2006-2007 ABA Organization of the Year

[The Magician]

As we move toward the final 6-7 weeks of the '06-'07 ABA season ...

Based on performance to date; both on and off the court; what organizations should be considered as candidates for the "Organization of the Year?"

My vote = Jacksonville Jam :mrgreen:

[sportsguy12]

As we move toward the final 6-7 weeks of the '06-'07 ABA season ...

Based on performance to date; both on and off the court; what organizations should be considered as candidates for the "Organization of the Year?"

My vote = Jacksonville Jam :mrgreen:

I would say Rochester then maybe Jax and Vermont.

[Fells]

I would have to go with Vermont or Rochester as well.

[tbayz1]

id go with VERMONT, and id like to say, my team, the buffalo silverbacks would be a great organization if they had attendence averaging close to 1000 everygame but instead they get 300-600, not bad for no advertisment and the fiasco that the Rapids made last year(old team name last year)ripping off almost 800 season tix holders with no refunds, thank god the ABA got rid of the old owner after only couple games last year! new owners took over middle of last year, team played in a lil middle school, got 200 people(max. occupancy)everygame though, then they played a playoff game where they play now at a college(3200 seats) and drew 1500 then next playoff game last year they played at a diff college and packed the place with close to 800 people, then this year they got a fresh start drew 1300 people season opener, and since then they get 300-600 people now ,and thats the story of silverbacks in a nutshell!

[ABA06er]

If you would have asked that question at the start of the season I would have said either the Hollywood team or the Richmond team as Hollywood is owned by Celebs and Richmond by the mother of Allen Iverson.

Only both of those teams have been two of the worst marketed teams in the entire league and thats saying something. However you look at Rochester who is run by two every day working citizens ( no fame in the game ) just some regular guys, Vermont owned by a writer for SI ( however SI never put a penny into the team ) Alex Wolf did it all on his own with no help of SI.

Buffalo on the other hand I wouldnt even mention in the same breath as those teams , they are very poorly marketed and have drawn close to 100 people for the actual low attendence , in a population like Buffalo that is unacceptable. However I know of 10 people who attend UB ( Suny Buffalo ) which is the biggest college in Buffalo and a D-1 sports college , and 10 out of the 10 didnt even know Buffalo had an ABA team. They have NEVER seen a tv commercial or heard a radio announcement and there has never been anything on campus. With the lack of effort it would seem the only people they have to blame is the ownership themselves.

Rochester on the other hand....... everyone I have talked to in that area has seen a TV commerical featuring the Rochester Razorsharks and not only have they seen them but they said they see them a few times a day , with the way Rochester gets out and markets the team its no wonder they lead the league in attendence by a landslide over Buffalo which is twice Rochester's size.

Vermont who is second in attendence plays in smaller gyms and averages close to sell out crowds each game , good for them .... I dont know people in the Vermont area but I imagine they do a heck of a job marketing.....

Then theres the teams outwest including the Hollywood fame where 100 people at a game is cause for a celebration , the whole west coast of the ABA is a disgusting mess.

Going on all I have to go on for organazation of the year award for 2006-2007.

1st place - Rochester Razorsharks - League Leaders in Attendence at close to 4,000 per game

2nd place - Vermont Frostheaves - second in attendence at close to 1,400 per game

3rd place - Quebec City - dont know much about them but they are third in attendence at close to 700 per game and they have a good team and have beat both Rochester and Vermont.

[sportsguy12]

If you would have asked that question at the start of the season I would have said either the Hollywood team or the Richmond team as Hollywood is owned by Celebs and Richmond by the mother of Allen Iverson.

Only both of those teams have been two of the worst marketed teams in the entire league and thats saying something. However you look at Rochester who is run by two every day working citizens ( no fame in the game ) just some regular guys, Vermont owned by a writer for SI ( however SI never put a penny into the team ) Alex Wolf did it all on his own with no help of SI.

