Sport Basketball Countries United States Founder Joe Newman Motto "More than just a game" | No. of teams 84 Continent North America Date founded 1999 Number of teams 84 | |
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Most recent
champion(s) Jacksonville Giants (2015–16) Most titles Shreveport-Bossier Mavericks (4) Teams Chicago Steam, Jersey Express, Georgia Gwizzlies, Kentucky Mavericks, Seattle Mountaineers | ||
The American Basketball Association (ABA) is an American semi-professional men's basketball "minor" league that was founded in 1999. The current ABA bears no relation to the original American Basketball Association that was considered a "major league" and partially merged with the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1976.
Contents
History
The current ABA was started up by Joe Newman and Richard Tinkham. Tinkham was an executive with the Indiana Pacers when they were in the original ABA. They licensed the ABA name from the NBA.
2000–2003
The league began play in 2000 with eight teams. During its initial years of operation, the league focused mainly on teams in larger cities. To attract fans, the ABA encouraged its members to fill rosters with former NBA players and past college basketball stars with local ties.
In 2002-03, the league suspended operations for reorganization. The league resumed play for the 2003-2004 season, but its focus had changed from a few teams in large cities to numerous teams in both large and medium-sized cities. Franchise fees were lowered from $50,000 to $10,000 and the bond requirement was removed in order to attract new teams. The subsequent reduction in operating costs allowed the formation of several teams that might otherwise not be possible. However, it also resulted in some under-financed ownership groups. Since 2004, several new teams have failed to complete even their inaugural season due to financial insolvency.
Additionally, teams were organized into regional groups to facilitate interest and reduce travel costs for the 2003-2004 season.
2004–2006
The 2004–05 season was the first under this new format, with 37 teams playing that season. Subsequent seasons brought drastic expansion, with some teams proving successful in their early years and others that did not complete their initial seasons. At times, the ABA had 50+ teams playing in a season. Some of the more successful expansion franchises during this era included the Arkansas RimRockers in 2004 and the Rochester Razorsharks in 2005, with each winning the ABA title during the team's first season in the league.
2006–2007
The 2006–07 season saw the cost for a new expansion franchise raised to $20,000, but many still sold for 10,000 - 5,000 or less. In some cases, teams were sold for as little as $1. One notable 2006–07 expansion franchise was the Vermont Frost Heaves, owned by Sports Illustrated writer Alexander Wolff. Also in 2006-07, former NBA player John Salley was named league commissioner, and Maryland Nighthawks owner Tom Doyle was named chief operating officer.
Following the league's first public offering in 2006, it was reported that Joe Newman was voted out of his position as league CEO. The league's required Securities and Exchange Commission filings in February 2007 indicated that the ABA Board of Directors removed Newman as CEO on January 31, 2007. The filings further stated that Newman's actions as CEO would be reviewed to ensure that they were performed with the board's permission. The same filing also claimed that Newman and other shareholders plotted to remove Tom Doyle, John Salley, and David Howitt from the board and to elect Paul Riley as its Director. Newman denied his removal ever occurred, and continued as acting CEO. The lawsuits were settled in March 2007 with Doyle's and Salley's resignations from the league's Board of Directors.
The 2006–07 season saw many franchises fail to travel to road games or to play a full schedule. When weather-related issues did not allow defending champion Rochester Razorsharks to travel for a playoff game against the Wilmington Sea Dawgs, the league attempted to force Rochester to forfeit rather than reschedule. Instead, Rochester chose to withdraw from the league. These several incidents caused some league owners to perceive instability within the league. These frustrated owners separated from the ABA to form the Premier Basketball League (PBL) in late 2007.
2007–2009
Nearly twenty teams folded within the first five weeks of the 2007–08 season, and several remaining teams left the ABA to join other existing leagues. According to Our Sports Central, approximately 35% of the games scheduled for the season were actually played. The teams that played the highest percentage of games were Vermont, the Manchester (NH) Millrats, and the Quebec Kebs. At the conclusion of the season, all three of these teams left to join the PBL.
Another unique franchise for the 2008–09 season was the Beijing Aoshen Olympians, which had previously been kicked out of the Chinese Basketball League and played only home games in the ABA. All Olympians' games were played in Singapore. The Beijing franchise paid $3000 and all team flight accommodations to Singapore for each 2-game home-stand.
