USBL's Cedar Rapids Team jumping to CBA?

[JAKMAN]

I can't access the article about this story. Anybody got details? Is this legit?

[Jeremy]

I don't know if it is legit or not. I have the paper and at first thought it was that the CBA was going to take our players, but then I read the article...it was basically bashing the USBL and their lack of professionality and how the CBA is the second best professional league right under the NBA. It said that the CBA has asked the RiverRaiders if they would like to switch leagues and even says they would probably like us to join this year, which the owner thinks would be too soon. I really hope they do, but we would lose our coach as stated he is still coaching Sioux Falls in the CBA. Talks about CR having the highest attendance in the USBL and really good for being a new team building from scratch. The article went on about owner saying there would be more info in a few days. I have not heard anything else.

The only thing I wonder is what kind of crowds does the CBA need to make a profit or at least break even? Before this season the owner said something like the USBL they would only need like 1,200 fans to break even, which according to the article we were over that with like 2,200 fans average...so that scares me, would those numebrs be ok for the CBA too or would that cause a loss of $.

As long as we can keep a team I will be happy no matter which league, but I would be much happier with the CBA.

Overall a very entertaining article, they didn't hold much back in bashing the USBL.

[HAC]

Here you go.

CBA ready to raid USBL for River Raiders

By Mike Hlas
The Gazette
Saturday, June 26, 2004, 7:48:25 PM

SALINA, Kan. -- A season in the United States Basketball League has been fun, but Cedar Rapids can do better.
The Cedar Rapids River Raiders and their city are too good for the USBL. The Continental Basketball Association -- a wintertime pro league run vastly better than the USBL -- has invited Cedar Rapids into its fold. It's up to River Raiders Owner Barry Smith to make the call, which he says he will in the next few weeks.

Smith sounds ready to make the leap. He should be. He and his wife, Toni, did a really nice job of starting a pro basketball franchise from scratch. The USBL probably has no idea what to make of a team that drew a league-high 2,200 people per game for it's April-May-June extravaganza. Some of its teams don't even announce their embarrassingly low crowd counts.

The Raiders can stay in the USBL and probably do fine, but they'd always have that April-May-June thing to battle when it came to drawing fans. Also, one USBL season has been enough to show us the league isn't a model of professionalism.

"I'm still proud to be in the USBL," Smith said here Friday before the start of the league's Post-Season Festival. "But it needs structure. The commissioner is obsolete. You can't even get a hold of the guy. He's a non-factor. There's not a lot of backbone in the USBL front office."

Exhibit A was the second-quarter walkout and forfeit by the St. Louis Skyhawks at a May game in Cedar Rapids. That was compounded by the "indefinite suspension" of St. Louis Coach Floyd Irons that lasted a mere two games.

The Skyhawks threatened to sue the USBL. The league caved. Real leagues don't cave.

"In the CBA," Smith said, "the St. Louis team would have been fined a minimum of $50,000 and Coach Irons would have been suspended possibly for the whole year."

The Raiders were lucky it got 14 full home games. The Florence and Adirondack teams had two ownership groups each this year. Both ended the season under the league's management.

The River Raiders were wise to take a year-and-a-half to set up shop. A crowd of more than 2,600 for the home finale, on a Sunday afternoon in June, showed the community had bought into what team was selling.

"We've got a fan base that we're very happy about," Smith said. "I was surprised by the number of people that showed up. I really was.

"The one area I was disappointed in was big corporate sponsorship, Rockwell and the big boys. They need to be part of what we're doing."

Duane Ticknor, coach of the CBA's Gary Steelheads, said corporate sponsorship puts his team in the black. Ticknor coached his first CBA game on the visitors' bench in Cedar Rapids. That was in 1990, the start of the Cedar Rapids Silver Bullets' third and final season.

The Silver Bullets had weekend crowds of 3,500 and more in their best days. It's been said they actually made money in their short life.

River Raiders Coach Dave Joerger said he would strongly consider returning to Cedar Rapids next spring if the franchise stays in the USBL. He'll begin his fourth year as a CBA head coach in November when he starts a new job in Sioux Falls. He said Cedar Rapids can make it in the CBA.

"No question about it," Joerger said. "The owners have built a very, very solid foundation. I think everybody in the community is impressed. What they did in their first year in the USBL is a tremendous feat."

Should the Raiders switch to the CBA, Smith said they wouldn't begin play until November 2005 even though the CBA would like Cedar Rapids to step in this year. The owner has questions to ask himself in the days ahead.

"(Running a team) has taken a lot more of my time than I ever imagined for myself," Smith said. "I have to make a personal decision if I'm ready to commit all that time."

Smith already had a few full plates with his Platinum Series Homes, Mirage Properties Corporation, and the Microtel Inn and Suites in Marion that he owns.

But instead of getting out of basketball, he'll probably get in deeper. A CBA season stretches from November through early March. A 24-game home schedule would be 60 percent longer than the Raiders' 15-game USBL home slate, but those 24 games wouldn't be as compressed as the 15 Cedar Rapids just hosted in two months.

Smith said travel costs would actually decrease. The USBL has six Eastern teams and five in the Midwest. Six of the eight CBA franchises are in the Midwest.

But CBA player salaries are a lot higher than the slave wages most USBL teams pay.

The USBL offered a better brand of ball than I expected, but the CBA's is superior. USBL players are judged by whether or not they could play in the CBA. Each season, several CBA players are called up to the NBA.

The USBL is good pro basketball with a hefty side dish of chaos. The CBA is the second-best pro basketball league in the world.

Plus, the CBA doesn't include the St. Louis Skyhawks.

[sportman]

Is the cba going to buy the usbl?

[lightning fan]

No need to.....just wait until stable usbl teams wish to upgrade and invite them in with an affordable franchise fee.

[Jeremy]

So, does anybody know what kind of crowds you really need to average to make it in the CBA? Would the 2,200 they state we had be able to make it? Like I say, I just want to see the team remain alive here, but really would be more happy in the CBA.

[Pounder]

The only team that croaked AFTER averaging over 2K per game (in the last handful of years) was Fargo-Moorhead after 01-02 (which ended up in that merged IBL, no?). I wonder if it was the arena lease, or the prospect of traveling to Idaho and Yakima, or a combination therein.

Grand Rapids quit after going below 1,400 per game. Apparently, Great Lakes lives after going under 1,000 this past year. Obviously, terms of a building lease and corporate support are as much a part of the equation as the cheek count.

[HAC]

Originally Posted by lightning fan

No need to.....just wait until stable usbl teams wish to upgrade and invite them in with an affordable franchise fee.

Many of the USBL cities don't have the population base to move to the winter months.

Dodge City KS, Enid OK, Salina KS -- three of the better run franchises -- are not moving from summer ball. They've carved little their little niche at that time.

[SK Fan]

Originally Posted by Jeremy

So, does anybody know what kind of crowds you really need to average to make it in the CBA? Would the 2,200 they state we had be able to make it? Like I say, I just want to see the team remain alive here, but really would be more happy in the CBA.

Jeremy,

From what I heard the owners of the River Raiders figured that expenses in the CBA would be twice what they spent this year in the USBL. If they are going to jump to the CBA it's gonna take Rockwell, Quaker and some of the big boys to step up with some sponsor money. The River Raiders will be in the USBL at least one, and most likely two more years before they jump ship. If the USBL got their ship together the River Raiders might hang around, but the chances of that happening are slim to none!