The remaining Northeast teams...impossible

[whataleague]

OK who's left in the Northeast? As stated before, it looks like Brooklyn is gone. After the PBL defections, we're left with Newark (with her 5 fans per game), Cape Cod (with their 20 fans per game), and Long, sorry, Strong Island (and their 100 fans a game). Who do these teams play without incurring ridiculous travel costs? Syracuse and Corning are long hauls if they even end up playing. Halifax...forget it. No one is driving 15 hours each way in a van. Montreal and Quebec? Same thing. Plus, a major problem with the Canadian teams is the need for a Passport. There are players in the league that due to past "indiscretions" can't even get a Passport. It will be shocking to see any of these Northeast teams make it to Christmas. Unless these three teams will agree to play each other 10 times...its an impossible situation.:eek:

[tbayz1]

and Buffalo is still questioning the upcomming season and whether they are going to eat up the money loss again, remember we only got one owner in Buffalo and for a guy to lose his own money over the last two years, its a tough decision to make if they want that to happen for another year

in my opinion though, i think we'll play, but not in the 4000 seat arena like we did this year, we'll prolly downgrade to a smaller college

[heavesrock]

uhhhhhhhhh.............Vermont?




Cape Cod nearly broke even apparently. Strong ISland is a pretty good franchise. Montreal drew about 1,000 for their last few games last year. Corning looks like a decent organization.

[TheStandard]

The silverbacks will head to the high school or middle school. and pay the 75 to 100 bucks a day rate.

Strong Island (God I hate that name. Every kid I fought from Long Island never had a chance) gets about 200-400 fans. If they get a bigger venue they can get about 600-800 easily. lol like Tom Leykis says Lung Island lol. And he was from Selden :-)

yes go to www.blowmeuptom.com :-)

[whataleague]

If you think Vermont is staying, you're nuts. They're definitely in the PBL by Labor Day. If they stay, who are they playing? Do you think Alex will count on Newark and Cape Cod all season long? He's not stupid. He's got more of a shot in long term stability in the PBL.
In terms of Strong Island's attendance, it's not 200-400 per game. I went to two games last year. They were lucky to have 75 one night and about 100 the other night.

[psbf]

that the Sound have a pretty good team, or they would not have made the playoffs(a fact that some seem to forget or ignore, regardless of how last season's post-season went). S.I. does have a growing fan base. Having grown up on the island, I want to see them do well.

[TheStandard]

sound gets 75 in a game when the team is crap or its due to a schedule change or a weeknight.

in regards of the frost heaves. If alex wants to move to the PBL the PBL has a message for him (NO SMALL COURT) two steps from half court and you are at the 3 point line geez.

[Alumni96]

Hmm...and here I thought minor league basketball was a business. Turn down a proven market with a good fanbase because the court is a couple feet two small. If the PBL would turn down Vermont because of court size then they aren't as smart as I thought. They'd take away another strong franchise from the ABA and get a franchise with some national recognition. The PBL is not the D-league.

[TheStandard]

but when the PBL is looking to get and will get that FIBA Approval via USA Basketball your court has to be at least an NCAA Division 1 approved court. Barre Auditorium is not even 1/2 of that

[Sam Hill]

Strong Island (God I hate that name. Every kid I fought from Long Island never had a chance) gets about 200-400 fans. If they get a bigger venue they can get about 600-800 easily.

You can't "easily" double or triple your attendance if you subscribe to the "open the doors and let's see who shows up" theory of ticket sales.

Strong Island Guy has never answered my questions as to how many people he has actively trying to sell tickets on a day-to-day basis before and during the season. My guess is none. It seems like whoever shows up, shows up. That's fine for a party in your house, I guess. It's not a business. And it's not pro basketball.

[Fells]

but when the PBL is looking to get and will get that FIBA Approval via USA Basketball your court has to be at least an NCAA Division 1 approved court. Barre Auditorium is not even 1/2 of that

I hate to correct you, but half would be 47 feet. The court at the Barre Auditorium is actually 86 feet which is small, but not half.

I think that in order to go to the PBL, Vermont would have to move to either Saint Michael's College or the University of Vermont. Both would be tough to schedule games with the number of games played at both schools.

I really don't think Vermont will be changing leagues. Alex Wolff has told me as much and he typically is not one to hide anything.

[bomp]

You can't "easily" double or triple your attendance if you subscribe to the "open the doors and let's see who shows up" theory of ticket sales.

