Newly Established Basketball Club Hamburg Towers To Start Operations In '14

Newly established basketball club Hamburg Towers "will start its operations with the upcoming season," according to the SID. The club said in a statement, "We'll definitely get started in 2014." If the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) issues a wild card for this year, the Towers "will apply for it." Otherwise, the club "would have to try its luck in the second division, ProA." BBL CEO Jan Pommer "has given the team little hope for a wild card." He said, "A wild card isn't lying around. We can but don't have to issue one." The Towers "would likely have to compete against a relegated BBL team with a lot of history for a wild card." Pommer said that in such a case the team's "chances are not overwhelmingly high." He said, "You shouldn't count on it" (SID, 2/27).