Arkansas Not in the ABA as of TODAY!!

[wazzie]

ABA News

ARKANSAS RIMROCKERS WILL NOT RETURN TO ABA

19-Apr-2005
Indianapolis, IN -- The American Basketball Association (ABA) announced that the defending champion Arkansas RimRockers will not return to the ABA next season. On Thursday, the ABA received notice from Larry Crain, RimRocker owner, that "...the Arkansas RimRocker team does not plan on playing in the ABA next year..."

Recently, Crain gave the professional basketball league a series of ultimatums that included, but were not limited to:

1. The league must form a national super division of 12 selected teams,

2. That the national super division play in larger venues, travel by air, and allow higher salary caps,

3. That the ABA stops its expansion at around 30 teams,

4. That Larry Crain be made Commissioner of the super division.

The ABA rejected all of these things for the followings reasons:

1. The formation of a national super division would reduce all other ABA teams to "minor status" and would de-value the non-national super division teams,

2. The formation of this division would create a situation where the best available 144 players would play in the division and hurt the caliber of play throughout the league. Increased operating expenses (salaries, travel, venues) would drive up the cost of tickets and impact the family-friendly, affordable goal of the ABA,

3. The league felt strongly that exciting ABA basketball could be played nationwide and that divisions similar to those of the NCAA could be created, creating great regional rivalries and lowering operational costs so that ticket prices could remain low,

4. The league did not feel comfortable having Larry Crain as a Commissioner. The ABA respects the Arkansas RimRockers, Larry Crain, Otis Birdsong, Joe Harge and others in their fine organization. They did an outstanding job and deserve much credit.

We are not pleased with Larry Crain's decision, but it was his to make. His vision of the ABA and the ABA's vision of the ABA are different. The goal of the ABA is to provide exciting, fan-friendly, family-friendly professional basketball at affordable prices - to provide fans with an opportunity to see the extended careers of their local high school and college players once again. We wish the Arkansas RimRockers well.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Arkansas got out at the right time. Uncle Joe acts like nothing is wrong but they were the team that brought in the best crowd in both numbers and support. Uncle Joe....Tisk, Tisk

[johnnydr87]

i dont think that surprises anyone...

[Tha Man*]

Anyone want to take bets what league the Rim Rockers will show up in next? (CBA or NBDL)

[johnnydr87]

it's definitely NBDL

there's been articles about it already in the AR dem Gaz.

Plus, you can go to their website, click the article taht says "buy season tickets here".....then look at the image of the stadium seating chart...and there's an NBDL logo in the bottom right hand corner

[johnnydr87]

rimrockerfans.com

[Common Sense]

Nice list of reasons the ABA gave for rejecting Larry Crain's demands. They really went overboard with explanation.
1. They feel this would reduce all the non super division teams to "minor status". THEY ARE NUTS! There aren't 11 other teams in that league that are ever at "minor status" and thus worthy of joining the Rimrockers in a super division. Small to no crowds, unknown rosters, not traveling to games and cancelling others for no venues is way below even "minor status".
4. The league did no feel comfortable having Larry Crain as commissioner. Let's see which would be better a bumbling idiot or a guy that had the only team in the league that not only attended every game, but helped pay the bills for visiting teams to show up and actually marketed and brought in a good crowd and showed them a good product. Yeah, why feel comfortable having that guy run the whole league.

[wncsport.com]

Arkansas to NBDL is not a done deal quite yet, but it looks very promising. Only questions I hear include whether or not this will be an "expansion" team or a relocated NBDL team. THe Huntsville article says the Huntsville team are very unlikely to move. I'd think Asheville was a target but they already started selling season tix for next season and already announced their home opener for next year as Nov. 18. (Smart move: It looks very questionable whether hockey will be back next year here. Better to sow these seeds now.)

Frankly, and I know it goes against the NBDL grain, I wouldn't mind having a team of mature players who played for Arkansas still on the team to go against these younger NBDL players.

