Rome Knights/Gladiators

[Dan K]

The organization that owns the Rome Knights, a proposed 2007-08 ABA franchise, has purchased the WBA's Rome Gladiators. From the article link on OSC, it appears that the group will run a fall/winter team in the ABA and a spring/summer team in the WBA. It was unclear if the teams will keep their individual team names.

Looks like the CBA's Albany Patroons, also of the spring/summer USBL, started a trend. The ABA's Knoxville Noise was also going to operate a team in the 2007 WBA, but with their recent suspension of ABA operations the WBA Knoxville Noise team could be in jeopardy.

[gonzo13]

As a Roman, it's good to hear that the Gladiators are under new ownership. Hopefully they'll do a little more to get the word out about the team in the community. There is already a solid fanbase to build on generated by the teams on-court success and word of mouth. With a little actual advertising, they could really blow the roof off of the Winthrop-King Center.

I do hope they stick with the name and colors though. The blue and gold Gladiators carry a special meaning for alot of us in here in Rome that dates back to long before our WBA franchise came into being.

[dogman]

Saw them advertising try-outs. $100 just to try out is a major rip off ! The Gladiators were succesful the past two seasons largely due to their kinship with the Atlanta Hawks and access to scouting base. If they're just a local pick up team ... look out !

[gonzo13]

Pretty much every league you can think if has a tryout fee, but $100 bucks is rediculous. It's usually in the $40-50 range. I realize that they only want guys out there that are serious, but to ask that much is a borderline nuts. I hope the don't jack up ticket prices in the same manner.

[jack b]

i guess no one has bothered to check what connections this ownership has with the nba maybe you should since it is a hell of alot stronger than what they had in the past. giving more oportunity to the guys on the team. furthermore asked past players how the previous kinship worked. im sure you will be surprised at the answers. as for the tryout fee maybe you should have gone and checked things out i did and found out they didnt charge 100 to tryout.

[gonzo13]

Jack, I would love to know what kind of connections these new owners have, the problem is....I don't know who they are. I don't know if anybody outside of the organization does.

As far as the connections of the old group/coach. They did send alot of guys to NBA tryouts. The first season, Kyle Davis signed with the Nets. Two years ago, Jamario Moon, Edmund Saunders, Harvey Thomas all got invited to camps. Majic Dorsey went to the pre-draft rookie camp. Last year, Carl Edwards, Anwar Furguson, George Leech, and Trent Eager all got NBA camp invites. Obviously their NBA connection wasn't bad.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a fan of the old ownership, or of Harold Ellis personally. They didn't seem to appreciate fans, and they didn't do a good job of marketing the team. But they won 2 consecutive championships, and they moved players.

Information hasn't exactly flowed from the new office. I just emailed a list of questions to the only email address I could find for the Knights. The questions are about who owns the team, coaches, venue and other things of that nature. I'll post the answers here when I get them.

[gonzo13]

I agree. The one thing I do have to credit Ellis with is his ability to get top notch players into town. Of the players that have been with the Gladiators over the last 2 championship seasons, I don't know of any that have gone to the ABA. Most I have been able to track down either went to Europe or the CBA, and some even to the D-league. That would leave me to assume that the tallent level in the WBA and the ABA isn't the same.....Anyway, I as I promised, here is the email that I sent to the new ownership along with their response. It's kind of long, but here it is....


