I want a franchise!

[COHoops]

I would like to own or co-own a minor league bball franchise, specifically in the IBL or ABA. Let's say I have around 10-15k, can I get anything done with that?

[Tha Man*]

COHoops -

If you only have 10-15k to run a team i suggest not to get involved in ownership. Takes alot more than money...

[COHoops]

COHoops -

If you only have 10-15k to run a team i suggest not to get involved in ownership. Takes alot more than money...

Do you mean it takes a lot more money? Or takes a lot more, such as business skills etc. I'm trying to partner up with my brother-in-law who is a VP of a financial company.

I wouldn't be in to make a huge profit. Of course, I don't want to break the bank or lose money year after year, I do want to make some profit. Mostly doing it for the love of the game and the challenges owning a team will be.

[oldfatguy]

Truthfully - and I've been in this business for a long time - unless you are ready to sink a good sum of money (beyond the franchise fees) for at least two years, it takes a miracle to not lose your shirt, especially on minor league basketball.

The reality of minor league basketball is that NOBODY pays to see it, and sponsors won't pay to support it. There are probably four cities in the country that are supporting minor league basketball in any solid way.

You might be better off buying an ownership stake in an existing club in your area - that way you can enjoy the benefits while you find out what's really involved.

If you decide to go for it - make SURE you don't go cheap on who is running the business of your franchise - your General Manager or whatever title you give that person. Too many people hire these right-out-of-college 'love of the game' guys who want to go shoot 3's with the team instead of selling tickets and signage.

Another mistake is hiring a local 'name' basketball guy to run the business. Hire a GM who understands bringing in good business and sales people (instead of college drinking buddies) for the office staff and who loves the business, not the game. Hire the local legend for PR - they love the spotlight but usually don't want to do the grunt work.

I do go on....

Anyway.. good luck!

[COHoops]

Thanks for the replies. Oldfatguy, I sent you a pm.

[Tha Man*]

I agree wih old fat guy except for the PR part

[oldfatguy]

Tha - true, one can find someone who wants to do the grunt work. I made a blanket statement, bad move on my part. :-)

[barkley34]

You have $10k-$15K?? What the hell are you going to do, buy their home and half of their away uniforms? Maybe use it to pay for ONE WEEKS salary? try $500,000 to $750,000. $10K, what a joke!

[minorleagueball]

Barkley, although it isn't much money, you really don't know much about minor basketball do you?

Hell, for 15k you can buy a franchise in the ABA, never show up to games, never advertise, never secure ties with the community but hell, you still own a franchise.

[TEN]

Too many owners in the ABA have the mind set that paying their 10,000 dollar franchise fee is the most money they will spend....and couldn't be more wrong.

For a USBL franchise (which I am most familiar with) you need to get to at least $150,000 to 200,000 a year in revenue (a solid franchise runs on a 250-275K budget per year) to offset expenses....do the math...

2000 fans (PAID) per night will bring in $240K at 8 bucks a ticket....how many franchises do 2000 a night (PAID!)? You need to be able to generate $100K in corporate sponsorship minimum.

Don't forget to realize that ABA teams are supposed to run on a 500K to a million dollar budget.

Figure out how many teams in the ABA have been able to draw 2000 paid for one game...and then realize that there are much better uses for your money.

[nksports]

Sorry, in sports $10-15K isn't going to get you much of anything. There are a lot of youth teams that spend multiples of that in a season.
If you have that much money burning a hole in your pocket and want to do something positive in the world of sports, donate it to a college's scholarship fund (you might get an engraved plaque) or high school booster club (you might get another plaque and your name in the program). Donate it to a summer baseball or softball team (you might get your company's name and logo on the uniform as well as in the local paper when the results are reported).
And if you do something like that, come April 15, you get it all back in the form of a charitable deduction (seek a qualified tax advisor for more information).
You won't get it all back as the owner of a sports team. If you don't have any income, you won't owe much in the way of taxes. The IRS won't refund any losses beyond what you paid in taxes. (Say you paid the government $3,000 in corporate income tax but your business lost $15,000, your total refund is only going to be $3,000 and if you still owe money to people, they may put a lien on that.) Again, seek a qualified tax advisor.

[wncsport.com]

My own thought is even the WBA is $75-100K to start up. I would love to have a team here next spring, but I'd rather hold off a year and try to promote the WBA another way, to give myself a year to recruit investors who's willing to run a team the right way.

Here's what you could realistically do to promote what you're trying to do:

1. Host a tournament. Give yourselves at LEAST 8 months planning time.

2. Host a "glorified intramural" league, for the experience.

3. Get a decent website with a decent name.