Tampa Bay Rain?

[ABA_TampaBay]

Little blurb in the St. Pete Times that the ABA seems to have found another sucker, er, owner for Tampa Bay. http://abalive.com/conferences/expansion/tampa-fl/ Funny thing, it appears they will have their official rollout at the very legit St. Pete Times Forum later this month.

I just hope Newman doesn't "rain" on his parade.

[Paul S]

Yet another dream owner

Gmail.com email address........check
No website...............check
Black and white logo............check
No venue..............check


Looks like the Rain aren't exactly going to Reign

[robster2001]

The Rain in Tampa Bay falls mainly on its face.

[The Sweeper]

[quote=""Paul S""]Yet another dream owner

Gmail.com email address........check
No website...............check
Black and white logo............check
No venue..............check


Looks like the Rain aren't exactly going to Reign[/quote]

Actually, they do have a website, even though the ABA hasn't updated the info

http://tampabayrain.com/index.html

They have a Facebook page too, with 16 fans.

[ABA_TampaBay]

I have to say I am a little impressed. I suspect the black and white logo dabbed with silver/gray, is probably a marketing idea (black still sells).

I am also impressed they already have a deal place where to play although a (semi) minor league team playing at the fairgrounds will be a tough sell unless all their games will be played on Saturday and Sunday. Tampa traffic in that area is a bear and that is understating it.

They seem to have their ducks in a row as they launched but I fail to understand their opening statement on their home page:

THE TAMPA BAY RAIN conceived under the laws of the State of Florida....

Conceived under the laws of the State of Florida? It comes off as if the state helped them bring a team to Tampa Bay.

Even if they have the money to actually get this off the ground and get commitments from other "division" teams to come and play, this startup is in deep trouble from the start simply because of the economy in this region. When the Buccaneers cannot sell out in a traditionally football rich state/area, the Rays like a blip on the sports map and the Lightning fighting for every ticket to be sold, they don't have a hill to climb, it is more like Mt. Everest.

It comes down to one thing and one thing only: $$$ for advertising to actually let people know this team exists. Just how much can they spend to draw 400-500 people on any given night because this area, even in the best of economic times, will never draw more than that for any minor league sport.

[ABA_TampaBay]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akdTZUF4wLk&feature=player_embedded

[Cincy_Monarchs_Fan]

I feel bad for these players who have dreams of playing in a real professional league and not just a rec league. These poor suckers shelled out between $125-$200 of their own money for this pay-to-tryout camp. The owners of the Rain may not know this league is a scam yet, but I'm sure none of these players know that yet.

[tops804]

[quote=""Cincy_Monarchs_Fan""]I feel bad for these players who have dreams of playing in a real professional league and not just a rec league. These poor suckers shelled out between $125-$200 of their own money for this pay-to-tryout camp. The owners of the Rain may not know this league is a scam yet, but I'm sure none of these players know that yet.[/quote]

At least they could have had Led Zeppelin's "Fool In The Rain" playing for background music.

Add up those guys, plus the 16 Facebook fans, and you have your core for attendance at the Finals Extravaganza.

[TEN]

Interesting that your introductory video about the ABA has no video more recent than 1977...

What exactly HAS happened in the ABA since then?

[runninref]

Watch the video in the post above from 16:00 to 19:00 and see if you can figure out what he is talking about concerning buying season tickets from fans. Never seen that done before in pro basketball.