My name is Danny Burnham and I live in Rome. I have followed the
Gladiators for the last two seasons and I have some questions about this
years team as well as the Knights.
>
> Who owns these teams now?
>
> Who's going to coach these teams?
>
> I'm glad to hear that Harold Ellis is gone, I didn't like him as a
person. But the man won basketball games. Can we expect the same level
of success from the Gladiators again this season?
>
> Will both teams have the same coach?
>
> Where will they play?
>
> What will ticket prices be like?
>
> The leagues: I have followed the WBA for two years now, and I'm
impressed with the level of success, so I'm not really worried about them. I
have done some pretty exstensive research on the ABA since learing that
Rome would be getting a team in that league.I have not been happy with
what I've found. The ABA as a league is shaky at best. Teams fold on a
regular basis. Right now, they're in the middle of a legal battle just
to see who's in charge of the league. As a whole, they really do not
have their act together.
>
> First, is the ABA even going to be around by the time the Knights are
supposed to start playing?
>
> Second, why are the Knights going to make it when so many other teams
in the ABA close up shop in mid season.
>
> and Third. What will happen a team on the Knights schedule folds,
leaving an empty place on the schedule?
>
>
> I realize that I just asked a ton of questions, but the more strait
answers I can get, the more likely I am to support these teams.

The Response:

ok danny let me go down the page and answer your concerns:
knights basketball owns the team the ownership is comprised of 3 local
owners who have an extensive background in buisness the 4th is from
washington dc, who has personal conections to the nba, nfl, nfl europe,
cfl, afl as well as the entertainment field. we also have perinial law
group and perinial sports and entertainment group as backers. so we have
better connections then the glads have ever had in the past.
the coaches are from the area we are romes team and we are doing whatb
we said putting rome and the surrounding areas first on our teams, as
well as, a former pro player, and a state champion
we never even concidered asking harold ellis or any of the past staff
back. we felt rome wouldbe better servered with romans. and yes we are
building another championship team, once again we told the community we
would look here first and we stand by our word. liars are the past not
the future.
all 5 coaches will coach both of our mens team, as we and other teams
we will promote from them to take over. by next year we will have 3
basketball teams.

we are going to play our games at the forum, for what we are doing it
is the best place, plus we have already sold 1000 tickets and the season
hasnt evern started yet.
ticket prices are going back to basics. $6 gen adm per ticket kids 5
and under free with paid adult.
season ticket for glads are $50 single family 4 pk is $175
knights are $75 single $200 family pk.

the knights will make it becouse we as owners are here everyday doing
what has to be done to build a sports franchise not just a team, our
goals are set and we are working to complete these within the next 5
years.plus we are getting national sponsors not just local we are making
apperances all over ga not just rome we are doing everything the other
team want do

yes the aba is going to be here the teams that are folding have no
sponsors and very high ticket prices. 195 for a season ticket and 12 to 25
for a single game ticket and its a high school gym. plus they are
charging 5 to park.
as for us having a game scheduled and the other team not being here we
are still going to play against another minor league team aranngements
have already been made to make sure the fans get a great game with all
the bells and whistles.

great questions danny ask more if you need to we as owners are here to
answer all our supports questions.


Now,somebody not involved give me an unbiased opinion as to weather or not I should be happy with these answers...

[bectond]

I would not have posted his e-mail(he may get upset and he knows your name), but his response sounds good to me. Low ticket prices are the way to go. The more fans that show-up the more sponsors you can get. However, he is not better connected than Ellis, that statement was funny.

[gonzo13]

As long as everything in the email is true, then they shouldn't have a problem with me posting it. I wouldn't think they would have told a random joe anything that they didn't consider to be public information in an email. But I can see where you're coming from too.

[jack b]

i found it funny that people belive the world of basketball revolves around harold ellis. as a roman and sponsor i personally would talk to him and get blown off, he needs to learn how to be humble, as well as remember its the fans in the seats who tell the true success of a team. maybe the community support didnt mean anything but it sure did hurt them by not beeing there. as for connection i would like to know what connections other than working for the hawks mr. ellis has :confused:

[bectond]

i found it funny that people belive the world of basketball revolves around harold ellis. as a roman and sponsor i personally would talk to him and get blown off, he needs to learn how to be humble, as well as remember its the fans in the seats who tell the true success of a team. maybe the community support didnt mean anything but it sure did hurt them by not beeing there. as for connection i would like to know what connections other than working for the hawks mr. ellis has :confused:

LOL, gonzo13 called it in his post, the Gladiators had D-League talent the last few years because of Ellis. Now they will have ABA talent playing in the ABA. I'm not saying he's a great guy i'm saying players are willing to play for him due to his credentials. No way Rome suits up a team half as good talent wise as last year. Does that mean that the new organization is inferior to Ratliff's front office- No. The new front office may indeed be superior to the former ownership groups. However, that does not change the fact that Ellis could bring the goods on the court. No other coach in the history of the WBA could get a player invited to the pre-draft camp like Ellis did for Dorsey a couple of years back. Nobody really heard of the guy, he was invited because Ellis pushed for it. Yeah, he works for the Hawks now but in the near future he'll most likely be working for the D-League in a high level position.

