Flex, PBL end interleague play with IBA, announce four-team PBL playoff

[ThreePop]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 23, 2013
Contact: Craig Fata, Director of Operations
(309) 532-4425 / craig@flexbasketball.com

BLOOMINGTON—The Bloomington Flex and the teams of the Premier Basketball League have agreed to end interleague play with the Independent Basketball Association, and hold a four-team PBL playoff. The PBL had merged with the IBA prior to the 2013 season.
“As the season wore on, it became apparent that the professional expectations and standards of the PBL and its teams were not being met by the merged league,” said Scott Henderson, Bloomington Flex president and CEO.
“There were problems with the playoff structure with two weeks to play in the regular season, and there were also two instances of IBA teams failing to appear for games against PBL teams last weekend,” Henderson added.
The PBL playoffs will include the Bloomington Flex, Sauk Valley Predators, Rochester RazorSharks and Indiana Diesels. All four teams are currently playoff-eligible under an IBA-proposed format. Rochester led the Eastern Division at 12-1, Indiana was in second in the East at 9-3, Sauk Valley was in second in the Central at 10-4, and Bloomington was in third in the Central at 9-4.
“This obviously isn’t an ideal situation,” said Craig Fata, Flex director of operations. “But we felt this course of action was best for our credibility and for the credibility of the PBL and its teams going forward,” he added.
The PBL playoff structure and format will be finalized and announced in the next couple days.
The Flex next play Sunday at Indiana at 1:00 p.m. CDT.

-###-
It is the mission of Bloomington FLEX Professional Basketball to offer a family entertainment experience that is affordable and of the highest quality. We believe that all involved can benefit from our commitment to and passion for Bloomington FLEX Professional Basketball.

[wasteland]

This doesn't surprise me at all.

Looks like its being hosted by Sauk Valley:

http://www.saukvalleypredators.com/

Edit:

But check that, that appears to be for the IBA-PBL version, so with the IBA gone this is no longer the case??? Nice that the IBA PBL website has removed the PBL teams and makes no meantion of any of this. Looks like http://thepbl.com/ does address this, of course.

What a mess.

[wasteland]

More:

The Rochester RazorSharks have a new opponent for their final two games of the regular season after the Premier Basketball League and Independent Basketball Association ended their interleague play agreement this week, RazorSharks owner and PBL Chairman of the Board Severko Hrywnak said today.

The Lake Michigan Admirals (3-10) will be in Rochester to play the RazorSharks (12-1) at 7:05 p.m. on Friday and 2:05 p.m. on Sunday.
Rochester was originally scheduled to play the New Jersey G-Force and Kankakee Soldiers, both IBA teams, this weekend but Hrywnak said IBA officials told him earlier this week that the IBA needed additional funding from the PBL before or its teams would not travel to PBL cities this week.

Hrywnak said the PBL paid $50,000 to the IBA for travel costs when the leagues made the agreement to experiment with interleague play at the start of season . When an agreement for additional funding could not be reached, interleague play was suspended and the PBL opted to send Lake Michigan to Rochester for two games this weekend.

Hrywnak said the six PBL teams (Rochester, Sauk Valley, Bloomington, Indiana Diesels, Lake Michigan and West Virginia) will hold their own playoffs starting next weeks. The top four teams in the standings qualify and the format will be best-of-three with the higher seed starting on the road.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/art ... ssociation

[robster2001]

The IBA begs to differ...

(BOURBONNAIS, Ill) – The Independent Basketball Association announced today that the merger that began in January of this year between the IBA and PBL has ended. On May 21, it was determined that the PBL officials and the owner of the Rochester RazorSharks were involved in actions determined to be detrimental to the League regarding the 2013 IBA-PBL Playoffs. In result, the IBA immediately removed the Rochester RazorSharks from the League, then removed the PBL name and teams from the brand. The League will return to and be branded as the formerly known and recognized Independent Basketball Association.
Contrary to previous reports, the IBA never requested or received any travel fees from the PBL. The Rochester RazorSharks were required to pay a travel credit. The travel credit was divided between three out of region teams including the Lansing Capitals, Gary Splash and Kankakee County Soldiers. All other claims regarding financial requests for travel gained from the PBL are false.
“The IBA will continue to build in communities across the country with a focus on operating with integrity and growing minor league basketball in a sustainable and professional manor. The IBA is preparing for it's Spring 2013 Playoffs and looks forward to crowning a new IBA Champion,” said Barry Bradford, President of the IBA.

(from iba-pbl.net)

Interesting that the IBA said it was the Riversharks and the playoff format that was the problem. Not like we've ever heard that before... eh?

[wasteland]

Oh this could get interesting. I see the IBA isn't denying it's teams did pull some no shows. So what about the playoffs did they not like? That the whole thing was going to be hosted by Sauk Valley in the farwest of the league footprint?

[JeffKuntz]

The article from the IBA is very careful to note TWICE that no money was given to specifically cover travel expenses.

While it may not have been classified as "travel costs", some incredibly reliable sources have told me that money changed hands between individuals involved with the PBL, and individuals involved with the IBA to make the merger happen.

That said, the amount I heard was different than $50,000.

As for all the other stuff, eh it's the Razorsharks.. Unfortunately Rochester's past history works against them here when the IBA says that PBL/Rochester/Sev were up to some shenanigans in regards to how the playoffs would proceed..

But in reality the playoff structure (including any financial transfers or other responsibilities) should have been agreed upon as a part of the merger.. if it wasn't then both leagues are equally to blame for this development. If it WAS agreed upon and one of the leagues is refusing to abide by it, then that league is the problem here.

[LightningMan]

Oh, for pity's sake.

[LightningMan]

I believe this is the second year in a row the regular season did not finish as scheduled for the PBL. Deride the TRBL if you want to, but it hasn't done this so far, never mind two years in a row.

[wasteland]

I thought the PBL sside did play all its games (minus no shows from the IBA teams), wasn't the schedule reduced to 16 or 18 games prior to the season anyways? I'm not 100% sure regardless.

You got a story from one side, and another story from the other, somewhere in between is the truth we’ll never hear. About the only thing that can be confirmed is IBA teams did pull some no shows, but that doesn’t give the PBL the right to hijack the playoffs, IF that is what happened. Gotta love minor league b-ball!

Oh and the other thing that gets me, is this was called a merger when it happened, and that in fact is not what it was at all. Stupid stupid.

Edit: After looking at the standings on the PBL site its obvious not all games where played, my mistake. Teams played anywhere from 14 to 17 of the scheduled 18 games. With only 6 teams left it was probally wishful thinking to fit all the games in.

[zeke41]

TRBL...FBA...it's the future of this level of basketball. It just doesn't work anymore otherwise. We seem to be the only leagues playing all of our games. Team owners...get your 4-6 in-state teams and play your seasons. When we've got a good 4-6 state-wide leagues going, and we all play all of our games...we'll make this minor league basketball tournament happen. It's probably a few years out, but we'll get there.