A CBA expansion team "is coming to" Gary, IN, according
to Phil Richards of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR, who writes, "The
CBA and Gary could be a happy marriage, a boon to a downtown
that needs one." Charles Bennett, a special assistant in
charge of expansion for CBA Owner Isiah Thomas said the
league is "shooting for opening" at the Genesis Center in
Gary in November 2000. Thomas "required" ten local
investors to invest a total of $750,000. Thomas also
"wanted" 3,500 season-ticket commitments and $500,000 in
annual "sponsorship pledges." Gary business exec Jewell
Harris, who leads I.T.-Gary LLC, the team's local investment
group: "We had 16 [owners] who wanted to be a part of it.
We had to turn away six." Harris noted Gary's past problems
and "urban blight" in the '80s: "We know we have to make it
[the arena] safe. Nobody has to worry about coming to a
basketball game and getting shot, getting robbed." But
Richards asks, "Still, why Gary?" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 1/27).
SHOWING SOME PRIDE: In Hartford, Tom Yantz wrote that
"it hasn't taken long" for CBA Pride interim GM Mike Barham
"to determine that the state of the franchise is not good."
Without a "substantial boost" in ticket sales and corporate
support in the next few months, the CBA "could say goodbye
to" the team. Barham added that the league is "projecting"
a $250,000 deficit for last year's champion Pride this
season. Barham: "We need to get corporations to pump money
into the program. We can't afford aggressive advertising or
[to] have games on radio or TV" (HARTFORD COURANT, 1/26).
