The Collegiate Professional Basketball League aims to launch next year. The brainchild of Paul McMann, a Babson College lecturer in Lexington, Mass, the CPBL hopes to take advantage of what some view as NCAA hypocrisy.F

1. Entrepreneurs Aim to Elbow NCAA With New
Leagues
By Rodney Ho . Wall Street Journal , Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]18 Aug 1998: B1.
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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT)
The Collegiate Professional Basketball League aims to launch next year. The brainchild of Paul McMann, a Babson
College lecturer in Lexington, Mass, the CPBL hopes to take advantage of what some view as NCAA hypocrisy.
NCAA schools make millions from such things as TV rights and sports merchandise, while their players get none of
that money. And while the NCAA also sets minimum academic requirements for athletes, only 44% of male
basketball players in Division 1 schools graduate.
The CPBL plans a network of corporate-sponsored teams made up of players up to 22 years old. Team members
would earn as much as $17,000 a season, plus room and board. In its business plan, the CPBL states that players
will be "self-supporting throughout their League career without the need or temptation to accept money or gifts
'under the table.'" A number of NCAA teams have run afoul of the association's rules in recent years because their
players have received improper benefits.
FULL TEXT
The NCAA, which for decades has locked up the hoop dreams of high-school players, may soon be getting
competition from the business world.
Entrepreneurs are hoping to cash in on the lucrative college sport by recruiting rising stars to play on private
teams. To do that, they are embracing a strategy that is expressly barred by the National Collegiate Athletic
Association -- paying their players.
The Collegiate Professional Basketball League aims to launch next year. The brainchild of Paul McMann, a Babson
College lecturer in Lexington, Mass, the CPBL hopes to take advantage of what some view as NCAA hypocrisy.
NCAA schools make millions from such things as TV rights and sports merchandise, while their players get none of
that money. And while the NCAA also sets minimum academic requirements for athletes, only 44% of male
basketball players in Division 1 schools graduate.
The CPBL plans a network of corporate-sponsored teams made up of players up to 22 years old. Team members
would earn as much as $17,000 a season, plus room and board. In its business plan, the CPBL states that players
will be "self-supporting throughout their League career without the need or temptation to accept money or gifts
'under the table.'" A number of NCAA teams have run afoul of the association's rules in recent years because their
players have received improper benefits.
For recruits, the proposed league will target high-school kids who might lack the grades to meet the NCAA's grade-
point requirements. Besides prepping kids for careers in the National Basketball Association, the CPBL claims it
will offer scholastic lightweights an academic boost.
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2. "We want to give these kids a positive incentive to stay in school," says Mr. McMann, who is 40 and teaches
accounting to graduate students at Babson. That means providing players $20,000 a year in scholarship money in
addition to pay. The scholarship could be used for as long as four years after leaving the league.
Wally Renfro, an NCAA spokesman, says a committee is looking at its rules prohibiting college athletes from
earning money "and trying to determine whether they do in fact make sense." One issue being looked at, he says, is
"how might a student athlete participate in marketing of their own name and number." And on Aug. 1 the NCAA
began allowing students to earn as much as $2,000 during the school year.
At least two other nascent leagues are also angling for a piece of the NCAA's market. The International Basketball
League of Pittsburgh is a franchise operation seeking both college-age and older players to play on eight teams,
which it says will be ready for tip-off in November 1999. Vice President Paul Martha, a former general counsel to
the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Francisco 49ers, says the league has raised "several million dollars" through
private sources.
Bruce Stern, an attorney organizing the National Rookie League in Washington, D.C., says he hopes to have six
teams ready for play by next summer.
Some students may find the new leagues attractive for reasons other than money. The NCAA has tightened its
academic eligibility rules in recent years, excluding some athletes from play.
"The NCAA is getting antiquated and too restrictive and omnipresent as far as amateur sports is concerned," says
Dean Bonham, a sports-marketing consultant in Denver. "They are opening the door for programs and leagues to
compete with them."
