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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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 Posted: 11/05/20 12:00 pm ::: |
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From what I read, a good job -- but the main point about the ABL was this: The overall plan made no sense.
1) Player salaries and benefits were way out of line with income; and
2) Playing in the winter meant competing head-to-head with the NBA, college women's basketball (which was supposed to supply much of the fan base) and high school basketball. There was no way the ABL could find a home on TV battling with the NBA, college men's basketball and even college women's basketball for air time.
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FrozenLVFan
Joined: 08 Jul 2014
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| Posted: 11/06/20 9:00 am ::: |
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| How many people on here watched the ABL?
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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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| Posted: 11/06/20 9:31 am ::: |
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| FrozenLVFan wrote: |
| How many people on here watched the ABL? |
I did. It was comparable to the early W seasons. Their talk about superior talent is just so much bunk. For all the article talks about the raggedness of the first W game, it glosses over stuff like the Lasers having 33 turnovers in a playoff game (a number no WNBA playoff team has come close to).
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ChasingRatDogmaSalade
Joined: 05 Apr 2008
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| Posted: 11/06/20 11:40 am ::: |
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| pilight wrote: |
| FrozenLVFan wrote: |
| How many people on here watched the ABL? |
I did. It was comparable to the early W seasons. Their talk about superior talent is just so much bunk. For all the article talks about the raggedness of the first W game, it glosses over stuff like the Lasers having 33 turnovers in a playoff game (a number no WNBA playoff team has come close to). |
Did the ABL play 48 minute games?
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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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| Posted: 11/06/20 11:51 am ::: |
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| ChasingRatDogmaSalade wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| FrozenLVFan wrote: |
| How many people on here watched the ABL? |
I did. It was comparable to the early W seasons. Their talk about superior talent is just so much bunk. For all the article talks about the raggedness of the first W game, it glosses over stuff like the Lasers having 33 turnovers in a playoff game (a number no WNBA playoff team has come close to). |
Did the ABL play 48 minute games? |
No. They played standard 40 minute games.
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threadkiller1201
Joined: 19 Sep 2005
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Youth Coach
Joined: 23 Mar 2008
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| Posted: 11/06/20 6:48 pm ::: |
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| I watched what little I could find. But I was active on their website. They had a chat room or message board if I remember correctly. |
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FrozenLVFan
Joined: 08 Jul 2014
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| Posted: 11/07/20 6:04 pm ::: |
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| For some reason I got a lot of replays of random games during the wee hours of the morning. I just pitched about 100 VHS recordings of ABL games. I was a huge Quest fan and managed to see quite a few of their games, which were way more accessible on cable than WCBB games. I remember being stunned at seeing players like Natalie Williams for the first time. The talent in that league was quite considerable if not superior.
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bucks4now
Joined: 28 Feb 2006
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| Posted: 11/08/20 9:48 am ::: |
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I had Quest season tickets and I will say without a doubt that they are the best team I have ever watched in any sport. It was magical. They were unselfish, lighten quick, and you could tell how much each member cared about each other and how much fun they were having...
They were incredible. At any time, you could have a 20-2 run, or the could completely lock every player down on defense. Incredible.
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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| Posted: 11/08/20 5:31 pm ::: |
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| I saw pretty much all of the San Jose Lazers home games ... the basketball wasn't all that good, but neither was the WNBA at that time. Women's pro basketball has come a long way since then ...
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CamrnCrz1974
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 11/10/20 7:02 pm ::: |
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| bucks4now wrote: |
I had Quest season tickets and I will say without a doubt that they are the best team I have ever watched in any sport. It was magical. They were unselfish, lighten quick, and you could tell how much each member cared about each other and how much fun they were having...
They were incredible. At any time, you could have a 20-2 run, or the could completely lock every player down on defense. Incredible. |
I attended a few Quest games as well. The style of play and the positioning by Agler was very unique at the time. And it was a lot of fun to watch.
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CamrnCrz1974
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 11/11/20 1:24 am ::: |
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| ClayK wrote: |
From what I read, a good job -- but the main point about the ABL was this: The overall plan made no sense.
1) Player salaries and benefits were way out of line with income; and
2) Playing in the winter meant competing head-to-head with the NBA, college women's basketball (which was supposed to supply much of the fan base) and high school basketball. There was no way the ABL could find a home on TV battling with the NBA, college men's basketball and even college women's basketball for air time. |
Agree.
The article states, "It still holds its season when the boys aren’t using the gym and contends with the NBA’s neglect."
Yet the article fails to address that it is not just competing with the NBA by playing a traditional basketball schedule, but also with MCBB and WCBB, plus high school basketball.
If the goal is to attract a fan base that consists of younger (say, teenagers) girls and the parents, how can they attend games when the teenagers are playing games themselves during the same time period.
The article also states, "The WNBA asks its players to supplement their small incomes overseas and to risk injury in the year-round toil." The league’s minimum salary for inexperienced players in the new CBA will increase to $57,000, and for more experienced players, $68,000. The top players can earn $215,000. Once players are off their rookie contracts, the need to go overseas becomes less of a need and more of a want, under the new CBA.
The author is clearly an ABL fan - as was I. But I am also a realist, whereas the author's love for the league occasionally got in the way of providing an assessment of the ABL's the economic realities.
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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| Posted: 11/11/20 10:33 am ::: |
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>"The WNBA asks its players to supplement their small incomes overseas and to risk injury in the year-round toil." The league’s minimum salary for inexperienced players in the new CBA will increase to $57,000, and for more experienced players, $68,000. The top players can earn $215,000.
"Small incomes"? For four or five months' work? For a 23-year-old fresh out of college? With year-round health care?
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WNBA 09
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WNBA 09
Joined: 26 Jun 2009
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| Posted: 11/11/20 11:49 am ::: |
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| CamrnCrz1974 wrote: |
| bucks4now wrote: |
I had Quest season tickets and I will say without a doubt that they are the best team I have ever watched in any sport. It was magical. They were unselfish, lighten quick, and you could tell how much each member cared about each other and how much fun they were having...
They were incredible. At any time, you could have a 20-2 run, or the could completely lock every player down on defense. Incredible. |
I attended a few Quest games as well. The style of play and the positioning by Agler was very unique at the time. And it was a lot of fun to watch. |
Their energy on defense was 2nd to none , maybe that 98' comets team.
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Carol Anne
Joined: 09 Apr 2005
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Location: Seattle
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| Posted: 11/17/20 6:54 pm ::: |
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| I remember hearing that the NBA told the TV networks and ESPN that if any ABL games were shown by them, there'd be no more NBA contests on TV. Ever.
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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| Posted: 11/18/20 11:39 am ::: |
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| Carol Anne wrote: |
| I remember hearing that the NBA told the TV networks and ESPN that if any ABL games were shown by them, there'd be no more NBA contests on TV. Ever. |
Could be true, but I don't the NBA needed to make that threat. The ABL didn't have the financial underpinning to survive, and on top of that, its ratings were going to be less than the NBA or any college game (men's or women's), so the networks were really not that interested anyway.
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tfan
Joined: 31 May 2010
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| Posted: 11/19/20 9:32 pm ::: |
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| Carol Anne wrote: |
| I remember hearing that the NBA told the TV networks and ESPN that if any ABL games were shown by them, there'd be no more NBA contests on TV. Ever. |
Seems like a bluff if they said it, since they get good money themselves from the broadcasts.
I think there are now 3 more sports networks than when the ABL was on - Fox, CBS and NBC each have one. ABL might have been able to get airtime on one of them, particularly CBS Sports Network which air plenty of minor sports stuff and I don’t think has ever shown any MLB/NFL/NHL/NBA games.
If I remember right, Liberty fan Rosie O’Donnell had a show on back in the ABL time period and only had WNBA players on it. Don’t think she even mentioned the ABL.
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