Buffalo on the other hand I wouldnt even mention in the same breath as those teams , they are very poorly marketed and have drawn close to 100 people for the actual low attendence , in a population like Buffalo that is unacceptable. However I know of 10 people who attend UB ( Suny Buffalo ) which is the biggest college in Buffalo and a D-1 sports college , and 10 out of the 10 didnt even know Buffalo had an ABA team. They have NEVER seen a tv commercial or heard a radio announcement and there has never been anything on campus. With the lack of effort it would seem the only people they have to blame is the ownership themselves.

Rochester on the other hand....... everyone I have talked to in that area has seen a TV commerical featuring the Rochester Razorsharks and not only have they seen them but they said they see them a few times a day , with the way Rochester gets out and markets the team its no wonder they lead the league in attendence by a landslide over Buffalo which is twice Rochester's size.

Vermont who is second in attendence plays in smaller gyms and averages close to sell out crowds each game , good for them .... I dont know people in the Vermont area but I imagine they do a heck of a job marketing.....

Then theres the teams outwest including the Hollywood fame where 100 people at a game is cause for a celebration , the whole west coast of the ABA is a disgusting mess.

Going on all I have to go on for organazation of the year award for 2006-2007.

1st place - Rochester Razorsharks - League Leaders in Attendence at close to 4,000 per game

2nd place - Vermont Frostheaves - second in attendence at close to 1,400 per game

3rd place - Quebec City - dont know much about them but they are third in attendence at close to 700 per game and they have a good team and have beat both Rochester and Vermont.

not on beating opponents on the court. Based on marketing and professionalism, I'd say Rochester and Vermont are about the only 2 candidates. Maybe Arkansas, too?

[ABA06er]

and running a pro business in a league where survival is most soley based on ATTENDENCE , having a team come in third in attendence only behind Rochester and Vermont is enough to mention them as being a 3rd place contender not to mention they show up to all thier games and put a great product on the court.

So basically you make no sense ?

Thank You.

[bdaly]

Buffalo on the other hand I wouldnt even mention in the same breath as those teams , they are very poorly marketed and have drawn close to 100 people for the actual low attendence , in a population like Buffalo that is unacceptable. However I know of 10 people who attend UB ( Suny Buffalo ) which is the biggest college in Buffalo and a D-1 sports college , and 10 out of the 10 didnt even know Buffalo had an ABA team. They have NEVER seen a tv commercial or heard a radio announcement and there has never been anything on campus. With the lack of effort it would seem the only people they have to blame is the ownership themselves.
In fairness, they've been very active from a PR vantagepoint. And, since they keep signing guys, they must have some sort of budget. Finally, they play at a good facility for this level. So they've done a lot of things right. Buffalo is a big enough market that television is going to be expensive, so I'm not surprised they aren't spending money there.

Unfortunately, the previous owner burned the market for them. The media covered Buffalo very well after a successful home opener. Then the lease issues came about and everything fell apart. The media hasn't been as willing to cover the new ABA team even though they are run fairly well.

This comes back to the ABA needing to be more selective with owners. I think this organization would have been quite successful if they were the ones first exposing the ABA to the market. Instead, they are trying to clean up a previous owner's "badwill" he created towards the league.

[sportsguy12]

3rd place - Quebec City ... they have a good team and have beat both Rochester and Vermont.

Who they beat (aka wins and losses) doesn't make them a candidate for an award. Attendance and marketing are more important factors. Quebec would be a candidate based if they successfully put butts in the seats, which they apparently do. Not for beating Rochester and Vermont. That's all I was trying to say.

[The Magician]

about the ABA developing a PEER REVIEW SURVEY ... Where the individual organizations rate each other after the conclusion of the season?

[sportsguy12]

about the ABA developing a PEER REVIEW SURVEY ... Where the individual organizations rate each other after the conclusion of the season?

because everyone's got their own idea about what is right and wrong. Plus, what works in Vermont might not work in Rochester and so forth. Plus, I think they've got more important things to worry about ... like developing standard (aka professional) operating procedures. When teams get those in order - like making sure everyone has a website or even making certain the league updates its site with stats - then I think they can start making further evaluations.

