Calgary Drillers not dead yet

[E5]

http://www.calgarydrillers.ca/

Trying to move to a community owned team.

Al Howell was on Fan960 radio today talking about it. He thinks Calgary can be a great market. He's not extremely happy with Joe Neuman or the former owner of the team, but wants to make this work. Says the ABA has granted him a conditional franchise (worth another $10k, no doubt), should he find a community group willing to buy in.

He wasnt even sold on a team in the ABA, simply a team in Calgary. He also talked about a desire/need for a team in Edmonton as well.

And even more amazingly, he mentioned that his Miami based backer really only got into the Drillers because he had a handshake agreement to buy the Calgary Stampeders, and figured the Drillers would help build a presence in Calgary. Howell mentioned that Michael Feterik reneaged on that deal. Nobody out here is surprised that Feterik would break his word....

[E5]

This is also rather interesting...

http://www.calgarydrillers.ca/10.html

(2) The league in which to play. Considerations will be given to the American Basketball Association, Continental Basketball Association and the International League. Close examination of issues such as team travel, team stability and league leadership will be taken into consideration. A Calgary based advisory group is in the process of being formed to examine all aspects of the Drillers to ensure the correct decision is made.

Shouldnt that rule out the ABA automatically?

[Sam Hill]

Good luck with that.

You can't find many people who are interested in buying tickets, but you're going to find people who are interested in buying stock? Or buying stock and buying tickets, since you'd presume that anyone who cared enough to buy into the team would actually want to see it play?

I can't think of a publicly-owned minor league team that has ever worked, though someone may have pulled it off somewhere sometime. CFL teams have been parts of their community for eons, so that's not a fair comparison.

I just don't think there's a big interest. You want to support the team? Buy season tickets. That is the simplest, purest way to support a team. If you want investors, get investors who are out to make a buck. You won't make a buck, because it's damn deadly difficult to make a buck in minor league basketball, but at least your intentions will be clear and maybe you'll have a chance if you run it like an actual business and not as a not-for-profit (which has never, to my knowledge, been successful at the pro sports level).

[skippy]

Sam...

Memphis Redbirds Triple A for the Cards.

Here's a link.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/40/wf_jernigan.html

I don't anyone with pockets as deep as this fellows would step up for

minor league basketball in Calgary.

[Pounder]

The ABA is dead to me.

[Sam Hill]

As it is to most people who aren't named Joe Newman.