minorleagueball
08-13-2005, 02:08 PM
The Crook Christie is sure making life hard for the other legit minor baskeball leagues out there.
By PATRICK SCHMIEDT
Star-Tribune staff writer Saturday, August 13, 2005
The International Basketball League is clearly a blue-collar operation.
Players are paid peanuts, promised only a chance for playing time. Courtside ticket prices are in the single digits. Teams fly to games just once a season. And the director of league operations, Tony Alvarez, has to set out the chairs and tables for press conferences, just like he did at the Natrona County Public Library in Casper on Thursday.
But it is professional basketball.
Fresh off the heels of the struggles of the Wyoming Golden Eagles and the All-American Professional Basketball League, Alvarez and the IBL are looking at Casper for possible expansion.
Alvarez said if any league can make it in Casper -- and survive the skepticism of a community burned by minor-league basketball -- it's the IBL, which will open its second season in April.
"The IBL is the antithesis of the AAPBL," Alvarez said. "We really are. Our operating budgets are very low and in check. ... We're not paying our players ridiculous salaries. What we're giving them is an opportunity for exposure and also to enjoy and have fun playing professional basketball, very competitive basketball, in front of a community that wants to come out and relate to them."
So why Casper? Alvarez said the city fits nicely into the IBL's regional scheduling plans.
When the IBL expanded to Aurora, Colo. -- which will officially be announced today, according to Alvarez -- Alvarez said it was the IBL's "obligation as a league to form a cluster around them."
The IBL targeted 10 cities in Colorado and Wyoming for possible expansion, including Cheyenne and Laramie. Already, Alvarez said he is confident teams will form in Boulder, Colo., and Grand Junction, Colo.
Alvarez said the pod system can work with two teams in a pod, but, ideally, the Colorado/Wyoming pod would have four or five teams in it. The Aurora team is the league's first in the Mountain Time Zone.
Dirk Speyer, the owner and team president of the Aurora club, said he's confident the Colorado/Wyoming "pod" will fill out in time for the 2006 season.
"I figure teams will come in, it's just a matter of time," Speyer said. "People get in front of the right people, they'll see what we see."
Alvarez said the league will try to expand to about 30 teams. Already this summer, eight new teams have formed -- five in the Midwest, two in Oregon and the team in Aurora. The IBL is also looking at California for 2006.
Alvarez said Casper wouldn't necessarily be taken out of the mix if an ownership group doesn't step forward for the 2006 season. He admitted his work will be that much harder in Casper after AAPBL president Worth Christie sent an e-mail last month to league officials announcing the board of directors had instructed him to fire all employees and cease spending immediately.
"The city is probably very skeptical because of what the AAPBL did, now that they're not competing and the league (went) belly-up before it even started," he said. "... It reflects poorly on minor league basketball."
The Casper-based Christie reiterated Thursday that the AAPBL hasn't folded. He had no comment about the IBL's possible move into Wyoming.
But Christie did offer a bit of advice.
"Local ownership is imperative, and our problems were not Casper-rooted at all," Christie said. "If it'd just been Casper, it would have been fine. It's very difficult when you're depending on employees that don't have a vested interest in it to do things, and you also have to be very concerned about what the ownership is in the other cities, if you can depend on the other team performing."
The IBL has grown from 17 teams in its inaugural season to 24 so far for 2006 (the team in Akron, Ohio, was put on probation for the '06 season). Games are played from April to June, which Alvarez said benefits recent college graduates and professional European players looking for more exposure in the U.S.
Alvarez said participants tend to be top-tier players with Division I experience. The league itself has no tryouts or camps; owners form their own teams and may hold their own tryouts, but are encouraged to recruit from their area.
The low pay -- $50 to $150 per game -- doesn't discourage players, Alvarez said, especially if they're making close to $50,000 playing professionally overseas.
"The players will come play because they want to be seen," he said.
Alvarez said his league was never in competition with the AAPBL, noting the leagues wouldn't play at the same time. But Speyer said the IBL shouldn't face some of the same challenges the AAPBL did, simply because of the ownership behind each team.
"You're talking about major members of the community that have purchased these teams.... You're talking about seasoned business professionals," Speyer said. "You're not talking about a fly-by-night operation where somebody's gonna send you an e-mail and basically pull the plug."
(On the web: IBLhoopsonline.com)
Unique rules
The International Basketball League prides itself on a fast-paced, guard-heavy game. IBL teams averaged 126.9 points per game last season.
