ABL CEO Gary Cavalli formally announced the relocation
of the Richmond Rage to Philadelphia, according to Vic Dorr
of the RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH. Cavalli: "This is not about
blame or guilt. It's not about anyone failing. It's about
business. ... Sometimes in the real world you have to make
very painful decisions -- and this has most definitely been
one of them." In Richmond, Dorr writes that the "occasion
was predictably somber," and "even Cavalli was affected.
Normally a suave speaker, he appeared misty-eyed on more
than one occasion." He "admitted" that the decision to
relocate was "prompted to a large extent by the enormous
media clout displayed by the WNBA." Cavalli: "Our
competition with the other folks makes this a very
significant and positive move." He said the ABL already has
an investor in Philadelphia "who has expressed an interest
in purchasing the operating rights" to a team, which had not
been the case in Richmond. Cavalli, on the Rage in
Philadelphia: "Who knows? They might even outdraw the
76ers." Sources say the team will keep the name Rage
(RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 7/17). Dorr wrote Wednesday that
ABL sources said the Rage "seemed likely to return to
Richmond as recently as two weeks ago," but one of the
league's "most influential investors questioned the wisdom
of permitting the Rage ... to wallow for a second season in
a trough of red ink" (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 7/16).
CHANGE IN PHILOSOPHY: In Richmond, Bob Lipper writes
that the ABL "made this decision somewhere between the
balance sheets and panic attacks." More Lipper: "The
minimalist approach has now been blown out of the water.
Knowing a steamroller when it sees one, the ABL reasoned it
had to raise its big-city profile or be driven off the map
altogether" (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 7/17).
