Women Begin Chasing a Dream Tonight
Seven members of the U.S. women’s basketball Dream Team begin trying to fashion another dream tonight with the debut of the first U.S. women’s pro basketball league in 15 years.
The eight-team American Basketball League begins its 40-game season with games in three cities tonight.
Four of the eight teams have sold between 1,000 and 2,000 season tickets, league officials say, and the key number is 3,000--the number of paid admissions per game that will allow the ABL to break even.
The league lineup: Western Conference--San Jose Lasers, Portland Power, Seattle Reign, Colorado Xplosion. Eastern Conference-- New England (Hartford/Springfield) Blizzard, Atlanta Glory, Richmond Rage, Columbus Quest.
Atlanta plays at San Jose, Seattle at Colorado and Richmond at New England tonight.
While the ABL signed seven U.S. Olympians, gold medalists in Atlanta, the three biggest names--Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes and Rebecca Lobo--are expected to sign with the NBA’s women’s league, the Women’s National Basketball Assn., to be launched next June.
The ABL is opening in small- to medium-size venues, to keep the rent down. San Jose, for example, will start out in the 4,600-seat Events Center at San Jose State, not the city’s 19,000-seat downtown arena.
An average-priced season ticket runs $240, or $12 per game. The league is paying $125,000 salaries to the Olympians, $70,000 is the mid-level salary, and the minimum is $40,000.
The league also owns all the franchises. Already, the league has its eye on a Southern California venue, the 5,000-seat Pyramid at Long Beach State.
The ABL began about 18 months ago when Palo Alto public relations business partners Gary Cavalli and Ann Cribbs teamed with ex-Silicon Valley computer executive Steve Hams and Atlanta businessman Bobby Johnson to form a women’s league.
They all have one thing in common: Basketball-playing daughters.
The market: Families with athletic daughters and senior citizens.
“One of the first things we did was go to a Central California high school girls’ tournament and pass out flyers, asking people interested in being on a preferred list for season tickets for a San Jose-area women’s pro team to call,” Cavalli said.
“We got 200 calls the next day. That’s when we knew we were on the right track.”
The ABL announced 13 months ago it had signed most of the women’s Olympians. Then the league assigned two “premier” players to each team, in an attempt to achieve balance.
A draft filled out the 10-player rosters.
The Richmond franchise, unable to sign Leslie, countered by signing Jackie Joyner-Kersee, a UCLA basketball standout before she was a three-time Olympic track and field gold medalist, and Brazilian Olympian Marta de Souza Sobral.
The league’s TV debut is Sunday, with Seattle playing at San Jose. As of late Thursday afternoon, it was a near-sellout.
The league’s broadcast partner is SportsChannel, which will carry 12 Sunday games, the Dec. 15 All-Star Game and the playoffs, beginning Feb. 23.
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ABL at a Glance
* Season: Begins tonight and ends with championship series in late February.
* Number of games: 40 for each team.
* Teams: Atlanta Glory, Colorado Xplosion, Columbus (Ohio) Quest, New England Blizzard, Portland (Ore.) Power, Richmond (Va.) Rage, San Jose Lasers and Seattle Reign.
* Rosters: 10 players on each team.
* Olympic team players: Carla McGhee, Teresa Edwards (Atlanta); Nikki McCray (Columbus); Dawn Staley, (Richmond); Katy Steding (Portland); Jennifer Azzi (San Jose); Venus Lacy (Seattle).
* TV: SportsChannel Regional Network will show 12 regular-season Sunday night games, the All-Star Game, two playoff games and the championship series.
* Game structure: Four 10-minute quarters; 25-second shot clock; 19-foot 9-inch three-point line.
* Ball: Standard men’s basketball.