The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

September 14, 1997

A new professional basketball league may be on the horizon, and its owners intend to compete with men's college teams for players.

Plans call for the Collegiate Professional Basketball League, made up of eight teams of players between the ages of 18 and 22, to offer players a $17,000 annual salary, a $5,000 signing bonus, and tuition money to the college of their choice for up to four years after leaving the league.

"We will recruit players just as colleges do, but offer better packages," said league founder Paul McMann. "The NCAA is our biggest competitor."

CPBL owners hope to begin play in 1999, and they have an unusual funding plan. To raise operating funds, the CPBL will act as a single-entity league, selling the teams' naming rights to corporate America.

Teams are tentatively planned in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia and Washington.

"We're also different than a traditional start-up because we will be buying (television) time locally and producing the game ourselves," McMann told Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal.

McMann, who's also an assistant accounting professor at Babson College, said a team's naming rights will cost $400,000 initially, then escalate to $1 million after two years.

McMann told SportsBusiness Journal in August that he was close to a deal with a major entertainment company. Another 30 corporations are targeted in the league's business plan.

Raising capital is one hurdle the new league must clear. Another challenge may be simply interesting fans and television viewers in yet another professional basketball league.

Industry analysts point out that the market is already crowded with the NBA, Continental Basketball Association, U.S. Basketball League and the National Rookie League--still in the planning stage--as well as the WNBA and the women's American Basketball League.

Could this league succeed?

"We take it with a grain of salt, but this could happen," said Craig McKenzie, general counsel and chairman of basketball operations at Parker & Associates, a sports representation firm.

"I also think that colleges will be forced to do more for the players by providing a stipend or an annuity," McKenzie said.

College football info to go

College football fans will be able to have schedules, statistics and profiles on all 112 Division I-A teams with Perelman's College Football Companion, a pocket-sized guidebook.

Inspired by the old NCAA official football guides, this book includes key statistics, records, jersey numbers and television schedules in its 634 pages.

Los Angeles sports statistician Rich Perelman, the official football scorer for University of California, Los Angeles, created the book.

"I wanted a handy reference for games I watch on television, and there just wasn't anything available since the NCAA changed its guide format in the early 1980s," Perelman said.

Perelman and his company gathered information from the schools this winter and spring, then compiled it into the first edition of what is planned to be an annual effort.

The book is $14.95, plus shipping. For more information, call 888/766-5308.

Fans get in free

Creighton University recently announced that, with the exception of selected "special" dates, it will no longer charge admission for baseball, women's basketball, women's soccer, softball or volleyball regular-season home dates.

Creighton athletics director Bruce Rasmussen sees the admission change as a way of expanding the athletics department's fan base while providing family entertainment.

"We are trying to appeal to families, and families are looking for quality entertainment options at a low cost," he said. "We view this as a very attractive community service at no cost."

An admission price of $5 for adults and $3 for youth will be charged during the "special dates," which include the December 6 women's basketball game against Nebraska and any 1999 baseball games scheduled for Rosenblatt Stadium.

--Compiled by Kay Hawes

Looking back

5 years ago: The first phase of the athletics certification program in Division I kicks off with orientation visits to the first of the involved institutions. The orientation is a one-day visit designed to address the purpose and format of the certification program, the institution's activities already conducted in preparation for the orientation visit, the self-study instrument, and preparations and projected dates for the evaluation visit. West Virginia University and the University of Wyoming will be the first institutions to receive orientation visits. Another 23 schools are scheduled to receive orientation visits in October and November. (The NCAA News, September 13, 1993)

10 years ago: A special committee that includes representatives of all NCAA membership divisions is appointed to conduct a study of the NCAA membership structure. The 15-member committee, which was authorized by the NCAA Council, will be chaired by Fred Jacoby, commissioner of the Southwest Athletic Conference. The committee's charge will be to study various concerns regarding the Association's current structure, including the desirability and feasibility of greater federation, the steady growth of Division I membership, multidivision classification and the concept of establishing a Division I-AAA classification in football. (The NCAA News, September 12, 1988)

15 years ago: The NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee grants permission to 18 conferences to conduct various playing-rules experiments for the 1983-84 season. Among the experimental rules are the implementation of a 45-second shot clock for the duration of a game, a 45-second clock that would be turned off during the final four minutes of a game, the establishment of a three-point line 19 feet, nine inches from the center of the basket, and the creation of a designated coaching box, in which coaches would be required to remain except when seeking specific information from the official scorers' table. The committee also asked conferences to experiment with a rear-boundary arc, a concept limiting the size of the front court to inhibit stalling tactics, but no conference submitted a request to experiment with that particular rule. (The NCAA News, September 12, 1983)