Strong Island Guy has never answered my questions as to how many people he has actively trying to sell tickets on a day-to-day basis before and during the season. My guess is none. It seems like whoever shows up, shows up. That's fine for a party in your house, I guess. It's not a business. And it's not pro basketball.

Could be a tax write off?

Why is the team called Strong Island? When I went to college in NY, it was called Long Giland.

[TheStandard]

Chris. I know what I'm saying i know its 86 feet compared to 94 and 92.

St. Mikes plays their games on weekends and the occasional , Tuesday, Thursday and some Wednesdays to throw in.

86 feet to me is not basketball. Even in high school our court was 94 feet. yeah with 86 foot court the scores can be sky high . Three steps pass three point line shoot, score.

Alex is hiding something. He will only tell you enough to keep you quiet, remember you put a mud hole in Joe and Alex is his little pet now :-)

[Alumni96]

Chris. I know what I'm saying i know its 86 feet compared to 94 and 92.

St. Mikes plays their games on weekends and the occasional , Tuesday, Thursday and some Wednesdays to throw in.

86 feet to me is not basketball. Even in high school our court was 94 feet. yeah with 86 foot court the scores can be sky high . Three steps pass three point line shoot, score.

Alex is hiding something. He will only tell you enough to keep you quiet, remember you put a mud hole in Joe and Alex is his little pet now :-)

How many games did you see at the Aud this year Standard? I know you saw at least one. How many Sky high scores did you see besides the championship game? Scores are determined by teams and the defense they play. The extra feet around half court have very little to do with where players shoot their 3's. The only difference is in your mind. And lets just say your more interested in bashing the ABA than you are in the reality of the situation.

[DazedAndAmused]

I saw a game there this year as well. It was a rockin place, and it was an exciting venue to watch a game.

Regarding the short court, it's hard to argue that there is no impact on the game...the 7 sec rule, running set plays, and 3's from the corner (if you have more than size 12s, you don't plant your heels from what i saw..how wide is that court?) are all different. Let's not forget the shaking floor and backboard attached to the wall.

My non scientific assessment at the game I saw was that the game was moving much faster and what should have been a much lower defensive scoring game ended up looking more offensive on the scoreboard. If the ABA kept good league wide stats, any math major could come up with a formula that incorporated shooting % and othe parameters to prove it.

But, I think we can reasonably disagree on whether court consitency (not just size, other things as well) should be part of the game or not. Those of us who follow other teams say its an unfair advantage to play at a place like the Aud if you're not used to it...but we are also jealous that we don't have the same.....issues of purity aside.

Coach K is known to turn up the heat in Cameron Indoor Arena (which the Aud reminded me of a little)...so if he can do it, it must be OK. We just need to make sure we don't end up with Slam Ball.

[The Sweeper]

Granted the championship was lopsided (48 points). But the biggest blow-outs of the season didn't happen in Barre, they happened in Burlington On 1-25 we beat Montreal 144-88 (56 points). Now, that was the night we had -40 wind chill, so you could say the guys needed to run to keep warm. On 3-1 we beat Montreal again 131-80 (51 points). Now, we know Montreal wasn't that great of a team (although they did beat Bellingham at home a day after we beat them for the second tim in 3 days) so a case can be made that the scores were because we played an inferior team.

A couple of our closest games were also played in Burlington. The OT game against Rochester (Cook scoring 7 points in under 10 seconds), and a game against Buffalo (92-90, yes, the controversial goaltending call game).

[whataleague]

Whoa, this thread has gotten way off subject. How about some thoughts about what the remaining Northeast teams will do. If you only have a few teams in the region and no one is thrilled about going to Canada, how will this survive? I know everyone wants to talk about Vermont, but if there are no teams left in the Northeast it doesn't matter if Vermont plays at the Aud or at a 7-Eleven. No teams in the region means no games for Vermont. Teams from across the country are not lining up to travel up to Vermont just because the owner collects a paycheck from SI.

[psbf]

if I've said this before, but I know I've seen it posted. I think Vermont is better off going to the PBL.

[TheStandard]

dont get me wrong. I am going to bash this Ponzi league as much as I want. but also the Aud is a great place but, it is not a regulation court and the PBL like the CBA play in regulation courts to NCAA and FIBA Standards. A pro team plays in a pro court. Yes Vermont to me is a pro team problem is the court. They can play somewhere better or they have to stay in the jim jones always games cancelled teams dropping out embezzlement league