He likes the CPBL's concept: "Why is it wrong for an 18-year-old kid who is economically disadvantaged, who has
some incredible God-given talent, to make money while getting an education? What these leagues have in their
favor is a more progressive thinking about how we should deal with our youth who are infatuated with being
professional athletes."
Mr. Renfro, the NCAA spokesman, says the association is reviewing its rules for athletes' academic eligibility. He
says the alternative leagues "are filling a niche for a certain type of athlete," but he fears that some who go this
route will not focus on college.
Duane King, a 6-foot-4 star forward and incoming senior at Pleasure Ridge Park High School in Louisville, Ky., says
he is attracted to the pay and the ability to attend any school he is qualified for, rather than just those which offer
scholarships. He does have one concern: He hopes the new league will "be competitive and better than the NCAA."
Mr. McMann and his rivals face a big challenge turning a profit. History is littered with the detritus of dead and
stillborn basketball leagues. Two long-term survivors are the Continental Basketball Association and the United
States Basketball League. Neither recruits NCAA-eligible athletes, instead focusing on those who fail NBA tryouts
and are no longer qualified for the NCAA.
Despite being the NBA's official developmental winter basketball league, the CBA has struggled for years, playing
in cities such as Sioux Falls, S.D., and Boise, Idaho. It is down to nine teams from 16 as recently as 1995.
The USBL, a summer league, has had better luck, eking out its first profit this year after 13 years and $10 million in
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3. losses. The 12-team league also targets small cities, but saves travel costs by staying only on the East Coast.
USBL owner Daniel Meisenheimer III says he still battles for TV air time and sponsors, with average game
attendance of 800, far below what the start-ups want.
Mr. McMann says his league would aggressively buy TV air time and market itself better than the USBL via its
corporate sponsors. "People will see us and recognize us," he promises. He hopes to have an eight-team league
running next year in major cities, including Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia.
The CPBL is hunting for $18 million in start-up private capital for its first two years, using venture firm Josephburg
Grosz &Co. of New York. Mr. McMann is also fishing for sponsors. At Adidas's recruitment camp for high-school
basketball players on the Fairleigh Dickinson University campus in Teaneck, N.J., last month, Mr. McMann flagged
executive director Sonny Vaccaro, seeking his support.
"I'd love to have Adidas aboard" as a sponsor, says Mr. McMann, a persistent man who called Mr. Vaccaro 20 times
prior to the meeting. A team could be literally named after Adidas for $400,000 a year, providing "affordable family
entertainment" at $10 or less a ticket, he says.
But Mr. Vaccaro, also a director of sports marketing for Adidas America, isn't biting. He appreciates Mr. McMann's
gumption but says there wouldn't be enough eyeballs on those Adidas jerseys to make it worth the sneaker
company's investment.
"Look, I'm not trying to beat you up," Mr. Vaccaro tells Mr. McMann, "but all you are going to be is filler on TV.
You're thinking Pollyanna stuff here."
Mr. McMann has crisscrossed the country pitching his idea to more than 80 potential sponsors, including NCAA
sponsors such as American Express and Pepsi, as well as their rivals. "I just need that first big sponsor," he says.
Credit: Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
DETAILS
Subject: Entrepreneurs; Athletic recruitment; Corporate sponsorship; Professional basketball
People: McMann, Paul
Company: Collegiate Professional Basketball League National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA
Publication title: Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.
Pages: B1
Number of pages: 0
Publication year: 1998
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Publication date: Aug 18, 1998
Section: Enterprise
Publisher: Dow Jones &Company Inc
Place of publication: New York, N.Y.
Country of publication: United States, New York, N.Y.
Publication subject: Business And Economics--Banking And Finance
ISSN: 00999660
Source type: Newspapers
Language of publication: English
Document type: News
Accession number: 05166074
ProQuest document ID: 398863373
Document URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/398863373?accountid=11979
Copyright: Copyright Dow Jones &Company Inc Aug 18, 1998
Last updated: 2017-11-02
Database: Business Premium Collection
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