There is a lesson here..

[40ozOE]

[quote=""Ken, Steelheads fan""]Really?!? I thought it was the Hardhats before the Xplosion. The Pittsburgh Pitbulls?!?[/quote]

The Hardhats were announced, but never played. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had one of those articles exposing the lies and fraud perpetrated by the ownership group, which I'm sure follows every failed or never-played ABA franchise.

The Pittsburgh Pittbulls did play a few games in the ABA. The most notable low-light was head coach Tom "Trooper" Washington having a heart attack and dying during the first game.

[psbf]

They were known as the Pennsylvania Pitbulls and played PS at McKeesport, a suburb outside of Pittsburgh. Only lasting less than a season, cut short by his death(if I remember), a tradgedy(imo). I never went to any games because tickets were never made available. Nothing on their website was ever made available. The team moved South the following season to become the Florida Pitbulls.

[Pounder]

[quote=""basketball facts""]You need deep pockets to run a quality club- which includes a good venue with a good venue lease. High school gyms do not work. [/quote]

With fewer people having deep pockets... now what?

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

[quote=""Pounder""]With fewer people having deep pockets... now what?[/quote]

Now the leagues develop relationships with people like Kevin Costner:
http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2009/0 ... 7e2d05.txt

That's the Northern League. The league I'm always talking about when I'm not talking about minor league hoops.

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

[quote=""Ken, Steelheads fan""] Better networking is needed and maybe a hollywood heavyweight or two [/quote]

That's right...
Joe had AJ DiScala, Nick Lachey and Bill Corona involved with the ABA, and look how well that turned out.

<turn off sarcasm filter>

It's a good point, Ken - when the RIGHT people do it.

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

[quote=""psbf""]They were known as the Pennsylvania Pitbulls and played PS at McKeesport, a suburb outside of Pittsburgh. Only lasting less than a season, cut short by his death(if I remember), a tradgedy(imo). I never went to any games because tickets were never made available. Nothing on their website was ever made available. The team moved South the following season to become the Florida Pitbulls.[/quote]

Some background on the Hardhats / Pit Bulls...

The article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04277/389453-275.stm

One of the people involved in the Hardhats fiasco was very active on the Yahoo board, and had a number of 'entertaining' exchanges with Joe about all aspects of the ABA - back when Joe had the cojones to speak in public and face dissenting opinions...

from an email on the old Yahoo ABA site that Joe answered about the PA PitBulls:

From: "ConnieJoeNewman@Aol.com" <ConnieJoeNewman@Aol.com>
To: ABABasketball@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, April 16, 2005 11:23:52 AM
Subject: Re: [ABABasketball] Wow Lack of media attention


i.ball. Thanks for the email. The name Pit Bulls has gone to Florida; the team hasn't. The owners of the Florida team are related to the owners of Pit Bull Energy Drinks - and PA has offered to let them use the name. The PA team is reorganizing and most definitely will play next season - with a very high profile team. With multiple changes in ownership last season, it was difficult (an understatement). You will see significant changes this season - including changes in publicity and visability at the team and league level. There will also be a team in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It should create a good rivalry. Hope this answers your questions. Your interest is appreciated.

Joe Newman
ABA CEO


-----Original Message-----
From: i_ball21 <i_ball21@xxx>
To: ABABasketball@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 01:39:18 -0000
Subject: [ABABasketball] Wow Lack of media attention

Being in Pittsburgh usually isn't to bad on getting news or information in the sports field. But nothing has been said about the francise here (PA PitBulls) since the passing of Tom Washington. From what I gather on here is that Tim Hardaway is taking that francise to FLA and I also heard things of a francise in NE Pennsylvania. Can someone clear any of this up for me?? Whats true whats not?? I live 10 mins from where the PItBulls were supposed to play their games and heard absolutly nothing about them the entire season. I even attempt to go to their home games twice but both were cancelled so I gave up on them? Anyone even know what their uni's looked like?? Heard that Julius Page is now playin in the CBA out in Idaho or some ### too. WHY IS THE NO MEDIA COVERAGE WHATSOEVER FOR THIS LEAGUE?? EVEN THE ABA WEBSITE OFFERS LITTLE INFO ON WHATS GOIN ON??

