ABA in Omaha

[Finn]

From OWH:

Businessman hopes to bring semi-pro basketball team to Omaha

BY ROB WHITE
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

A new potential owner is looking to plant a minor league basketball team in Omaha, which is a surprise to another aspiring owner.

Omaha businessman Michael Jefferson plans to bring an American Basketball Association team to Omaha for the 2005-06 season, which begins in November. Rich Tokheim, another local businessman, believed he had the rights to the Omaha market, but the ABA says he does not.

"He wanted to be in the ABA, and we would have loved to have Rich in the ABA," ABA Chairman Joe Newman said. "But he will not be. Maybe he knows something I don't, but he has disappeared off my radar screen."

Tokheim said he paid a $10,000 market reservation fee more than a year ago. Newman said he had no record of that.

Tokheim was unhappy to hear the ABA had someone else in mind for the Omaha franchise.

"If they think they have somebody else," he said, "then they are looking at a lawsuit."

Jefferson, the ABA's choice to operate the team, faces another potential roadblock: He has not secured an arena.

That was the problem for Tokheim, who couldn't find an affordable rental fee at Civic Auditorium.

The ABA had 31 teams last season, which concluded on Saturday. It wasn't a smooth season.

Some teams played as few as 12 games. Others played as many as 33. The Arkansas RimRockers, with several former University of Arkansas stars on the roster, won the league championship before 14,989 at Alltel Arena. But another team, the Utah SnowBears, elected not to play in the semifinals despite a 25-1 record.

"We had a lot of problems, which I knew we would because we expanded very quickly," Newman said. "But we needed to create something to be bigger than the USBL or the CBA. We had six or eight teams that were not able to function effectively, but we have new safeguards to prevent that from happening again. Things are set up now so that we can be as great as we thought we could be."

The ABA plans to have 70 teams next season, playing 36-game schedules and in 10-team divisions. Teams have a $120,000 salary cap.

"Our business model is the best there's ever been," Newman said. "We keep our thumb on ticket prices so that we can have a high-caliber product at an affordable price. In a world of Ruth's Chris Steakhouses, we want to be McDonald's - with a good product, at good prices, with good service."

The ABA is not to be confused with two other minor leagues with Nebraska connections - the All-American Professional Basketball League and the United States Basketball League. The Lincoln Generals are scheduled to play in the new AAPBL in November. The new Nebraska Cranes, based in Kearney, open their USBL season in April.

Jefferson has not paid the ABA's market reservation fee, now $20,000.

"But he says he is going to do it," Newman said. "He just received the market reservation papers and he is working diligently to do the things he needs to do."

[DTO Luv]

First of all. I don't like McDonalds. Second I don't think this will do well. If it's just out of college players on the team I think people would be more likely to go see the guys still in college at the Qwest Center.

[OmahaRules]

70 teams? That's alot!