Unique IBL rues feature:
n Immediate inbounds.
n One "use it or lose it" timeout per quarter.
n An 8-second backcourt rule.
n A 22-second shot clock.
The IBL business model
International Basketball League officials take pride in the fact that the league is successful because of how it's run financially. Tony Alvarez, director of league operations, said most minor league basketball teams need an operating budget of $500,000 to $2 million per season, but with the IBL's business model, teams are successful on a budget of $50,000 to $100,000 per year.
Alvarez said teams should make money if they can scratch together an average attendance of about 800, with moderate ($10,000 to $20,000) sponsor support.
The IBL's system of "pod" scheduling, he said, helps eliminate most significant costs. Teams play the three or four other teams in their pod four times, host four teams from another pod once and travel to play four teams in another pod once. That means teams fly only once in a 22-game season.
Paying players isn't much of a worry, since they only earn between $50 and $150 per game.
Ownership groups that want to enter a team into the IBL do have to meet some financial obligations.
Teams must pay annual dues of $18,700, which helps cover marketing material, uniforms and other essentials.
Teams also must pay a non-binding league entry fee of $55,000, payable over eight years. The first three years, teams only have to pay $1,000 of the $55,000. After three years, teams may opt out of the league without paying the remaining balance of the $55,000.
Current lineup
Here are the International Basketball League members as of Thursday:
West
Tacoma Thunder (Wash), Chico Force (Calif.), Portland Chinooks (Ore.), Des Moines Heat (Iowa), Central Oregon Hotshots (Bend), San Jose Ballers (Calif.), Oakland Slammers, Vancouver Volcanoes (Wash.), Waterloo Kings (Iowa).
East
Battle Creek Knights (Mich.), Dayton Jets (Ohio), Grand Rapids Flight (Mich.), Youngstown Wildcats (Ohio), Windy City (Chicago), Detroit Pros, Macomb County Mustangs (Mich.), z-Akron Lightning (Ohio).
z-on probation, will not play in 2006
2006 Expansion Teams
Holland, Mich.; Elkhart, Ind.; Grays Lake, Ill.; Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Cincinnati; Eugene, Ore.; Salem, Ore.; Aurora, Colo.
By PATRICK SCHMIEDT
Star-Tribune staff writer Saturday, August 13, 2005
The International Basketball League is clearly a blue-collar operation.
Players are paid peanuts, promised only a chance for playing time. Courtside ticket prices are in the single digits. Teams fly to games just once a season. And the director of league operations, Tony Alvarez, has to set out the chairs and tables for press conferences, just like he did at the Natrona County Public Library in Casper on Thursday.
But it is professional basketball.
Fresh off the heels of the struggles of the Wyoming Golden Eagles and the All-American Professional Basketball League, Alvarez and the IBL are looking at Casper for possible expansion.
Alvarez said if any league can make it in Casper -- and survive the skepticism of a community burned by minor-league basketball -- it's the IBL, which will open its second season in April.
"The IBL is the antithesis of the AAPBL," Alvarez said. "We really are. Our operating budgets are very low and in check. ... We're not paying our players ridiculous salaries. What we're giving them is an opportunity for exposure and also to enjoy and have fun playing professional basketball, very competitive basketball, in front of a community that wants to come out and relate to them."
So why Casper? Alvarez said the city fits nicely into the IBL's regional scheduling plans.
When the IBL expanded to Aurora, Colo. -- which will officially be announced today, according to Alvarez -- Alvarez said it was the IBL's "obligation as a league to form a cluster around them."
The IBL targeted 10 cities in Colorado and Wyoming for possible expansion, including Cheyenne and Laramie. Already, Alvarez said he is confident teams will form in Boulder, Colo., and Grand Junction, Colo.
Alvarez said the pod system can work with two teams in a pod, but, ideally, the Colorado/Wyoming pod would have four or five teams in it. The Aurora team is the league's first in the Mountain Time Zone.
Dirk Speyer, the owner and team president of the Aurora club, said he's confident the Colorado/Wyoming "pod" will fill out in time for the 2006 season.
"I figure teams will come in, it's just a matter of time," Speyer said. "People get in front of the right people, they'll see what we see."
Alvarez said the league will try to expand to about 30 teams. Already this summer, eight new teams have formed -- five in the Midwest, two in Oregon and the team in Aurora. The IBL is also looking at California for 2006.
