cue PT Barnum...
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On a whim I decided to check the GR Cyclones page on Facebook to see if there was any new activity. There wasn't.
However, as I was typing "Grand Rapids Cyclones" into my Facebook search bar, I found another group for the team.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/513121795370648/
On this group there was a comment left by a guy, presumably a player, talking up a mid-October preseason game that the Cyclones were suppose to be playing. A couple of weeks later he commented on that initial comment, saying something to the effect of the visiting team never showed up-- big surprise, I know.
Now what I find rather interesting, I could swear that I saw stuff saying the team they were supposed to play was owned by the same guy that owns the Cyclones.
However, as I was typing "Grand Rapids Cyclones" into my Facebook search bar, I found another group for the team.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/513121795370648/
On this group there was a comment left by a guy, presumably a player, talking up a mid-October preseason game that the Cyclones were suppose to be playing. A couple of weeks later he commented on that initial comment, saying something to the effect of the visiting team never showed up-- big surprise, I know.
Now what I find rather interesting, I could swear that I saw stuff saying the team they were supposed to play was owned by the same guy that owns the Cyclones.
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You may want to contact Adam Chrisco at adamchrisco15@gmail.com. He's works for the team (and has played in the IBL & IBA over the last few years.) The last time I contacted him about the Cyclones schedule (10/8/12) he said they were waiting on the League.
And, as no real surprise, the Grand Rapids Cyclones will not be playing in the ABA.
I am so shocked.for all of you wondering, the Grand Rapids Cyclones have decided not to join the ABA. We will most likely join the PBL-IBA after th merger between the two companies. We will play Lansing, Holland, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor and Gary plus a lot more teams who are in other parts of the midwest.
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it's been a while, but cue the calliope...
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/brooklyn-sk ... d=27634934
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/brooklyn-sk ... d=27634934
After applying on the ABA website and subsequently being approved by the league, the final hurdle was paying the membership fee of $10,000, which Gioia says he pays off in monthly installments of $250, interest free. - So, will this team even exist in 40 months??In the basement bedroom of his moms New York City house sits a cherub-faced 23-year-old living out a dream most people believe only billionaires get to live out.
Dylan Gioia owns and runs his very own professional sports team.
This is the hub of the Brooklyn Skyrockets, Gioia says of his fledgling basketball team. I do most of my work down here. I have a blackboard, I have my laptop. Its all you really need.
Gioias Skyrockets are enjoying their first season in the American Basketball Association (ABA). Yes, that ABA, like the one made famous by Dr. J and others back in the 70s.
The original ABA was a major-league professional basketball league formed in 1967 and lasted for nine years until it merged with the NBA in 1976. Flash forward 23 years later, and the ABA was resurrected as a semi-professional basketball league, although with no affiliation to the original.
The new ABA began its first official season with eight teams in 2000. The number has now swelled close to 100 teams across the United States, Canada and even one in Japan. The games are played primarily on weekends for a season that runs from Nov. 8 to March 8.
Armed with a sports management degree from the State University of New York College at Cortland and a dream of one day becoming the general manager of the New York Knicks, Gioia discovered this new version of the ABA and that he could own his very own team without needing millions of dollars.
The whole point of the ABA is accessibility to ownership, Gioia says. Not everyone has to be a millionaire.
After applying on the ABA website and subsequently being approved by the league, the final hurdle was paying the membership fee of $10,000, which Gioia says he pays off in monthly installments of $250, interest free. After that, it was time to start building a team.
You have to find a venue. Were playing somewhere called the Aviator Sports and Events Center, Gioia says. You have to find players, so we had tryouts. We have to find coaches. Youve got to put together a website and then youve got to start raising funds through sponsorship and getting your name out there.
The ABA athletes, who tend to be older, played in college but moved on to other things.
After school, I had a family, I had a son, so I tried to do other things, Skyrockets captain Keenan Bell says. But then this opportunity presented itself. So I said, you know what, it doesnt hurt, let me give it a shot, and its something I can tell my son, show my son the tape.
Right now, its a constant hustle for Gioia to sell tickets, gain sponsors and pay his players and coaches. But that hasnt stopped him from dreaming big.
I just want to be able to have a self-sustaining team where I could have a staff and where I could be an owner just like Mark Cuban, Gioia says of the NBA Dallas Mavericks' owner. Sit in the stands and watch it and not stress as much as I am and actually be able to sit and enjoy it.
Proud to be "Mean-spirited blogger #10K"
And we believe it is better to have critics and people who care than not to have interest at all. Joe Newman 6/30/05
I never said the ABA had the greatest numbers regarding retention of teams. OldSchoolBaller (neither did we )
The ABA has tarnished minor league professional basketball throughout this country Ed Krinsky 2/15/06
We are now making some adjustments to our schedule - Joe Newman 10/9/08 in perpetuity
So they are apparently 1-6 with a game coming up tomorrow at the Baltimore Hawks and another Sunday against the DMV Kings.
They've played three home games and had another cancelled.
And there's this.
They've played three home games and had another cancelled.
And there's this.
The rest of it sounds like normal ABA stuff, except that the owner actually wants to do things the right way if he can. Big lesson for that young man."The vetting process isn't much," he says with a laugh. "The ABA gave me a team."
Old enough to remember when bashing the ABA was fun.
Finding a Partner..
From the story..
All of the excitement and promise of opening night has evaporated into the Brooklyn ether. Gioia has gone from giddy with anticipation to defeated in 72 hours, the unfortunate reality of semi-pro ownership. "It's been an extremely fast peak and valley," he says out in the hallway. "I need to find a partner or have someone buy me out."
Partners are easy to find. Partners with cash? Not so easy.
The arenas in Syracuse want cash up front from ABA teams. Hence the Shockwave never started, and Brooklyn won't be moving there either.
All of the excitement and promise of opening night has evaporated into the Brooklyn ether. Gioia has gone from giddy with anticipation to defeated in 72 hours, the unfortunate reality of semi-pro ownership. "It's been an extremely fast peak and valley," he says out in the hallway. "I need to find a partner or have someone buy me out."
Partners are easy to find. Partners with cash? Not so easy.
The arenas in Syracuse want cash up front from ABA teams. Hence the Shockwave never started, and Brooklyn won't be moving there either.
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[quote=""ABARedWhiteBlue""]
After applying on the ABA website and subsequently being approved by the league, the final hurdle was paying the membership fee of $10,000, which Gioia says he pays off in monthly installments of $250, interest free. - So, will this team even exist in 40 months??[/quote]
If Joe is signing contracts with these dreamers... and I'm sure he is... it's not unfeasible that he's clearing $10k or more a month from all of the failed franchises on the hook for $250/month payments. Or perhaps he's just shaking them all down for settlements and still pulling in a ton of money.
This would explain a lot.
After applying on the ABA website and subsequently being approved by the league, the final hurdle was paying the membership fee of $10,000, which Gioia says he pays off in monthly installments of $250, interest free. - So, will this team even exist in 40 months??[/quote]
If Joe is signing contracts with these dreamers... and I'm sure he is... it's not unfeasible that he's clearing $10k or more a month from all of the failed franchises on the hook for $250/month payments. Or perhaps he's just shaking them all down for settlements and still pulling in a ton of money.
This would explain a lot.