Montana Semi-Pro basketball

[SonomaCat]

Over the years, I've been wondering if a MT semi-pro basketball league might have some legs. I know the CBA teams always crash and burn, but I'm thinking if a league started that was fielded exclusively with local "former high school studs" from the area, it might be something that could work.

Here are my rough draft thoughts:

1. Field teams that play games in non-school facilities (so you can serve beer).
2. Designate geographic areas for each team, and every player from that team MUST be a high school graduate from that area. In this way, it leverages the high school loyalties and fanbases to follow the semi-pro team. You could designate Great Falls as one area, Gallatin Valley as another area, central Montana (Fergus/Judith Basin/Petroleum Counties) as another area, etc. Essentially, you would want the areas large enough to field a good team, but small enough to keep some local enthusiasm.
3. Have sponsors from each area pay for uniforms and player stipends (modest) and travel expenses.
4. Pay bonuses to the winning team.
5. Really jazz up the gameday atmosphere to cheesy excess (think minor league hockey) to make it fun (credibility isn't really the primary emphasis).
6. Have the season after high school basketball season, which is kind of a dead time for spectator sports.
7. Get as many reservation teams as possible ... that would pack the stands and make some great games to watch.
8. Play two games per week, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Host team would provide lodging.
9. Charge modest ticket prices with lots of promotions.
10. Have tournament at the end for all the marbles (and cash bonuses).

[SonomaCat]

so those are my thoughts ... let's see what other ideas we can come up with to improve on this idea. We can call this a brainstorming session.

[Old Skool Cat]

I remember watching the Billings Volcanoes growing up. An old CBA franchise that had moved to Billings from Hawaii. Those were some damn good games to watch and a lot of fun. I miss having professional basketball in the state. I think you're idea would be a great one if you could get it off the ground. Just don't how much success monetarily any of the teams could have, which ultimately is the undoing of CBA teams or any of the other minor league or semi-pro teams.

[Grizlaw]

I generally like the idea. I do have to offer up one minor legal comment, though:

2. Designate geographic areas for each team, and every player from that team MUST be a high school graduate from that area. In this way, it leverages the high school loyalties and fanbases to follow the semi-pro team. You could designate Great Falls as one area, Gallatin Valley as another area, central Montana (Fergus/Judith Basin/Petroleum Counties) as another area, etc. Essentially, you would want the areas large enough to field a good team, but small enough to keep some local enthusiasm.

If the league or its teams receive any form of state/county/city support, there may be some risk that prohibiting players from outside certain geographic areas from participating would violate the due process or equal protection clauses of the Constitution. Where I could see this being an issue would be in finding facilities where the teams could play: you said you aren't going to use schools (and for a very good reason ), but if you use any publicly-owned facility (or privately-owned facility that was built using any public funds), then you probably create some risk that the league is a "state actor" and is subject to Constitutional constraints (with the degree of such risk being tied to the level of state support received).

So the question is -- are there enough towns in Montana that have purely privately-owned, privately-funded basketball facilities where teams could play?

[SonomaCat]

Hmmmm .... I guess we will need an attorney on retainer who would work cheap to defend the MBL (Montana Basketball League) against any pesky player that threw the Constitution in our faces. You in?

How do major leagues get away with their draft and other rules that limit who can play for each team, especially those that play in publicly funded stadiums/arenas? Have they received exemptions, or is this just an unlitigated area?

I suppose the MBL could always make an exception for a couple players on each team (people who moved to the area and want to play), but having a majority of the team with high school nexus to the area would seem to be a crucial aspect that might overcome the issues the CBA always ran into. That, and the players would be paid even less than the CBA paid. They would all have to have full time jobs during the week and would just play games on weekends.

Another problem, of course, would be to find enough non-school gyms large enough (but not too large) to host games of this kind. I know there are facililities in Billings (Shrine), Great Falls, (Civic Center?), Lewistown (Civic Center) and other places, but would there be enough in the smaller communities to go around?

[SonomaCat]

So the question is -- are there enough towns in Montana that have purely privately-owned, privately-funded basketball facilities where teams could play?

Outside of Mormon churches, I can't think of any. Although the beer sales thing might suffer in those venues.

[Grizlaw]

How do major leagues get away with their draft and other rules that limit who can play for each team, especially those that play in publicly funded stadiums/arenas? Have they received exemptions, or is this just an unlitigated area?

I think the key difference is that in our hypothetical, we'd be completely excluding entire groups of people from having any chance to participate based on a completely arbitrary factor. In major professional sports leagues, there is a process by which players are chosen (such as the draft, etc.), and all athletes have an equal chance to participate in that process (thus, it's not discriminatory...other than based on talent, which is perfectly permissible).

I'm not saying we'd definitely lose this case, by the way...these types of cases are always a bit fuzzy, and there are arguments we could make. We could argue that the league is a private entity (and that the use of publicly-funded athetic facilities doesn't change that), and we could argue that we have a rational basis for excluding non-locals from playing, and that our right to operate our club in the way we see fit should trump the right of non-local athletes to have a chance to participate. I'm not sure how the case would come out; it's just an issue that jumped out at me when I read it.

[BDizzle]

Isn't this called city league?

[John K]

I remember watching the Billings Volcanoes growing up. An old CBA franchise that had moved to Billings from Hawaii. Those were some damn good games to watch and a lot of fun. I miss having professional basketball in the state. I think you're idea would be a great one if you could get it off the ground. Just don't how much success monetarily any of the teams could have, which ultimately is the undoing of CBA teams or any of the other minor league or semi-pro teams.

I went to a few Montana Golden Nuggets games in Great Falls, when they were coached by George Karl. They went to the CBA finals two of the three years of their existence, and averaged about 2,000 fans per game if I remember correctly. I actually did my Marketing 460 Case Study on the GF franchise, during my final quarter at MSU (yes, I am that old), and met with the owner of the team as part of my research. Many of the same issues that plagued minor-league basketball in Montana back then, are the same ones that still present major challenges today.

I just don't know if BAC's concept would be viable financially or not, but I love the idea.

[SonomaCat]

Who'd have ever thought that we'd find a real world example to illustrate Grizlaw's legal theory?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ste ... 5664&tsp=1