National Basketball League of Canada all set to take off
A new professional basketball league has been created in Canada which goes by the name of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBLC). In the past there have been many attempts to establish a professional league in Canada,
primarily to prolong the careers of the Canadian players, who just don’t have the talent to make it into NBA. However, due to the financial, marketing and interest issue, the attempts so far have proven to be futile.
The president and chief executive officer of NBLC, Andre Levingston, who is a former U.S college basketball player, however is hopeful that the league, which will be operational in late October on seven fronts in Central and Eastern
Canada, is here to stay.
About five years ago, Levingston became an owner of basketball team known as Halifax Rainmen. The team played for four seasons in American Basketball Association and Premier Basketball League. Working with those teams has helped
him get the necessary experience to run the basketball operations. His has therefore got experience to back up his confidence.
In launching the NBLC, he was helped by the owners of St.John Mill Rats and the Quebec Kebs, Ian McCarthy and Vincent Bernier respectively. Talking about the other fly by night leagues that were set up in past, Levingston was of
the view that timing was the major reason of the failures of those companies.
“The major deciding factor for every business is timing and we feel that the timing is perfect for professional basketball.”
Levingston admitted that he is facing a lot of pessimistic views, but said that he will go ahead with the plan that if succeeds can take the game to new heights in the country.
“Of course we’re going to have the naysayers saying that this isn’t going to work,” the 46-year-old said. “But those are the people who will never buy a ticket. So we don’t worry about that.”
According to the initial proposal, the NBLC teams will play a regular season of 36 games after giving $100,000 in franchise fees to join the league. Each team will have $150,000 (CDN) salary cap and the teams will not be allowed
to over spend it. At least two Canadian players are mandatory to be a part of each roster and the minimum salary of each player will be $400 a week.
Levingston’s vision is to make it an elite league, which will utilize the rules of International Basketball Federation (FIBA). This is the reason that the league has strict approval process and hard salary cap system. At this point,
around 200 players have already signed for the first draft of league that is scheduled on the Sunday night at Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Tags: