The Collegiate Professional Basketball League (CPBL),
which is scheduled to begin play in November '99, announced
its first corporate sponsorship, Basketball City, which will
serve as the official training facility of the CPBL.
Although Basketball City does not own facilities in all of
the CPBL's eight markets, teams based in Boston, NJ, N.Y.
and Philadelphia will practice and train at Basketball City
facilities. Although Basketball City's only operational
property is located in N.Y., the company is close to
finalizing lease agreements in Philadelphia and Boston. In
addition, the CPBL announced that a second Basketball City
property in N.Y., currently in the planning stages, could
serve as home court for the CPBL's N.Y.-based team (CPBL).
In Boston, Richard Kindleberger reports that Basketball City
is "considering three sites for expansion," including the
Charles River Park tennis club. Kindleberger: "With
Basketball City interested in offering its arena as a
practice site for visiting [NBA] teams, the tennis club's
proximity to the Fleet Center is seen as having special
appeal" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/17). In Detroit, Becky Yerak
reports the CPBL is looking for sponsors to pay $400,000 for
naming rights for each team. The league has also hired an
investment banker to raise $18M in venture capital "and
plans to try to get TV exposure" (DETROIT NEWS, 9/17).