[tbayz1]

In fairness, they've been very active from a PR vantagepoint. And, since they keep signing guys, they must have some sort of budget. Finally, they play at a good facility for this level. So they've done a lot of things right. Buffalo is a big enough market that television is going to be expensive, so I'm not surprised they aren't spending money there.

Unfortunately, the previous owner burned the market for them. The media covered Buffalo very well after a successful home opener. Then the lease issues came about and everything fell apart. The media hasn't been as willing to cover the new ABA team even though they are run fairly well.

This comes back to the ABA needing to be more selective with owners. I think this organization would have been quite successful if they were the ones first exposing the ABA to the market. Instead, they are trying to clean up a previous owner's "badwill" he created towards the league.


thx for agreeing, hey and for the guy that knows people from UB, first off they have like an 18,000 seat arena and they only get 4,000-5,000 a game and its all alumni and students that come to the games and they have more students living on campus than the arena can seat and as for the other colleges they are also down in attendence drastically, also media and coverage is expensive, one of the news stations shows up occasionally and the buffalo newspaper says the scores of the games but in a very small snipit(damn newspaper is soo expensive my family payed over $200 for a deathif notice in the paper for two days) and many people dont care after what happened last season, which drew almost 3,000 people away, also i go to the games and i have never seen a crowd of 100 people, another factor is that we have the Buffalo Bills(nfl) and the Sabres(nhl) and there are sooo many bandwagoneers they dont care about any other thing at this time of the year, we also have a lax team that draws close to 18,000 a game so all the peoples attention this year have gone to the NFL,NHL, and the NLL(lax league) and thats a shame cuz we started the season 0-4 w/o our best players currently(Lamar Castile-best player on his team last year that lost in the ABA 'ship to rochester and an all-aba 1st team member, Kueth Duany syracuse star and has been a top scorer along with Castile the last 5 games, we also have Kenny "Bad Santa" Brunner an AND1 star and Keith Closs who played with the Clippers for 3 years and a coach Trevor Ruffin who played in the NBA for ten plus years and we have turned our season around greatly beating rochester twice and losing two last second losses and a last second loss to Vermont becuz of a VERY questionable goaltending and we killed Cape Cod and Quebec the only time they came to Buffalo, and we also have a better record in our matchup with the Detroit Panthers and finally we recently defeated Maryland in maryland, and now were 10-10


and thats my 2cents

[rams80]

Toledo-no contest.



















Seriously, though....Rochester, then Vermont

[The Magician]

because everyone's got their own idea about what is right and wrong. Plus, what works in Vermont might not work in Rochester and so forth. Plus, I think they've got more important things to worry about ... like developing standard (aka professional) operating procedures. When teams get those in order - like making sure everyone has a website or even making certain the league updates its site with stats - then I think they can start making further evaluations.

The ABA does have a League Operations Manual ... albeit, the league office; in attempt to improve overall operations; needs to be much more dilligent in ensuring that league membership follows through with those mandatories, procedures and compliance measures.

The Peer Review Survey is a great re-inforcement and quality improvement tool, IMO.

[Arkansas Connection]

I am partial to the Arkansas teams, but can any of us say one organization is better than the other if you are not in those offices or at those games of the others? Based off attendance? I don't think so because I don't think you are getting a true indicative of the paid/unpaid fans and you will be hard pressed to get accurate info on that from any team... Do you base it off the staff of these teams and what they have to work with to pull off a game night? Again, I think you don't really know unless you are there.. I think the bottom line is an Organization of the Year honor is based off a mutual give and take from the league office.. I wish it could be that easy in the ABA but I think we know it's not.. Communication on all counts is the key for everyone to know about everyone.. That just isn't happening...

[The Magician]

Communication on all counts is the key for everyone to know about everyone ... That just isn't happening ...