[meyes]

This is just my opinion, but I think it would be wise for the NBDL to take the RimRockers in as the team is (or as closely to what it currently is as Larry Crain can manage). The NBA benefited greatly from taking in four existing ABA teams which were much as they had been in their final year in the ABA (Dr. J's move being the most noticable exception). Arkansas will be better able to draw crowds and expose fans in their market to the NBDL by presenting a known team which already has a following. Over the course of a season or two, the RimRockers will, inevitably, blend in with the rest of the league as did the Pacers, Nets, Nuggets and Spurs.

[dshaw62197]

I think that press release set a new record for Uncle Joe's use of the term "family-friendly" in one release.

All I know is, this league continues to plummet into new depths of absurdity.

We wish Uncle Joe and the rest of the circus -- er, league -- the best of luck. :roll:

[Common Sense]

Why do people continue to act like this version of the ABA is even in the slightest way associated with the ABA that produced the Nuggets, Pacers, Nets and Spurs. Please everyone stop using that comparison.
Was the original ABA close to the NBA? Yes, in some ways, most importanly it lured top talent.
Was the USFL close to the NFL? Yes, and even then the NFL never took any of the USFL teams to join the NFL. Just some of it's players. Players that were NFL talents that just took better money in the USFL. The ABA is not better money or opportunity than the NBDL. Look at this years call up numbers.
This version of the ABA is not one that the NBA is looking at for taking good markets and real pro teams like it did with Indiana and Denver, etc. That is why, they are even thinking of moving an existing NBDL team to Arkansas. They don't necessarily want the Rimrockers. They want the city and fans the Rimrockers had.
Please everyone stop drawing comparisons to the original ABA which was a legitimate league.
I think another thing to keep in mind with the NBA running most of the teams in the NBDL, the talent pool would be much different as many players are allocated to teams by the league. The Arkansas team would not be bringing over it's roster from it's ABA title team. Many of those players were there (Oliver Miller, Scotty Thurman. etc.) because they were told they were too old or out of shape for the NBDL and CBA.
(And yes, I know this from first hand knowledge. Scotty was released after about one week of the CBA several years ago in his prime and the Big O was let go early this season by a CBA team for being too out of shape for that league.)

[rimrockerfan]

Well this is exactly what I would have expected to come from Herr
Neumann. The lies in this "release" are so numerous it's not even
worth wasting time on. I will only take the time to point out a few
of the absurdities in this whole diatribe.

First, anyone who thinks that Larry Crain or any other business man
wants to spend more money on planes, venues and other expenses than
what is necessary to get the job done right is not dealing in
reality.

Secondly, why would Larry Crain, who has numerous business ventures
going on that he is personally involved in on a day to day basis,
want to take the necessary responsibilities of a real commissioner
on? The answer is he wouldn't. Does he want to see a responsible,
reputable, person running the league? Absolutely, does he want to be
that person? I think not. The simple level of commitment and
sacrifice that it would take to do the job as it should be done,
should answer that question.

I was privileged to be a witness to many of the things that the
RimRockers had to experience this season in their journey to the
title. I can tell you that the players, Coach Harge, Otis Birdsong,
the great staff of the RimRockers and Larry Crain himself all
handled the adversity and obstacles with nothing but class and
integrity. The ABA will be worse off without the RimRocker
organization as a part of the league. Unless my math is off, I
believe that the total number of persons who saw the RimRockers play
at home this season probably surpasses the number that saw the
entire rest of the league play, combined. This is a testament not
only to the great basketball fans of Arkansas, but also to a well
directed and well run organization.

Congratulations to the great fans, and to those who did give their
all to making this past season a success, your efforts did not go
unnoticed by this fan.

[Common Sense]

I congratulate all the Rimrocker fans and staff. I truly hope you will now be a part of a league that is more up to your standards. The entire organization truly deserves it. The first step was leaving the ABA. Now there is only up for you to go with your first class organization and fans.