowd of about 400, 60-100 of whom were Kentucky Bison fans. The Broncs owner went to great lengths to "do it right"----- the Bronc HC (Van Breda Kolff) was Vanderbilt's HC for most of the 90's, and the team included 2 prominent former Vanderbilt players and 2 former Tennessee players. The off-court entertainment factor was excellent.

By contrast, the previous Nashville ABA entry (the 2004-2005 Nashville Rhythm) averaged about 1000 fans at home games. The big difference between the 2 franchises is that in the 4 years separating the 2 teams, local media coverage of sub-major league sports has gone from adequate to near-zero.

In a recessionary economy, most print and electronic media outlets have had to cut back; meanwhile, there are 3 cities in the South that have BOTH a major league sports franchise AND a Division 1 NCAA College in a BCS Conference---- those cities are Atlanta, GA, Miami, FL, and Nashville, TN. Plus one of Nashville's 2 ML pro teams is the NHL Nashville Predators---- the Broncs season was having to go head-to-head against them, while the former ABA Rhythm was operating during the NHL lockout.

[psbf]

I remember reading an online article in 'the Tennesean' after the Ryhthem finished playing that they would no longer cover the league.

[TEN]

Regarding crowds in Nashville, at the Nashville Broncs game I went to, I estimated a crowd of about 400, 60-100 of whom were Kentucky Bison fans. The Broncs owner went to great lengths to "do it right"----- the Bronc HC (Van Breda Kolff) was Vanderbilt's HC for most of the 90's, and the team included 2 prominent former Vanderbilt players and 2 former Tennessee players. The off-court entertainment factor was excellent.

By contrast, the previous Nashville ABA entry (the 2004-2005 Nashville Rhythm) averaged about 1000 fans at home games. The big difference between the 2 franchises is that in the 4 years separating the 2 teams, local media coverage of sub-major league sports has gone from adequate to near-zero.

In a recessionary economy, most print and electronic media outlets have had to cut back; meanwhile, there are 3 cities in the South that have BOTH a major league sports franchise AND a Division 1 NCAA College in a BCS Conference---- those cities are Atlanta, GA, Miami, FL, and Nashville, TN. Plus one of Nashville's 2 ML pro teams is the NHL Nashville Predators---- the Broncs season was having to go head-to-head against them, while the former ABA Rhythm was operating during the NHL lockout.


The Broncs owner went to great lengths to do it right? Didn't I read a story recently where Van Breda Kolff called the situation a circus or something like that? I would dare to say that the ABA had a LOT to do with the local media coverage of sub-major league sports going from adequate to near-zero.

It's the same reason that I give a lot of the blame to the ABA for the current state of minor league basketball...