In my experience ... Communication plays a large part in the overall impact of things. Teams that establish a solid network, not only have a good picture of what's happening within their own organization, but also have some good insight on what's happening around the league.

[sportsguy12]

In my experience ... Communication plays a large part in the overall impact of things. Teams that establish a solid network, not only have a good picture of what's happening within their own organization, but also have some good insight on what's happening around the league.

when the league doesn't follow its own MO. Uncle Joe is supposed to help all teams get their website up and running and maintain them. NOT!

The ABA website is as bad as some of its teams.

[The Magician]

when the league doesn't follow its own MO. Uncle Joe is supposed to help all teams get their website up and running and maintain them. NOT!

The ABA website is as bad as some of its teams.

"Way to go Joe!" :rolleyes:

The league has been very difficient in it's role ... and the league executives need to hold themselves accountable for the image and credibility of the league.

The ABA website has been terribly disappointing. A bad standard (although correctable) has been set in the American Basketball Association.

There are a # of teams around the league that are giving it their best ... and hopefully the rest will take notice and try "do it right!"

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

Due to the regional aspect of the league, it would be difficult for teams that never see another to rate them. The other issue is that teams would rate only those teams in their region - but if the rest of your division is awful, merely being functional makes you the standard-bearer (the old "in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king" scenario).

I'd much rather see the owners of the league review the overall performance of the one thing they all share - the league management; in structure, initiatives, follow-through and overall performance.

Again, we are WAY past the 'growing pains' stage of the league. There is a merry-go-round of teams each year, and theo only constant is the guy running the ride. Big promises, flashy pronouncements, hyperbole-filled public declarations of big changes and imminent glory...

followed by teams folding; teams moving; teams taking a siesta during the year; All-Stars not showing up for the All-Star game; public events suddenly canceled - sorry - re-scheduled (to February 30, I believe); an influx of over-hyped owners failing miserably; etc.

Aside from the Rochester/Vermont/Arkansas trio, I think the team that plays the most 'originally scheduled' games should get some sort of award for perserverance, as well as those that travel to all scheduled away games (except those where their host has disappeared).

[The Magician]

Due to the regional aspect of the league, it would be difficult for teams that never see another to rate them.

I'd much rather see the owners of the league review the overall performance of the one thing they all share - the league management; in structure, initiatives, follow-through and overall performance.

The Peer Review Survey is better suited to a league where all teams play each other... but could possibly be instituted where teams are playing opponents within their own division, and other teams within their conference. Depends on the league/Conference/Divisional allignment I would imagine.

It has been suggested to the ABA executive arm to establish an 'Owner's Advisory Counsel' ... to help with such items, but it's hard to tell if that was ever considered?

Some of the ABA owners in the past have taken a leadership role within their divisions ... but I'm not quite sure if that has transpired during the course of this season?

Aside from the Rochester/Vermont/Arkansas trio, I think the team that plays the most 'originally scheduled' games should get some sort of award for perserverance, as well as those that travel to all scheduled away games (except those where their host has disappeared).

It's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out ... Who actually deserves to be included based upon merit vs. those who think they deserve to be included based upon __________?

[heavesrock]

hey and for the guy that knows people from UB, first off they have like an 18,000 seat arena and they only get 4,000-5,000 a game


UB's arena seats 6,100. Silverbacks' arena seats 3,500.



Vermont and Rochester are definately the top two. Quebec, Peoria, and Maryland after that. Don't see too much attendance out of Arkansas. Lots of wins, but attendance has only been 200-500 most around 300. Peoria and Maryland are regularly drawing 500 and Quebec draw 600-900. Jacksonville is pretty good but I don't know much about their attendance. It appears to be around 1,000.

[tbayz1]

sorry my bad, HSBC arena where the Sabres play holds 18,000 meant to say10,000 but eventhough it may nit hold 10,000 it can hold more than 6100, i jus read on ub's site they had like 8900 people attend a MAC tourney a couple yrs ago but still the point is that all the college basketball attendence rates arent as high as they should and could be