CBA Expansion

[bectond]

Has anyone heard about the CBA expanding into Great Forks, Bend and Reno while also adding San Jose, Rochester and Buffalo from the aba.

[panchess]

It was mentioned in Gary by the Commissioner yesterday, basically as a "what happens" if the middle of the CBA goes to the NBDL without a merger.

I think Rochester and Buffalo will come over. I don't know about the western teams.

[mzracing76]

San Jose may come back? that would be great. I have been around long enough to remember the last time that San Jose had a Expansion team.

1989-90 EXPANSION FOUR SOME:
1-San Jose Jammers
2-Santa Barbara Islanders
3-Sioux Falls Skyforce
4-Grand Rapids Hoops

San Jose were coached by the Great Offensive Head Coach by the name of COREY RUSSELL. that team in 1990-91 averaged 124.7ppg on offense, but gave up league high 129.3ppg on Defense. They drew a whopping 1579.4 fans per game, which is my guess why the team moved to Bakersfield after the season. which did not get much better, and the Franchise later folded that year (1991-92).

San Jose/Bakersfield Jammers

[bectond]

I believe they will have to expand out west because of Yakima, they can't add eastern teams and force the champions to travel across the country for each road game. That would surely cause them to fold due to the expense of flying to every game. Today, the Rochester Razorsharks put out a statement that they intend to staying with the ABA because of the travel cost associated with the CBA and the NBDL. I think the CBA should expand to Tri-cities Washington and Montana so that if teams leave for the NBDL there are still a cluster of teams located around their strongest franchise(attendance wise) Yakima. Three NW teams,
the three Teams in the Lake Michigan Area along with Albany and two NE expansion teams making the CBA a three division nine team league.
If each team played their two division rivals 12x each and the other six teams 4x each, the travel cost would not be as big of an issue.

[panchess]

..what they said was that the ABA fit into their travel budget the best, but they hadn't made a final decision.

Here is the quote from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

(March 28, 2006) — The Rochester RazorSharks will return next season, probably to defend the championship they won Sunday in their first American Basketball Association season.

"We'll be back but it's too early to confirm our plans for next year in terms of which league we'll be playing in,' COO/general manager Orest Hrywnak said Monday. "The ABA probably still is the best league for us for our travel budget. The Continental Basketball Association and NBA Development League are too spread out."

The issue is going to be whether the ABA can offer enough stability for this kind of owner.

I think some sort of system with one conference road swing (two games with the other league, like the NBA does) makes the most sense.

[bdaly]

I wouldn't necessarily call it a formal statement though. It was just a quote in a sports column, where he stated they didn't make a decision yet, but travel might keep keep them in the ABA. There's a lot of rumors floating around regarding the CBA and NBDL. So it's probably prudent to let it shake out a bit.

If Buffalo, Harlem, Long Island, Newark, Montreal remain in the ABA along with the new Vermont and Toronto teams, the Razorsharks will have a decent setup with some of those teams being fairly stable and relatively strong on the court. Those are "ifs" though. So we'll see what happens.

Even further -- if I were running the Razorsharks -- I'd rather focus on celebrating the title right now. Which is what they'll be doing at city hall today when the day is proclaimed "Rochester Razorsharks Day." I'd save this stuff for later.

http://www.rochesterdandc.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060328/SPORTS0101/603280317/1007/SPORTS

[bdaly]

Panchess beat me to it! Sorry for a similar post.

[bectond]

Maybe the CBA should attempt to get more tribes to buy teams, I read an article about how 600 Yacama Tribe members showed up to greet the teams bus back into town. If other tribes (say 2-3) could purchase teams and develop into basketball rivals with the Yacama, then maybe the CBA could be on to something that's right under their noses.

[A source close to the CBA]

In response to the posting before me, although Yakama has had some success in their first year of tribal ownership, it will not work across the board. Yakama, although averaging the highest attendance in the CBA is unfortunately not a financially viable franchise. A large % of their seats are given to the nation, and they don't have the revenue stream that the "stable" teams have. Hopefully, with the commitment from the Yakama nation they will be able to solidify themselves from a business aspect, but at this moment, I feel for what's about to happen to Yakama. CBA landscape is not looking great.

ABA teams are still resting on their attitude that the CBA is too expensive. Though this seems that it will likely change, nothing is progressing. There are going to be a lot of issues in the upcoming months, and with the resignation of the league commissioner, you really have to wonder what's around the bend.

I know a lot more...but I'll hold onto it for now

[bectond]

I read that the Comm stepped down to start his own expansion team is that true. Also, with all the other western teams leaving it sounds like the end for Yakima, what a shame.

[#1 Guard Fan]

I wonder if the CBA will ever try a team here in Fayetteville,NC now that the D-league pulled out

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Mike is spot on with this article (especially the title). Here is an excerpt:

MICHAEL OSIPOFF COLUMN: A lot of talk but little action during the CBA offseason
May 10, 2006


The CBA apparently is in the process of reviewing applications from interested new ownership groups from 15 states.

Missouri is among the states on the list, according to a league announcement on Tuesday.

Missouri is known as the “Show Me” state.

And, in this instance, that motto would apply to the CBA.

In the offseason, four teams departed for the NBA Development League, leaving five teams in the CBA, including the Steelheads.

There has been plenty of talk about expansion to restock the CBA to eight teams or perhaps even more, but little action so far.

Granted, it’s still only May, but time is not unlimited.

The CBA on Tuesday said more than 20 applications from potential expansion teams have been submitted, and the league’s plans for next season are being finalized.

The league already has approved the addition of the Northern Nevada Blackjacks, based in Reno, according to a report in the Reno Gazette-Journal, but the team had yet to reach an agreement on where to play its home games. It also is expected that expansion teams in San Jose, Calif., and Great Falls, Mont., will be introduced, perhaps by the end of the week.

But seeing is believing.

.............

Later in the article, Jewell Harris, Jr. suggests that the Steelheads will join the D-League in 2007-2008. Well, I hope the quality of play (in the D-League) improves by 2007-2008 and the Steelheads get a local tv contract out of the deal. This CBA expansion seems awfully flaky (the D-League is already flaky). Reno is taking the ABA approach by announcing their franchise before securing a venue. And what about Great Falls? Wasn't that one of the cities burned by the AAPBL? Are they going to support minor pro basketball now?

[bectond]

The so called July 1st expansion deadline has come and gone and outside of the Apex group no expansion teams have been named. In fact, the CBA may have lost two teams this week Michigan and Rockford.

[bectond]

With San Jose relocating to North Dakota, it seems Billings and Rapid City now make sense from a travel prospective. With Reno out of the question I guess San Jose did not make any sense. That leave Southern Cal all by themselves in the L.A. area. The rest of the West looks good:
Minot (if some cities are added in between Minot and Great Falls)
Butte
Great Falls
Yakima

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

The so called July 1st expansion deadline has come and gone and outside of the Apex group no expansion teams have been named. In fact, the CBA may have lost two teams this week Michigan and Rockford.

It's Tuesday night, July 18th, and the CBA (ABA?) is still expanding and switching towns beyond the July 1st deadline. Minot? Another town (like Great Falls) recently burned by minor league basketball.

...and all this time I thought the brother and sister of APEX loved San Jose. I guess they didn't trust TSEG and the SoCal Legend to be their travel partner. Of course, this is a classic ABA tactic (CBA now?). Pick-up and relocate at a moment's notice. Last season's San Jose season ticket holders are going to be in for a BIG surprise.