Alvarez said Casper wouldn't necessarily be taken out of the mix if an ownership group doesn't step forward for the 2006 season. He admitted his work will be that much harder in Casper after AAPBL president Worth Christie sent an e-mail last month to league officials announcing the board of directors had instructed him to fire all employees and cease spending immediately.
"The city is probably very skeptical because of what the AAPBL did, now that they're not competing and the league (went) belly-up before it even started," he said. "... It reflects poorly on minor league basketball."
The Casper-based Christie reiterated Thursday that the AAPBL hasn't folded. He had no comment about the IBL's possible move into Wyoming.
But Christie did offer a bit of advice.
"Local ownership is imperative, and our problems were not Casper-rooted at all," Christie said. "If it'd just been Casper, it would have been fine. It's very difficult when you're depending on employees that don't have a vested interest in it to do things, and you also have to be very concerned about what the ownership is in the other cities, if you can depend on the other team performing."
The IBL has grown from 17 teams in its inaugural season to 24 so far for 2006 (the team in Akron, Ohio, was put on probation for the '06 season). Games are played from April to June, which Alvarez said benefits recent college graduates and professional European players looking for more exposure in the U.S.
Alvarez said participants tend to be top-tier players with Division I experience. The league itself has no tryouts or camps; owners form their own teams and may hold their own tryouts, but are encouraged to recruit from their area.
The low pay -- $50 to $150 per game -- doesn't discourage players, Alvarez said, especially if they're making close to $50,000 playing professionally overseas.
"The players will come play because they want to be seen," he said.
Alvarez said his league was never in competition with the AAPBL, noting the leagues wouldn't play at the same time. But Speyer said the IBL shouldn't face some of the same challenges the AAPBL did, simply because of the ownership behind each team.
"You're talking about major members of the community that have purchased these teams.... You're talking about seasoned business professionals," Speyer said. "You're not talking about a fly-by-night operation where somebody's gonna send you an e-mail and basically pull the plug."
(On the web: IBLhoopsonline.com)
Unique rules
The International Basketball League prides itself on a fast-paced, guard-heavy game. IBL teams averaged 126.9 points per game last season.
Unique IBL rues feature:
n Immediate inbounds.
n One "use it or lose it" timeout per quarter.
n An 8-second backcourt rule.
n A 22-second shot clock.
The IBL business model
International Basketball League officials take pride in the fact that the league is successful because of how it's run financially. Tony Alvarez, director of league operations, said most minor league basketball teams need an operating budget of $500,000 to $2 million per season, but with the IBL's business model, teams are successful on a budget of $50,000 to $100,000 per year.
Alvarez said teams should make money if they can scratch together an average attendance of about 800, with moderate ($10,000 to $20,000) sponsor support.
The IBL's system of "pod" scheduling, he said, helps eliminate most significant costs. Teams play the three or four other teams in their pod four times, host four teams from another pod once and travel to play four teams in another pod once. That means teams fly only once in a 22-game season.
Paying players isn't much of a worry, since they only earn between $50 and $150 per game.
Ownership groups that want to enter a team into the IBL do have to meet some financial obligations.
Teams must pay annual dues of $18,700, which helps cover marketing material, uniforms and other essentials.
Teams also must pay a non-binding league entry fee of $55,000, payable over eight years. The first three years, teams only have to pay $1,000 of the $55,000. After three years, teams may opt out of the league without paying the remaining balance of the $55,000.
Current lineup
Here are the International Basketball League members as of Thursday:
West
Tacoma Thunder (Wash), Chico Force (Calif.), Portland Chinooks (Ore.), Des Moines Heat (Iowa), Central Oregon Hotshots (Bend), San Jose Ballers (Calif.), Oakland Slammers, Vancouver Volcanoes (Wash.), Waterloo Kings (Iowa).
East
Battle Creek Knights (Mich.), Dayton Jets (Ohio), Grand Rapids Flight (Mich.), Youngstown Wildcats (Ohio), Windy City (Chicago), Detroit Pros, Macomb County Mustangs (Mich.), z-Akron Lightning (Ohio).
z-on probation, will not play in 2006
2006 Expansion Teams
Holland, Mich.; Elkhart, Ind.; Grays Lake, Ill.; Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Cincinnati; Eugene, Ore.; Salem, Ore.; Aurora, Colo.