This was the 'start' of the Xplosion; essentially they took the Pit Bulls place in the Pittsburgh market.

And the X, like so many other minor league basketball teams in Six-burgh, faded away...

[psbf]

The Xplosion faded away only because of the CEO finacial woes, which prevented him from promoting the team. I ask, why would a CEO who has financial problems in the millions even think of running a team??
Oh, I'm sorry, RWB, you must have missed that article in the Trib, revealing the financial problems of Xplosion CEO Richard Hersperger. Right, because you think it's lack of fan interest all the time. You never think that it may possibly be the non-committed owners of our teams(Xplosion, Piranhas)!
News for you-teams need to promote to get fans!! Teams need responsible owners also!! You may want to look up the word responsible! It means paying all the bills on time!

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

[quote=""psbf""]The Xplosion faded away only because of the CEO finacial woes, which prevented him from promoting the team. I ask, why would a CEO who has financial problems in the millions even think of running a team??
Oh, I'm sorry, RWB, you must have missed that article in the Trib, revealing the financial problems of Xplosion CEO Richard Hersperger. Right, because you think it's lack of fan interest all the time. You never think that it may possibly be the non-committed owners of our teams(Xplosion, Piranhas)!
News for you-teams need to promote to get fans!! Teams need responsible owners also!! You may want to look up the word responsible! It means paying all the bills on time![/quote]

I've seen the articles - I've probably seen and read more than you, most likely.

But this isn't some sort of pi$$ing contest, where you feel the need to discredit any anti-basketball views by claiming to know more than the other guy.

Or that more pulicity would somehow magically draw in those thousands of fans who are just waiting to go, if only they knew about a team.

There is no support in the media for minor league basketball in Pittsburgh - DESPITE the fact that there was local coverage in the Trib and P-G of their games.

There are no available venues suitable for minor league basketball in Pittsburgh - Pitt, Duquesne, Robert Morris don't want a team, and the Igloo is far too big for minor league (or less) crowds.

There has never been a groundswell of support for pro basketball in Pittsburgh - they are Steeler fans first (too bad for you they won, and that cad Hines Ward gets another ring), Pens fans 2nd, and huge Pitt fans.

There is no room - or need - in the winter sports landscape for a fledgling minor league basketball team in Pittsburgh. History has shown that to be an indisputable fact in every instance.

You call the owners of the X and Piranhs 'uncommited' in your latest rant. Really? Hard to say they were uncommitted when THEY WERE PAYING THE BILLS.

And as for responsible owners - did you raise a flag when Hersperger began? He was responsible then, right? He was also responsible for paying his bills, which he did not do. But, any ownership is also responsible TO THEMSELVES in financial matters - it's their bottom line, not yours. When a team is failing to get out of the red, and going deeper in debt, they have a fiscal responsibility to do what is best for them. Some try to sell - and perhaps Pittsburgh did (you and I don't know that, but I have heard some stories to that effect). It's hard to sell a financially draining franchise in a market that is not showing enough support. You need a passionate ownership group with nearly $1M to blow in year one to grab it. The fact that a person or group like that failed to step forward - and frankly, has yet to do so in all of the years of minor league basketbal;l - speaks volumes of the local populace and their deep-seated desire to have a minor league basketball team in the 'Burgh.

I saw numerous kickoff events advertising the X - they had multi-media advertising, and partnered with local celebs to draw new fans (Steelers, etc.).

Yet they never drew enough to pay their bills.

And your answer - your ONLY answer - is that a team should throw tens of thousands more of good dollars after the tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars they have already spent to entice a few more fans to show up.

'Cause, you know, in your isolated fan's world that's all it takes to become a success.

You are a passionate fan, but your knowledge of the business side of sports is woefully skewed.

The roll call of failed Pittsburgh basketball teams is hardly something that will entice a neophyte sports owner with a bottomless payroll to open up shop in the Golden Triangle.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George Santayana

It is not a knock on Pittsburgh that they are not a minor-league city. They are too proud to view themselves as such, and won't settle for less.

Minor league basketball is not a fit in Pittsburgh, regardless of how much an owner promotes it.

Get over it.