ABA in Syracuse: For Now Anyway...

Professional Basketball has returned to Syracuse, but how long it will last is anybody’s guess. That’s because the Syracuse Raging Bullz play in the American Basketball Association, a sports league that should hardly be confused with a Fortune-500 company.

While sports leagues traditionally succeed with a combination of strong franchises, creative marketing, and effective financing, the ABA, it would appear, lacks all three.

It is not uncommon for ABA teams to fold in the middle of the season, or for games to be cancelled in the days or hours leading up to them. Players have also been known to go months without being paid, as The Montreal Gazette reported last December. But such is life in the ABA, a league that some have suggested can’t even get the alphabet right.

Barely a month into its seventh season, the 2007-08 campaign looks to be more of the same. League play began last month with 39 teams, but according to the ABA’s official website, only 28 remain. The Rochester (MN) Fire is one of the teams to have ceased operations, cancelling its season after just one game. According to Tim Harlow of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Fire did not have sufficient funding. KAAL-TV also had the story.

Meanwhile, here in Syracuse, the Raging Bullz are still around despite “postponing” more home games (three) than they have actually played (two). No make-up dates have been announced, but General Manager Mike Brown told The Post-Standard that he expects Friday’s home game against the Quebec Kebekwa to be played as scheduled.

The Bullz have 18 scheduled home games, and 36 games overall, but Syracuse basketball fans are learning what most ABA followers have known for years- that the schedule is more of a suggested outline, than a definite itinerary. If the date of a scheduled home game is actually honored, it could be against a different opponent than the one listed. Syracuse home games scheduled for Feb. 14 and 21 for example, may take place, but they will not be against the Corning Bulldogs, as originally advertised. The Corning Leader reported last weekend that the Bulldogs have folded because of low attendance.

The Raging Bullz meanwhile, have dealt with attendance issues of their own. Home games are played at the Onondaga County War Memorial, making it one of the largest home arenas in the league. Most teams prefer to play in smaller venues, some even doing so in local high school gyms. Given the financial struggles of most teams, the smaller gyms are easier on the budget, while also providing a more intimate setting. I was among the crowd of 400 that attended the Raging Bullz’ Nov. 18 game against the Montreal Royal, and in an arena that seats more than 8,000, the small crowd made for little atmosphere.

One argument for the poor attendance is that the calibre of play is not particularly strong. The most talented player on the Raging Bullz may be former Syracuse Orangeman Dayshawn Wright, but his time in the ABA has been spent primarily on the Bullz bench.

Like Wright, most players have exhausted all other pro basketball options before signing on to play in the ABA, and in many cases, holding an ABA roster spot is merely a part-time job. The Raging Bullz for example, practice only in the evening so that players can work elsewhere during the day. It also does not appear as though any ABA player will be getting rich anytime soon. Each team has a $120,000 salaray cap, which comes out to an average of about $10,000 per player. But players I have spoken to in both Montreal and Syracuse have told me that's a generous amount compared to what they actually make.

Poor attendance in the ABA may also have something to do with poor marketing. In both Syracuse and Quebec City, something as simple as choosing a team name couldn't take place without a little controversy. The Raging Bullz name actually came after the name 'Bullies' angered local community groups and was eventually dropped. Apparently the name "conjured images of playground ruffians." The debate even found its way to ESPN.

You would think the folks running the team in Syracuse would have learned a thing or two from the management in Quebec. In 2006, Quebec's expansion team drew criticism when it considered calling its team the Jumping Frogs. The term 'Frogs' is sometimes used to insult French-Canadians, and the controversy landed the basketball team on Canadian newscasts for all the wrong reasons. The team eventually decided to call itself the Kebekwa, but the team logo does in fact feature a frog.

But despite all of the ABA's struggles, there are exceptions. The defending-ABA-champion Vermont Frost Heaves, have been successful both on and off the court, and seem to be the model franchise. Not bad for a team that was created on the basis of a dare.

Sports Illustrated writer, and Vermont native Alexander Wolff was dared by a friend to pay the $10,000 expansion fee for an ABA franchise and to try his luck as the owner of a pro sports team. Wolff went through with it convincing his superiors at SI to have him chronicle his team's first ABA season. And what a season it was.

The team was well-marketed, relying on local companies, Ben & Jerry's among them, to buy-in as sponsors. Home games were played in high school gyms, split evenly between Burlington and Barre, VT. Most importantly, the theme of small-town basketball was quickly embraced.

Vermont went on to win the championship with a win over the Texas Tycoons in the best-of-one final. The Frost Heaves were among the ABA’s best regular-season teams with a 30-6 record, but their road to the title was no doubt made easier when the 28-8 Rochester (NY) Razorsharks decided to shut down during the playoffs. That had some critics suggesting the Vermont title was somewhat tainted. It also proved that even when the ABA manages to find a feel-good story, there has to be some bad news tied in somewhere.

But Wolff's efforts in Vermont (the team has returned this season and is already 6-1), prove that at least some ABA teams can in fact succeed. I spoke to Wolff last Spring on The Team 990 in Montreal, and he said that if you want to make money, then the ABA probably isn't for you.

He went on to say that herein lies the ABA's biggest problem. Most owners jump at the $10,000 expansion fee, without acknowledging the operating expenses they will eventually incur. And when the costs start adding up, and the in-coming revenue remains low, most owners find that shutting down is the easiest option.

Nicholas Fitts is the owner of the Raging Bullz and he told me during the team's first home game that he hopes to eventually get his team in the NBDL, a minor basketball league that is financed by the NBA. But for now, Fitts may be better served focusing on just getting through this first season. His team has four games scheduled in December, and if last month is any indication, simply playing all of these games could be a victory in itself.