Having earned his MBA from the University of Victoria in 2010, Anthony Vella is aware of Victoria鈥檚 history in basketball, which includes the Vikes鈥� national championship dynasty of the 1980s and numerous Olympians produced.
That鈥檚 why he included the city in the fledgling Canadian Basketball League鈥檚 recent notification call to potential markets.
The league is proposed to start for the 2014-15 season.
鈥淎t this point, we鈥檙e looking for right ownership groups and not in terms of specific markets,鈥� said Vella, business operations co-ordinator for Cosmos Sports, a Mississauga, Ont.-based sports marketing company working with CBL investor/founders Thomas and Robert Smeenk and Greg Nelson.
鈥淭his league would be to develop Canadian talent,鈥� said Vella, by phone from Mississauga.
鈥淭here would be [a mandatory number of] six to nine Canadian players per team. It would be for guys not making top dollar in Europe.鈥�
Break-even per-game attendance would be in the range of 4,000, said Vella.
The league would be pro, but only modestly so, with a salary cap of $150,000 per team per season.
A meeting is planned for mid-July in Edmonton to meet with prospective ownership groups.
Vella said he has not contacted RG Properties, which operates Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria and Prospera Place in Kelowna, the latter another potential western market that has been loosely mentioned in connection with the CBL along with Vancouver, Kamloops, Cranbrook, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg.
鈥淰ictoria is a good basketball town . . . we looked [in the past] at the D-League [the NBA鈥檚 development league],鈥� said Dave Dakers, president of sports and entertainment for RG Properties.
鈥淚t [CBL] is something we would look at, if contacted. We鈥檙e not against it. Neither of our buildings [Victoria or Kelowna] owns a basketball floor.鈥�
Dakers said it鈥檚 hard to comment further 鈥渨ithout seeing a business model.鈥�
Sports owners are not easy to come by, however. At least in Edmonton and Calgary, they have speculation that new CBL franchises could be owned by the NHL Oilers and Flames.
In doing his viability research, Vella contacted Victoria basketball legend Ken Shields.
Shields says the dream of the CBL is 鈥渘ot impossible鈥� but is cautious.
鈥淚t鈥檚 workable under the right business plan,鈥� said Shields, who coached the UVic Vikes to seven consecutive national titles in the 1980s, before coaching the Canadian national team.
But proponents need to be realistic about the fan base for hoops in sa国际传媒, he warned.
鈥淣o CIS basketball team sells out its games, not even [current national championship dynasty team] Carleton,鈥� noted Shields.
鈥淭ickets are moderately priced yet CIS gyms are half full at best, and they aren鈥檛 like large downtown arenas needing 4,000 fans. We worked our butts off to fill McKinnon Gym with 2,300 fans [in the 1980s] and we had a [national-championship dynasty] product.鈥�
Vella said the CBL would ideally like to start with 鈥渆ight-to-12 franchises鈥� across the country. He said he would like to hear from interested parties and can be reached through Cosmos Sports at 905-564-4660 or [email protected].
