A "standing-room-only crowd that paid some astonishing
prices" offered "a heartfelt farewell" to the ABL on Sunday
at the "hoopSalute" in CA, according to Dwight Chapin of the
S.F. EXAMINER. Former Lasers G Jennifer Azzi: "Seeing all
these people lining [up] outside to get in (the gymnasium)
today, you wonder why the ABL couldn't have made it. But we
just couldn't get the TV contracts and national sponsors we
had to have." Chapin reported each of the 15 players who
participated in the exhibition was paid $5,000, which was
financed by tickets ranging in price from $50 to $1,500. The
game was played in front of a sold-out 1,600-seat DeAnza gym
in Cupertino, CA (S.F. EXAMINER, 1/25). Rick Hurd of the
CONTRA COSTA TIMES noted that exhibition organizers had a
$100,000 budget, $85,000 of which was raised through advance
ticket sales (CONTRA COSTA TIMES, 1/25).
BLACKED OUT: In Portland, Ryan White wrote that a memo
from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court said that no ABL logos could
be displayed during the game. As a result, the league logo
on the ball was blackened out and the players' jerseys had
the "hoopSalute" logo on them instead. Despite the ban,
many fans still donned ABL apparel (OREGONIAN, 1/25).
A DEAL REACHED? ABL Founder Gary Cavalli said that a
deal has been reached with a lender "to provide the money to
compensate employees for most of their December salary as
well as limited vacation time." The plan goes before a
bankruptcy court for approval Wednesday and would pay former
players, coaches and office staff a maximum of $4,300 each.
Cavalli said after this, the league will move on to season-
ticket holders, who are owed "close to" $2.5M. Cavalli
added that final payments from a few sponsors have not been
received yet, and that "only when the ticket debt is taken
care of will the league begin to worry about [its]
creditors" (Portland OREGONIAN, 1/23). Also in Portland,
White reported that CA AG Bill Lockyer is "joining" CT AG
Richard Blumenthal to investigate whether the NBA had a role
in the ABL's eventual termination (OREGONIAN, 1/25)
WHERE'S THE LOVE? NY-based DNF Group VP/Media Sales
Marty Rolnick, whose firm helped the ABL, said that many
companies who did not support the ABL "were fearful of
damaging current or prospective relationships with the NBA."
Rolnick: "We never stayed on our message, because we were
always having to defend ourselves against the WNBA. If we
positioned it about women, opportunities for women, sponsors
were interested." Jaust Group Partner Harry Usher, whose
sports marketing firm was retained by the league during its
first season: "If there is a general sense that women will
watch women's sports because it's women, I don't know if
that's true. I'll bet you more men watch women's basketball
on television than women do." Cavalli said nearly all of
the $30M the ABL raised in its 2 1/3 year existence came
from male investors (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 1/24).