[jack b]

you guys really need to give the new ownership and coaches a break all you have put out was how great ellis was well look at facts the past ownership started play in 2004 with ellis leading the team their record was 6 wins 15 loses. can the new team in their first year beat this without a doubt.
then lets look at what the team does off the court, how well did ellis lead his team in the community, answer these questions: did the community know they had a team? no. was the team really visable in the community? no.
did they build a relationship with the community? no even harold ellis started out at the bottom.
and as for ellis making it to the d-league. he was already there. why is he not still there is the question.

[gonzo13]

Jack, I don't like Harold Ellis. I spoke with him a few times, and I sort of got the impression that he immediately washed his hands after shaking mine. Like maybe he thought he was better than us hillbillies. He was rude, and he ususally dismissed me fairly quickly. He wasn't nearly as cordial as David Humphreys or Rocket Wheeler or any of the other minor league coaches we've had in Rome.

The old ownership did a horrible job of promoting the team locally. They won two championships and there are still people in the small town of Rome Georgia, that don't even know we have a team.

They did start out 6-15, finishing last in the WBA's inaugural season. The biggest downfall that first season? The local tallent the Gladiators used didn't stack up with the rest of the league.

After that season, they turned it around and won the 2 WBA championships and at least 1 SEBL summer pro-am championships with only 1 or two local guys playing in spots. (Jermaine Spivey of Rome played 3 games with the Glads last season) Bottom line, they did what they had to, to win ball games. Now I think it's a good thing that they are looking locally for players and coaches. I think it would serve some minor leagues to have a rule requiring 1 or 2 local players. Friends and family of players are a great building block for a fan base. But I could care less if the rest of the team is from Timbuktu. If they light up the board and win games, I'll pay to see them play.

I hate that it's that way, but winning is ultimately what gets it done on the minor league level. Shaking hands and kissing babys is great, and will probably get alot of people to come to a game. But the only way to get them to come back is to win.

Now I think I've been very clear on the fact that I didn't like the ole regime, but I will not try to deminish what they did on the court.

I will give the new group a chance. I'll go to Gladiator games this summer, and I'll pull for them to win. I'm just not sure if their philosophy is going to cut it.

[Luvlife]

I never saw who the coaches where or front office of the Gladiators/Knights who are they like sales, Media relations, community Director of Player personnel, etc. These people must get the city of Rome behind them. When will they make appearances?

[bectond]

you guys really need to give the new ownership and coaches a break all you have put out was how great ellis was well look at facts the past ownership started play in 2004 with ellis leading the team their record was 6 wins 15 loses. can the new team in their first year beat this without a doubt.
then lets look at what the team does off the court, how well did ellis lead his team in the community, answer these questions: did the community know they had a team? no. was the team really visable in the community? no.
did they build a relationship with the community? no even harold ellis started out at the bottom.
and as for ellis making it to the d-league. he was already there. why is he not still there is the question.

Well, the entire coaching staff as well as the general manager, director of player personel and director of media relations all quit this weekend because the ownership group lacked professionalism. I believe the season is due to start within the next two weeks. Ellis and Ratliff are not looking that bad now are they?

[gonzo13]

Ugg.......

[bectond]

you guys really need to give the new ownership and coaches a break all you have put out was how great ellis was well look at facts .

I'm seeing that facts and it ain't pretty. Romes Co-Owner has been jailed and is being held for two outstanding bad check charges. :eek: