Red-white-and-blue ball is back.

• Author: Kaelble, Steve
• Position: Brief Article

Indiana entrepreneurs reviving the American Basketball Association.

The good ol' days of the American Basketball Association and its red-white-and-blue ball are revered across Indiana. Those were the glory days when the Pacers really dominated, taking three league championships under coach Bobby "Slick" Leonard. The glory ended after nine years, in 1976.

A group of Indianapolis-based entrepreneurs hopes to bring those memories back to life next year as they launch ABA 2000. "The No. 1 reason for the demise of the ABA is that there was no TV," says Clyde Smoll, the league's chief operating officer. "If your city didn't have a team, you didn't know much about the ABA. And revenue outside of local ticket sales and corporate sponsorships was nonexistent."

ABA 2000 is taking care of those problems. It already has a national TV contract with the Mizlou sports network, Smoll says, "and we're getting close to a second TV deal. We're also working on a national radio contract and a licensing contract, which the old ABA didn't have."

ABA 2000 organizers believe there is plenty of room for more major-league hoops action in this country. "Our research shows that there are 75 major-league markets out there, and the NBA is only in 29 of them," Smoll explains. There's no NBA team in New Orleans, or in Kansas City, or Jacksonville, or Las Vegas, or Pittsburgh. But there are plenty of people in these and other markets who would love to support a pro team, Smoll says. "We don't have any intention of competing with the NBA."

The league already has teams confirmed in eight cities: New York (Long Island), Chicago, Anaheim and San Jose in California, Kansas City, Jacksonville and Tampa Bay in Florida, and Las Vegas. Smoll hopes to add another two to four by the time the season begins, with possibilities including New Orleans Pittsburgh, Memphis, Buffalo and Fort Worth. "These are all major-league markets with major-league arenas, Smoll boasts.

What's that about not competing with the NBA? What about the teams in the New York, Chicago and Los Angeles areas? Smoll replies that it is necessary to cover the big three markets in order to get a national TV contract. But these teams, he adds, all will play in different arenas from...