Razorsharks Bolt from the ABA

Razorsharks Bolt from the ABA
The Rochester Razorsharks opted to withdraw from the American Basketball Association playoffs--several other teams also opted out of the playoffs--and focus on a new league that they'll join next year called the Premiere Basketball League. Now, the obvious question becomes why did they opt to do this? It's quite the story. The final straw involved a planned playoff date that had been canceled because the opposing team's coaches couldn't get to Rochester because of travel delays tied to a storm. That's fair enough, although it could have been prevented had they not been forced to toss together travel plans at the last second because the previous round game was 40 hours earlier. The Blue Cross Arena was booked the following week because of the NCAA Hockey Regionals. The league was unhappy with the delay, so they tried to force them to move to another venue. Now, the Razorsharks average over 4, 000 fans, while many of the league's teams play in front of a couple hundred family members and friends in a local high school gym. So the fact they had season ticket holders and sponsorship obligations seemed to be foreign to the league. Rochester had nailed down a date the following week and informed the league. Then a couple hours later the league's CEO e-mailed out to the other owners requesting opinions as to whether Razorsharks should be forced to forfeit. Needless to say, they opted to leave before any sort of consensus could be determined based on their opponents' opinions.

Now, this was just the last event in what has really been a comical experience for a team that clearly operates at a much higher level than most of the league. Their last home loss--about a year and a half ago--was to a team that was out of cash. Consequently, the Razorsharks paid their travel costs so the game could be played and that was their final game. Rochester hosted the "Great Eight" last season with the league. However, there are rumors of the league not living up to reimbursement promises despite the event drawing well. Southern California left the league partially because the league never reimbursed them. This year, the Toledo Royal Knights--the second team in Toledo this season--didn't bother to communicate with Rochester at all regarding a road game, nor would they respond to calls. Consequently, the league's president--an individual who tried to arrange a hostile takeover of the ABA because of his frustration with the league's poor leadership--told them not to bother traveling that day. Toledo proceeded to fold. Then Rochester opted not to travel to a road game in Brooklyn--which was the second team in Brooklyn this season--due to the accommodations they arranged. As it turns out, the motel has a storied past including prostitution and a murder.

Ultimately, the league is completely dysfunctional. Less than half of the teams survive from season to season. Generally, all of the successful ones bail within two years. The CBA took a couple teams last year, the NBA's D-League has one, and it appears a number of teams will bolt to this new league next year. Whether the intentions with expansion are good or not, I don't know. The idea of a league with tons of teams so travel is modest makes sense. But so many of the teams are so amazingly undercapitalized that it seems the league is happy to take their $10, 000 or so in expansion fees and watch the inevitable collapse--there are no enforced standards. That has ultimately led to this league being seen negatively, or as a "total farce" and the "Always Bad Association" as a local columnist put it. There are some good teams, but they are all dragged down by the bad apples. Rochester's future will be much brighter in this new league, as will the futures of the other teams that opt to leave the ABA.
Source: brettdaly.blogspot.com

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