Minor League Basketball - Great Basketball Without The Expense (Part 1)
The people at OwnMyTeam feel as a group that we are pretty smart (most of the time anyhow). I get emails all the time asking if we are going to purchase our own NBA franchise. We are smart enough to know that the likelihood of raising hundreds of millions of dollars for a expansion franchise wasn’t going to happen. Remember, our core dream isn’t really about the NBA (I’m not saying being a NBA general manager wouldn’t be exciting), our core dream is about owning and managing a real life team from day to day. A minor league basketball league will fit the bill perfectly for us at this time. There are some very big advantages of starting with a minor league franchise and moving from there.
- Our Costs - As far as our business model is concerned, going with a minor league franchise enables us to get started sooner and with less members so that everyone can feel the immediate impact of steering the ship.
- Smaller number of members - With membership only having to be around 7,000, its far less than an estimated 700,000 that may be needed to run a complete season for a NBA franchise. With roughly 7,000 members broken down into specialty groups such as marketing, advertising, coaching, players, and more its easy to see how being part of something smaller can reap immediate personal benefits. Bottom line is your vote means more!
- Small Town vs City - You will get to know all your fellow owners in the forums, get to know their personality, things about them and such. In a large city, most may not even know the guy that lives next to them. I feel the same can be had here at ownmyteam. Over the course of discussions, voting and growing together in the forums, you will get to know your fellow owners. Who are the leaders, who is better suited for this job and that job, who is more knowledgeable with players, locations, vans, pricing ?
Speaking of focus, I’ve received emails from members and potential members about what exactly will the owners get to vote on. I always try to convey to each and every one of them that we together will vote on most everything. A few examples could be:
- Team Location - Together we will have to search, research and discuss various locations for our basketball franchise.
- Team Name - What fun this could turn out to be.
- Team Logo - The odds are great that there will be multiple people on our team that have experience with graphical design. I can for see contests, voting, discussion on what our team logo should look like.
- Playing Venues - Most minor league basketball teams do not play in big coliseums and arenas like their NBA brothers. There may be several places to choose from, and we will have to discuss arrangements and costs with the owners of those buildings as well as city council members and what not in order to find the correct fit for ownmyteam.
- Hiring & firing of coaches - Soon after we get started we will have to find a head coach, the interview process will be completely transparent to the members. I anticipate all candidates interviews will be recorded and shown for everyone to discuss and ultimately vote upon.
- Signing Of Players - Again its your basketball team so you will decide who we sign and for how much. We will have video of tryouts, agent videos and profiles for all of our players. Can you imagine the fun with these discussions in the forums when the time comes?
- Concessions - What will we serve, how much will it costs, vendor costs
- Ticket prices - How much for each section of the venue, season tickets, game packages
- Marketing - How will we market ourselves to our new city, public appearances, donations
- Sponsorships - We will need local, regional, and national business sponsorships to help us along
- Much Much More!
Now some of you may not know about any of the minor league basketball leagues here in the United States and abroad and I’m going to try and give you some detailed information of the pro’s and con’s of each of them over the next several days. I like to remind you all that more than the league itself, its the journey that should drive you, its the experience of what we are trying to do that makes you smile and what more, its the excitement of being apart of something you have dreamed about that should make you prideful. That’s why we are here, its not the NBA vs the Minors, its US vs the other owners of our league competing against each other to WIN BASKETBALL GAMES!
Its no secret that Minor league basketball in the United States is a large drop-off from the National Basketball Association. You don’t always seem them on TNT and ESPN, but I’m here to tell you that there are plenty of talented basketball players in minor leagues across this country. The majority of good players in the better minor basketball leagues enjoy successful overseas careers, and a handful each and every season manage to grab their way onto an NBA team, at least for a 10-day contract, if not for the season. And of course there have been plenty of minor league basketball superstars who worked hard to gain the key to an NBA contract and have never looked back. Just imagine if one of those players was on our team, you watched him practice and get better each week, you got to know him personally in the forums and eventually you watch him leave to the NBA. That would be a great story to tell your grand kids someday!
Ill continue this discussion tomorrow and get into more detail about each of the basketball leagues here in this country.
CWarman
OwnMyTeam.com
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