Dallas-based Streetball Int'l "is trying to get its
game back in top form after a few years in which it lost the
zip on a once fast-breaking business," according to Richard
Alm of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS, who noted that Streetball
Int'l President Tad Brown took over in January "with a
mandate to restore" the company to its "rapid growth
pattern." Brown noted that the "growth" of the company
"began to fade" over the past 18 months: "We got a little
flat. We were used to exponential growth for a few years.
We're trying to get back to that." Alm wrote that in the
past few years, plans to take Streetball Int'l and Host
Communications public "went awry, as did a planned sale" to
Rangers/Stars Owner Tom Hicks. Instead, Streetball and Host
"cast their lot" with GA-based Bull Run Corp., and
Streetball Int'l became a subsidiary of Host. Alm: "The two
will drop the Universal Sports America name July 1." Brown
said that "now that the corporate quake is over," Streetball
Int'l "will return Hoop It Up to its roots." Streetball
Int'l's flag-football property, now "divorced" from the NFL
sponsorship and renamed Let It Fly, will work with Host
Sports on marketing campaigns for NCAA football. For
Streetball Int'l, Brown said that he "sees opportunities for
growth" in the int'l business, with a "heavy emphasis" on
the partnership with the NBA; customized corporate
platforms, which "tailor events to sponsors' needs"; and
"emerging" markets (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/24).
