Start a BasketBall Assiociation/League (1 Viewer)

[skea]

Hello Folks, i need a few Ideas,Links,Insights and anything that will help me.
I am planning to start a Minor Basketball League in my Home Town and Spread it throught the country so that it can even beat the National League.(Start small and grow Big Scenario!). There is only one Basketball league taking place in my country and its FALLING. I love the game, and i have the passion for it. In my Home town, there is no league and only one team there participates in the National League.This team is not well financed and it financially takes it alot to participate in the National League Since it's concentrated in the capital of the country.

1) What i want to hear is, if i start, how am i going to earn money? How do BasketBall Assiociation Leagues get Money?
2) My Potential Partner is a Doctor and Lives Very Far.He is finding it hard to be in the Flow.Should i make a partnership with other people or i Start and make a team to run it.
3)Is it okay for me to own a Club/Team if i am the one who has started the League or part of the executive of the BasketBall Assiociation?

Your Ideas will be highly appreciated.

 

[statsman]

1) What i want to hear is, if i start, how am i going to earn money? How do BasketBall Assiociation Leagues get Money?
2) My Potential Partner is a Doctor and Lives Very Far.He is finding it hard to be in the Flow.Should i make a partnership with other people or i Start and make a team to run it.
3)Is it okay for me to own a Club/Team if i am the one who has started the League or part of the executive of the BasketBall Assiociation?

Your Ideas will be highly appreciated.

I have been starting up and running many leagues in many sports for a long time. Here are some of my ideas.

1. If its your intention to start small, start in your own neighbourhood. There must be any number of people in the surrounding area who also love the game but have been scared off by the large fees required for the National League. Talk to your fellow b-ball fans locally. Find out if there are people in nearby communities who would like to start teams if the fees aren't too large. Your largest cash outlays will be for facilities and officials. Figure out how much this is going to cost you for say a 6 team league in the first year. Base your fees on this plus your overhead. The first year is the make or break. If you run a league that is financially sound and transparent (balance sheets available on demand) and well run (the refs always show up for the games, stats are posted regularily) the word will get out and you should add a few new teams each year. Your sole income would be ticket sales. Are there enough fans in your part of the country to allow a team to at least break even.

2. Why would you want a partner. Make the teams your partners. If you have six teams and they are all required to post their fees before the season starts, the cash flow should fit the requirements. You would be the president/commisioner or whatever. The advantage to this is that no one would sue if things don't work out as they would essentially be suing themselves.

3. It would be allright but not really advisable. Why? As the head of the League and an owner, you would essentially be paying yourself. It doen't look good. Get you wife or your brother to be the figurehead owner of the team.

 

[skea]

Thanks Statsman,

thats such great advise. Its also a brilliant Idea to make the teams my Partners.That implies that each team will have a representative on the board!
And this implies that i would equally share all the profits with them right!, let alone request each and every one's signature in case of Bank Issues! I am a little confused about this! How do i go about making teams my partners, and how do the Rules of Cash-Flow Management work here?

 

[namliam]

Any league should be a non-profit orginasition which is in service soly to operate the league itself.
Offcourse it is OK if you get payed something for the hours you make, but the principle of fee's for leagues is/should be to cover costs, not make money.

 

[skea]

namliam. You sound very correct! The money got from subscription and the other staff like ticket sales should be able in all facets, to run the league.
But this is something thats going to be started from scratch! Most probably i will have to storm some interested Guys here and there to be shareholders or rather sponsor the league. Most Probably, i will have to dig deep in my pockets to make sure that there are at least 6 teams playing in the league(talking about their Facilitation with some of the basic Necessities), call it Share Capital. But how do i get this my Money Back Is the Question!
My Intension is not only to start this league and boost up this Sport in my Country but also profit$$$$$ from the sport! Now how do i do this?

 

[namliam]

From personal experience, you dont... it is a long term investment with little payoff untill very long.

Money earned for hours spent, you are probably better off working at MC Donalds food counter than you are trying to set this up. A lot of this is going to have to come from your love for the Basketball (like mine) rather than your love for the Dollar.
The payoff comes in other rewards than money, friends and people that know you that can push some work your way or can arrange some sponsors. Trust me starting something like this takes a couple of years to get up and running. Let alone be profitable.

 

[skea]

Thanks Mailman, that was so Rich. You must have one this way before.
Just out of curiosity,what have you done?

 

[namliam]

I have tried setting up different things... International tournaments mostly, one or two actually did catch on, but others didnt.... They crashed and burned to the ground

It seems like the whole world is out to make a buck and no one is willing to do things just for fun anymore. Back in the day (I am sounding old now), it was normal if you play the game you have to invest some time for others as well.
i.e. one team takes care of the scoring sheet for a second team and vice versa.
Now adays... not so normal and it has to be enforced too. We have fines on not showing up, 15 euro's because it bites when you have to play and do the scoring sheet too.
Each month (one month in advance, we allready have the list up for februari) we make a list of players/teams that are responsible for keeping score at which games. There are just certain people that will simply pay the fine rather than "waste" their time helping others.

We know most of these people, so we allways double them up where if they show... Some other person gets an evening off, but mostly they dont but the game is covered. The "extra" person is aware of this situation and will only "show up" at the game if he notices the person is missing.
We have a fixed list of people who take care of covering games like this. These people are then compensated for their time rather than them volentering as they end up doing much more than the average number of games that are required. Half the fine goes towards the league, the other half is payment.

 

[ColinEssex]

MC Donalds food

those two words can't go together. Its like saying "America" and "world peace", they just don't gel

Col

 

[statsman]

Further to my earlier posting:
Each team is required to supply their own operating capitol.
Each team is repsonsible for acquiring their own place to play.
Each team sells the tickets for their home games and keeps the profits.
Each team recruits their own sponsors.
Each team is respnsible for supplying their own uniforms and equipment
Each team is responsible for travel expenses for away games (hopefully each venue is only a short bus ride away so there's no overnight hotels required).
Each team is required to supply a statistician for their HOME games.

The League would be responsible for:

Sponsors - recruits a league sponsor (separate from team sponsors)
Scheduling - in a six team league, each team plays twice a week. One home and one away. You might suggest that each team always has their home games on the same day of the week. This will help with continuity for the fan base. You'll probably have to do a blind draw as all teams will want to play at home on the weekends.
Officials - the Leauge will supply and pay refs. No "homers".
Stats - the league will maintain the official stats for the league based on reports submitted by the team statisticians
Administration - all matters requiring adjudication (such as discipline)
Miscellany - everything else.

Before the first season figure out what it's going to cost to run the league. Split that evenly between the number of teams. This is the team's "dues" for being a member of the league.

If the league takes off, increase the fees in future years and pay yourself more.

Just work on breaking even for the first few seasons.

 

[skea]

Thats very very fantabulous Information for me,Statsman. I will get back.