ABA predictions for next year

[skippy]

Skippy, the magnificent predicts that several ABA teams will leave forming the proposed Super League

Long Beach
Tijuana
Ike Ausin's Snowbears
and several other west/midwest teams...possibly merging with the AAPBL.

There will be less than 30 ABA teams that actually play with the level of play being comparable to the EBA.

[CRUSADERSFAN]

Skippy, the magnificent predicts that several ABA teams will leave forming the proposed Super League

Long Beach
Tijuana
Ike Ausin's Snowbears
and several other west/midwest teams...possibly merging with the AAPBL.

There will be less than 30 ABA teams that actually play with the level of play being comparable to the EBA.

I heard Tijuana's players weren't getting paid... :?

To add to your list, Orange County Buzz(because Newman basically trashed Burrell Lee on a message board), New Jersey Skycats, and the Texas Tycoons.

If I were them, no way would I merge with the AAPBL until they have a year of experience. Their markets seem more CBA-suited anyhow.

[toad8098]

I don't think Tijuana, but I do see several teams leaving the ABA.

Texas, Utah, Long Beach, Orange County, New Jersey, Bellevue & Mississippi. Also, possibly Maryland, Harlem & Kentucky.

I predict that out of all of the teams currently listed on abalive.com(70), that about half of them will start the 2005-06 season and play at least one game. Then about 10 more teams will fold during the season. So by the time the play-offs roll around in March 2006, their should be about 25-30 teams left. Which is slightly more then what was left after this past season.

[meyes]

Belleview and Mississippi will NOT be leaving the ABA. See the league release about this week's league meeting.

[skippy]

I'm wondering where the snowbears will end up?

[CRUSADERSFAN]

I'm wondering where the snowbears will end up?

Obviously not in the ABA. :lol: I can't imagine them ending up in the NBDL, though Ike Austin has said that's his intention for the team. Unless a new league pops up somewhere, maybe the AAPBL would be the most logical choice. :?:

[skippy]

Actually, the CBA may not be a bad place for them to end up.
Hmmmm....???

[Sam Hill]

Fine, but if you draw a couple hundred people a game in the CBA, you're toast pretty early on.

[dshaw62197]

I just read the ABA's press release on the league meeting that was held recently. Uncle Joe has announced new guidlines for all league teams to follow. While the list was very long and detailed, I think it might be easier if it was condensed down to the salient points:

1. Teams shall remain under the same ownership, and keep the same name, for the whole season.

2. Teams shall actually show up at appointed times on the schedule.

3. Teams shall actually pay their players, staff, etc.

4. Teams shall be granted to owners who are financially sound, and have sufficient funds for the team to last the whole season.

What about it, Joe?

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

dshaw-
The list was long - but aything but detailed. For examlple:
"New standards and requirements covered such things as financial responsibility and capital requirements, mandatory stat system, 3-D lights, websites, staffing, venues, hotels, travel, marketing/business plans, insurance, community involvement, division representation, referees, tryout camps, league in-market visits, national sponsor responsibilities, public relations."

OK, they have a plan for each of these topics. What is the plan? :?

Will Joe EVER reveal the top-secret formula for success they have developed? Certainly, if each team follows the ABA plan, it is a guaranteed success. :wink: After all, Joe chalked up the successful RimRocker season to their ability to follow the Ricardo plan for marketing and PR. It had nothing to do with the organization itself, or the fact that - if every team in the ABA was given the same blueprint - they were the only ones to succeed at that level.

[Sam Hill]

Here's the problem:

Adhering to those standards costs money. Some of them cost a lot of money. And they don't necessarily translate into more revenue coming in.

If the guy in LA thinks that just because LA is a big melting pot and his tickets are more affordable than the Lakers and Clippers and that's going to sell out whatever JuCo gym he chooses to play in, they're in trouble.

So probably at least half of the people they currently have signed up are all geeked up now until they have to start writing checks for these things, and when they see the gate receipts for the first home game.

They won't hire ticket sales people. They won't start marketing now. They will drag their feet and throw open the doors and wonder what they did wrong when no one shows up. Because this product simply isn't good enough, and they don't have the money to market it properly.

Look at it this way - the CBA teams have almost all been at it for a while, have tradition in their markets, have full-time staffs and, by most accounts, try to do things the right way. What do they average? Does the league even average 3,000 a game? Has a minor basketball league ever averaged 4,000 a game? What's the most a minor league basketball team has ever averaged? And how is an ABA team going to do better than that?

For all of Joe's rants about finally finding an economic model that works - no, you haven't. It doesn't work. If you get a perfect storm like Arkansas, it "works," kinda (I don't see any way they didn't lose at least some money), but for the majority of ABA teams, there's no way it can work.

Because doing things professionally means spending money. And it's money you can't get back at the gate. You just can't. It's not happening.

[rams80]

I just read the ABA's press release on the league meeting that was held recently. Uncle Joe has announced new guidlines for all league teams to follow. While the list was very long and detailed, I think it might be easier if it was condensed down to the salient points:

1. Teams shall remain under the same ownership, and keep the same name, for the whole season.

2. Teams shall actually show up at appointed times on the schedule.

3. Teams shall actually pay their players, staff, etc.

4. Teams shall be granted to owners who are financially sound, and have sufficient funds for the team to last the whole season.

What about it, Joe?

I'll believe it whe I see it. :roll:

[dshaw62197]

What a pity that, when the ABA does have a reasonably successful team, it up and leaves the league.

Hey ABARedWhiteandBlue -- you're right, Uncle Joe was a bit short on the details part. My guess is that those will come later -- when he figures them out. 8)

[CJPhillips]

1993-1994 season average attendance stats for one of the best years in the CBA....shown are teams with more than 4,000 per game....overall average for 16-team league was 3,667!!!!

Rapid City Thrillers 6,116
Hartford Hellcats 5,003 (attracted 11,762 to season opener)
Oklahoma City Cavalry 4,892
Sioux Falls Skyforce 4,593
Fort Wayne Fury 4,232

[Pounder]

If it were "consistantly," then why is only one of those teams still alive?

I don't mean to bag on the CBA, but truth is truth here.

[SuperSonicStuart]

I think it was crazy for the ABA to switch owners and team names in the middle of the season. But I'm glad that's going to change.