Not your father's minor league basketball
by Joe Pietaro
Published on April 17, 2006 under International Basketball League (IBL)
Minor league sports. Teams that come and go. Before you can even learn the player's names, either the team or the entire league may have folded. Well, that is not the case with a certain independent basketball league geared towards not only keeping the ship afloat, but going full speed ahead. The International Basketball League is here to stay.
Currently in its second season, the IBL is set up differently than some of the other leagues in the world of minor league basketball. Teams are grouped into what Commissioner Mikal Duilio entitled "geographical clusters." For example, a team is scheduled against rivals that are close enough to reduce travel expenses. In addition, there is one long road trip per team that gives them the chance to play teams from out of their area, which consists of four games in four days. The benefits of this are two-fold: mainly, all teams are guaranteed to only have to travel by plane on one occasion per season. Secondly, teams get to see their opponents during the regular season that they may end up meeting in the playoffs.
OK, what else is special about the IBL. Instead of dragging a contest out to the three-hour time, the IBL has figured out a way to make it an up-tempo and high scoring style that all fans enjoy watching. Using the same four 12-minute quarters, the IBL has limited the number of team time-outs to one per quarter. In comparison, the NBA allows teams six time-outs per quarter. And all in-bounds are considered the âquick' variety. The referee will put the ball back into play immediately following an out-of-bounds or a turnover. The defense is kept on their heels in the IBL not having what the Commissioner calls a âdisproportionate' opportunity to get back and set up. The average team scoring total in the IBL is 127 points (and in just two hours.)
The target audience for minor league sports is families due to the affordable tickets and friendly atmosphere. To drag the spouse and children to a game expecting to make it through until the final buzzer is not a likely scenario in most cases. But if the game in total is approximately two hours instead of three hours, heading for the exits early is a thing of the past. And all IBL players remain on the court after the game to meet and greet the fans for autographs.
Currently teams are located from West Virginia to California and in-between, however the IBL is expanding to different parts of the continent next season. Current teams located in places such as Vancouver, Portland and Seattle will be joined in 2007 by expansion teams from out east in cities like Buffalo and Jersey City, New Jersey. This is not a regional league, but one that is represented throughout the entire United States and parts of Canada.
In its inaugural season, the IBL was very successful and capped off the year by rocking the Kellogg Arena in the first league championship game, when the Battle Creek Knights (21-0) defeated the Dayton Jets (15-2.) To give you an example of the league being one that concentrates on the offensive side of the ball, the 2005 scoring leader was Jovan Harris of the San Jose (now Tri-City) Ballers with an incredible 35.3 points per game average.
The IBL has picked up right where it left off. On March 12th, 4,900 fans came out to the Portland Trailblazers' home court, the Rose Garden, to attend an IBL game between the Portland Chinooks and the Vancouver Volcanoes. The record crowd went home happy as the home team left the court victorious. There is nothing minor about nearly 5,000 fans attending a professional basketball game. Everyone comes away a winner.
The IBL is going to succeed where other minor basketball leagues have struggled. They have a plan in place and a determined, experienced founder in Mikal Duilio. Teams do not just get a schedule faxed to them after paying their fees and left to fend for themselves. Everything from uniforms, Media Relations and sponsorship and marketing tools are supplied to each team as part of their entrance fees.
For more information on the IBL, please visit www.iblhoopsonline.com .
International Basketball League Stories from April 17, 2006
- Guarantee Win Night, Friday, April 21st - Battle Creek Knights
- Not your father's minor league basketball - OSC Original by Joe Pietaro
- Cavalry Improve To a Perfect 5-0 With 147-138 Win Over Seattle - Aurora Cavalry
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
