CBA

[mzracing76]

The CBA To Annouce that Four New Teams will be added for the 2005-06 season.

Ablany Patroons (of course)
Pensacola Tornadoes
Rapid City Thrillers
Wichita Falls Texans

[WIZ Kid]

Where are u getting this info ? I'd love to see some expansion,....... But 4 teams ? We all know about Albany, ( and thats quite a trek Cross country for teams like Idaho and Yakima. ) But A team in Texas ?
I see the ABA problems already happening here.

I hope this is true, but then again, ........I hope the teams can afford the travel.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

That's just mzracing76 being mzracing76 again! :lol:

All those teams are defunct...well, Albany is coming back. Only the ABA and other bush leagues announce new entries into their leagues for the upcoming fall season this late (April).

[Chuck the Writer]

The only news on CBA expansion that I could find with a simple google search was from the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader. They confirmed that Albany was coming into the league for 2005-06 (well they better, considering what I spent on season tix :D ), but the only other cities mentioned are probables. Rapid City, for example, was thought to have come in a year ago, and there's still talk about working on a deal.

According to the Argus-Leader, other cities listed as possible expansion sites include: Long Beach CA, Bakersfield CA (there was a Bakersfield Jammers CBA team that lasted half a season), Calgary, Edmonton, and Bend OR. No talk of Wichita Falls or Pensacola. Besides, I'd rather see Quad City, LaCrosse and Fort Wayne back in the league - those were some tough rivals for the old Patroons.

[Pounder]

Bend- or should I say Redmond- went IBL.

Not that I wouldn't be pushing Rapid City, since Bismarck seems to be complementing Sioux Falls rather well. I wonder if they went after Kearney. Some Iowa cities should be considered. Going away from that base should NOT be considered.

What gets me is that (rumors to this point) Idaho is considering moving out of Nampa and into Boise... again. Mind you, the last time they tried that was during the Isiah fiasco. I thought that would work, but it was an utter disaster. That tells me the Northwest portion of this experiment is in danger.

Having said that, I thought I saw a recent rumor of bringing back CBA to the Tri-Cities (WA). They just about lost their WHL team, and it sounds like the relationship is tenuous there, so they may be out looking.

[Pounder]

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050428/FRONTPAGE/50428002

The move is official.

They tried this once (the year the league folded midseason), and the attendance was wretched- worse than any year in Nampa, and they were 17-7 in Boise at the time of the folding.

Now, no Isiah, and maybe that makes a difference... but I'm skeptical. The sports editor at the Statesman is skeptical. Come join us.

[Pounder]

As I mentioned on another thread, Gary is either past the pining for the fjords stage, or doing a decent Lazarus... perhaps as I type this.

MEANWHILE, I want to ask our Albany fans if they've heard ANYTHING about the team lately.

http://www.albanypats.com/

That website doesn't even have the announcement of the coach on it. I don't believe in ramping up a season ticket drive with only 5 months to spare... people have to save for those.

So I want to know how public the effort is to get this team going again.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

The money problems in Gary may be partly to blame for the lack of news throughout the CBA. The Steelheads are holding-up the release of the 2005-2006 CBA schedule.

[Tha Man*]

Well the CBa has 1 new team for the 2006-2007 season in Colorado. Its on the CBA Website.

http://www.cbahoopsonline.com/directory.asp

[teentails]

Wichita Falls cool. But Rapid City joining the league. WAHOO. Its not just the home of the Reddogs. I'll be rooting for Rapid City. I like Pensacola but the name is a little awkward Tornadoes. Hurricanes would have been more appropiate for them instead.

[rice_web]

I believe that Gary's holdup may be in fact due to their potential market change. If I remember correctly, Gary's owner(s) had been calling up old Snowbears' owners here in town trying to put forth a new ownership group. This was about two months ago; I've not heard anything since.

[Tha Man*]

rice-web


Can you go into further what you are talking about? Owners from the IBA or ABA?

[rice_web]

The old IBA owners (Curt Zimbleman, for instance). I must admit, I don't know the specifics (such as, did anyone actually partner with the owners from Gary?, or is the move still in consideration?), but it certainly appears as though Gary is looking to relocate, perhaps even before the coming season (though I can't imagine how that wouldn't be a disaster this late in the year).

To be fair, however, the IBA Snowbears were sometimes left with only a couple of months to get their season going as teams shuffled around a fair amount in the IBA and schedules were difficult to come by. Despite this, they still pulled 1700 a night in their worst years and corporate sponsorship was rather strong (and growing). Of course, the XBA/MBA fiasco left faith in the team shattered, and there is still no suitable arena in Minot (save for the aging Civic Auditorium, which could use more than a facelift).

What was Gary's pull at the gate? A few hundred a night? Surely if the team is simply looking to remain afloat a move to Minot looks stronger than a stay in Gary, but any new details on a potential move are completely lost on me. You'll have to find some other "inside source". :D

[Pounder]

Wait a minute.

The Steelheads get bailed out by the CITY OF GARY... then turn tail? This isn't going to spark a massive lawsuit? WTF?

No, I'm not buying that one. I can easily buy into some other CBA team making that leap. I'm not saying nothing is happening in Minot. If it's really Gary, however, that leaves a lot to be desired.

Oh, BTW, resurrecting the OLD CBA is much more likely to yield the old results, wouldn't you think? Something about why we are where we're at now?

[rice_web]

I hadn't been closely following the situation in Gary. What's the information on the city keeping them alive?

In any case, I'm afraid it's been at least a couple of months since I had heard anything (in face, I don't even remember if it was Gary, now that I think about it; could it have been Michigan that was considering the move?).

Regardless, I think we're missing an important point. Uncertainty. Nobody seems to really know what's going on, save for tidbits here and there (that aren't even necessarily always certain tidbits, as my example clearly displays :) ). I somehow imagine that this season may prove to be lackluster, and it will be the first time in a long time that I'll be far removed from IBA/XBA/MBA/CBA basketball. I'm moving to Grand Forks, so I won't be attending Dakota Wizards games this year (after having season tickets and almost taking the plunge to a corporate sponsorship for this season). Maybe there'll be a push for a team in Fargo, again. :)

[rice_web]

I just looked at the story about the city of Gary bailing out the Steelheads. C'mon now, that just happened! My story about Gary moving to Minot is at least a couple of months old and did not factor in any recent news (I've really quite stopped caring ever since the XBA/MBA thing).

You know what, just forget everything I said. :D

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Whoa (I TOO started on this post awhile ago, but got distracted)!

Great Lakes only pulled a few hundred a night. Gary, on the other hand, averaged a little over 2,000 per game. Down from previous seasons due to a total lack of marketing.

The Harrises (Steelhead owners) were still on their national comedy tour when they were looking for buyers of the Steelheads. Everyone around here knows that the Steelheads' only asset is the taxpayers of Gary.

The latest, in a long series of governmental bailouts, indeed includes a no relocation clause in the contract.