A month after the American Basketball League declared bankruptcy, league officials say they're receiving inquiries from would-be buyers, pondering legal steps and trying to assist the league's 90 players in landing overseas jobs.
ABL co-founder and CEO Gary Cavalli said three investors have expressed interest in buying the women's league, which shut its doors Dec. 22. He wouldn't identify them and admitted: "I think that only one of the three is serious. But I think it's a long shot, and that chances of it all happening are very slim."
Perhaps more likely is an antitrust action.
ABL attorney Michael Lubic said the league planned such a suit, but he wouldn't identify the target. Another ABL lawyer, Rich Nichols, conceded that such a suit was possible to try to produce revenue for the league, which, when it folded, claimed assets of $500,000 and debts of more than $10 million.
The likely target of such a suit would be the NBA, owner of the archrival WNBA, which is already under investigation by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Blumenthal has subpoenaed NBA documents that he believes will show that the NBA used its economic muscle to block ABL access to network television contracts and to national sponsors.
"There's evidence that the NBA used sharp economic elbows to exclude the ABL, a well-positioned competitor, from fair play," Blumenthal said in his subpoena.
The subpoena seeks information on conditions or restrictions that may have been imposed by the NBA in relation to the ABL on sponsors, television networks or manufacturers.
The NBA must respond by Feb. 3.
Some observers believe Blumenthal hit the bull's-eye when he cited the NBA's clout as a key reason why the ABL failed. From the outset, the NBA spent $15 million annually to market the WNBA. The ABL, by contrast, spent $1.5 million during its first year of operation. That marketing allocation was increased to $3 million last season and was projected at $5 million for this aborted season.
The difference in television exposure was even more noticeable. Last summer, 41 WNBA games were televised on NBC, ESPN and Lifetime, and most were aired nationally. By comparison, 17 ABL games were scheduled to be televised this season, including five on Fox Sports Net and two on CBS. And only the two championship series games by CBS were to be televised nationwide.
Largely because of the NBA's marketing expertise and expenditures, plus the fact that it was the only pro basketball being played during the summer, the WNBA averaged 10,869 spectators per game last summer, a 23 percent increase over the 1996-97 season. Playing in NBA arenas, which WNBA teams are obliged to do, also helped.
By contrast, the ABL averaged 4,333. But even at that, the ABL's New England Blizzard outdrew every WNBA team except those in New York and Phoenix.
That has led some top Connecticut officials, including Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell, to ask the NBA and WNBA to consider establishing a franchise in Hartford.
More likely to happen would be a Boston-based WNBA team playing some of its games in Hartford.
The ABL's shutdown left 90 players from nine teams out of work, and, as of last week, still unable to play overseas. Since the players are still regarded as assets of the ABL, they have been unable to get letters of clearance from USA Basketball, the governing body of the sport. A bankruptcy court judge could free the players from their contracts as early as Wednesday.
"We want to free our players so that they can play elsewhere, and we expect that the judge will approve our motion," said Cavalli.
In the ABL, unlike the WNBA, players are paid by the league. But no one has received a check since November. And the league's medical insurance coverage ran out last Saturday. Players in the ABL averaged about $80,000 for a 44-game season, about double that of their WNBA counterparts who play only 32 games but who, in many cases, make much more playing during the fall and winter in Europe.
The ABL also has a list of about 1,000 creditors guaranteed to lose money.
The biggest loser, apparently, will be Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance Co. of Hartford, the league's biggest investor and guarantor of a $6 million loan to the ABL by Boston-based Fleet Bank. In addition, Phoenix paid $3 million for 20 percent of the league and at least another $1.5 million for operating rights to the New England Blizzard.
Jack Cavanaugh writes for The New York Times.