Following the 2007-2008 season, the league's most successful franchise by attendance, the Halifax Rainmen, left the ABA. Halifax ownership cited growing frustration with teams that did not show for scheduled games, as well as a biased ranking system. Sports media began to openly criticize the league and question its ability to be taken seriously.
The 2008–09 season saw the league conduct interleague play with the Continental Basketball Association.
2009–2010
The 2009–10 season was scheduled to have over 50 teams. The season ended with several teams folding in early December, including the entire Northwest Division. The league cancelled several playoff games due to the inability of teams to afford travel. The playoffs ended with Southeast Texas Mustangs defeating the Kentucky Bisons in a three-game series.
On April 25, 2010, as part of their ABA Global Initiative, the league hosted the 2010 ABA Friendship Games, in which the Philippine National Basketball Team competed against several ABA teams.
2010–2011
The 2010–11 season was expected to field over 60 teams, including a new Canadian Division. In the summer of 2010, the league announced its first Haitian professional basketball team, the Haitian Relief. In total, the ABA planned to host over 800 games throughout the season.
However, the 2010-2011 campaign ended similar to previous seasons, with several teams folding either before or during the season. Instead of the promised 60 teams, the league fielded fewer than 50 full-time franchises that actually played games.
The 2011 ABA All-Star Game resulted in a 123-122 Eastern Conference win over the Western Conference in front of a crowd of 4,488 at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The playoffs started the following weekend, with the last four teams playing a double-elimination tournament at the home of the Southeast Texas Mavericks. The Mavericks who won their second ABA title two games to none over the Gulf Coast Flash.
Despite continued instability, the league announced plans to form the Women's American Basketball Association (WABA), unrelated to the original Women's American Basketball Association, which existed for one season in 2002. The new league's first squad was to be located in Greenville, North Carolina.
2012–2013
The league failed to launch the WABA in the 2011–12 season, and announced new plans to launch for the 2012-2013 season. The second attempted launch was pushed back to the 2013-2014 season with nine initial teams set to play: the Philly Love, New Jersey Express, New England Stormers, Hampton Roads Lightning, Lake City Kingdom Riderettes, Fayetteville Lady Cadets, Columbus Lady Road Runners, McAllen Queens and Chicago Lady Steam. As of April 2015 the WABA has yet to report any game results.
2015–2016
March 23, 2015 the ABA announced the launch of a new Media & Entertainment Division to be headed by hip hop mogul & ABA team owner Antjuan "Tjuan Benafactor" Washington.
On June 22, 2015, the ABA announced a multi-year partnership with Sports Radio America. "The ABA on SRA Game of the Week" will showcase some of the best matchups in the ABA.
October 9, 2015, the ABA announced online live streaming partnerships with both LiveSportsCaster and WatchIDSN, two independent live sports streaming platforms based in Louisville, Kentucky and Chicago, Illinois, respectively.
On April 9, 2016, the Jacksonville Giants won the ABA championship, their third, with a 93-90 win over the Windy City Groove. They had previously defeated the Groove 92-80 on April 8, 2016 to take the best-of-three series in straight games.
2016-2017
On February 10, 2017, the Hawaii Swish, owned by Geremy Robinson and a member of the Far West Division, debuts at Neal Blaisdell Arena with a game against the Yuba City Goldminers.
Defunct teams
The ABA method of handing franchises to anybody who is willing to pay the ABA franchise fee, with no consideration to whether the franchisee can afford to operate the team or not, resulted in over 200 folded franchises as of the beginning of the 2008 season. As of summer 2014, the number was over 350.
All-Star Game results
Player of the Year
Coach of the Year
Executive of the Year
MVP - Championship Game
MVP - All-Star Game
Community Service
Anti-bully program
Former CEO Joe Newman started Bully-Free ABA! after his grandchildren became victims of bullying. The program features players visiting schools to share stories about their own experiences with bullying and how such issues can be solved.
Team coaches are involved as well, in 2012, Kitsap Admirals coach Chris Koebelin was an active leader in the program. Koebelin mentioned to the students during his visits that he was bullied as a child. Following the visits, time is usually allowed for the students to interact with the team on the court.