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ABL Demise: What really caused it?

© Colleen Bittner

Many suspicions have aroused in the wake of the demise of the American Basketball League. Blame has fallen on the owners of the league, the media, the fans, and the NBA.

On December 22, 1998, the American Basketball League filed for bankruptcy, suspending all operations. Stunned coaches and general managers were left frantically trying to contact players who were out of town for the holidays. A few players who were unreachable found out through relatives or from the evening news.

Gary Cavelli, Steve Hamms, and Anne Cribbs have been the subject of a lot of criticism. The league co-founders have been accused of not having the knowledge to run an entire league, and they should have turned the operation over to somebody with more know-how. It is believed that the ABL paid their players too much, salaries reaching up to $150,000. Although mere change for NBA players, the ABL was too small of a business to be giving that much money to its players. The saved amount could possibly bought the league a little more time, or better marketing.

Marketing was a major point of criticism aimed toward the front office. In the second season the ABL filmed a series of commercials, but only ran them on Fox Sports Net, and mostly during ABL games, thus reaching a limited audience. Aside from that, each team was left to do most of their own marketing. The Seattle Reign was the only individual franchise to ever make any commercials of their own. Fan clubs were not started, and unless you had the Internet, it was virtually impossible to learn much about the league and it's teams.

The players did their part, going out into the community, signing every autograph, working with the youth. They ran free clinics, and appeared at charity events. The players of the Seattle Reign decided that their teams marketing budget wasn't enough. Chris Andrews related an experience she had one day. The players called her into the locker room before a game one day, and asked her if they could each give a portion of their paychecks to her to enhance the marketing budget.

The NBA is the other major recipient of the blame. They are being accused of trying to monopolize basketball in America. Shortly after the ABL was created, the WNBA announced its inaugural season. With the NBA funding and name, success was almost guaranteed. NBA dollars went into extensive marketing campaigns, and stars rose within the league. Television contracts were negotiated, something the ABL couldn't accomplish effectively. Large crowds were drawn, despite summer play and the funny-looking ball. However, suspicions have been aroused that the NBA included no ABL clauses into media contracts. Richard Blumenthal, attorney general for the state of Connecticut, is wondering if the NBA included a clause into television contracts saying that the station could not show any ABL games, or they would lose WNBA and NBA coverage on their station. Blumenthal has issued a subpoena to the NBA.

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