Summer Pro Basketball League Probably Moving to UC Irvine

The Southern California Summer Pro Basketball League, a South Bay staple for more than a decade, is likely to move to UC Irvine’s Bren Center this summer.

Officials familiar with negotiations to bring the 23-year-old league to Irvine say the deal is nearly completed.

“We’re anxiously awaiting final confirmation,” said Steve Neal, director of events for 5,000-seat, air-conditioned Bren Center.

Larry Creger, a former president of the league who is now its consultant and director of player personnel, said it is very likely the league’s games will be in Irvine, but added, “you can’t say until the contract’s signed.”

Loyola Marymount’s Gersten Pavilion--which is not air-conditioned--was the league’s home for seven years until 1992, when games were moved to Redondo and Inglewood highs after Loyola declined to host the league. The league first came to the South Bay in the early 1980s, with Cal State Dominguez Hills as its venue.

The Loyola facility was in the running this year, but league officials instead focused on Irvine.

“It came out that the NBA people liked the idea,” Creger said. “These days people are a little cautious about the inner city, not just because of (the Rodney G. King civil rights) trial or the riots last spring. We had a couple of little earthquakes and a lot of people are getting shot on the streets. L.A. doesn’t have the reputation it once had.”

Although a number of NBA teams, including the Lakers and Clippers, sponsor teams in the league, perhaps as many as 80% of the players are free agents. Many of them are hoping for an opportunity to make an NBA team after playing in Europe or in the Continental Basketball Assn. Many established players with local ties have played in the past, including the Lakers’ Byron Scott, the Clippers’ Danny Manning, the Indiana Pacers’ Pooh Richardson and the Phoenix Suns’ Cedric Ceballos.

The league was also the vehicle for David Robinson’s first participation with the San Antonio Spurs after two years in the Navy. And in 1979, when the league called Cal State Los Angeles home, a Laker rookie named Earvin (Magic) Johnson played in a game.