Abstract
Prior to the late 1960s, the Chicago Packers and Chicago Bulls were the only expansion teams that existed and played games in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Then in 1967–1968, the league approved the entry of such new teams as the San Diego Rockets, Seattle Supersonics, Milwaukee Bucks, and Phoenix Suns. In other words, because of substantial financial requirements and the NBA’s failure to expand into other regions of the United States (US) besides the Midwest, southwest, and on the west coast, several sports markets in America were not home sites of elite professional basketball clubs.
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Notes
- 1.
For more information about the league, see Terry Pluto, Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2007), and sections of John Grasso, Historical Dictionary of Basketball (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2011) and Frank P. Jozsa Jr. The National Basketball Association: Business, Organization and Strategy (Singapore: World Scientific, 2011).
- 2.
The book is Earl Strom, Calling the Shots: My Five Decades in the NBA (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1990).
- 3.
Table A7.2 contains the populations and population ranks of metropolitan areas that hosted ABA teams before and after they relocated. For some teams, there were significant changes in the size of their home markets. Because they moved to avoid competing for fans with teams in the rival NBA, to reduce their operating costs by moving to smaller cities, and/or simply to enter new sports markets, the ABA’s Minnesota Muskies and Houston Mavericks in the 1960s and Los Angeles Stars and Washington Caps in the 1970s, for example, had more opportunities to succeed with new names and nicknames at their post-move sites. Despite being in larger markets, however, other ABA teams failed after a few seasons including the Los Angeles Stars, Pittsburgh Pipers/Condors, and St. Louis Spirits.
- 4.
See “The Story of the NBA Logo” at http://www.logodesignlove.com cited 19 March 2014.
- 5.
In a statement to the media, Sports Illustrated noted “the tactics Storen says the ABA will employ sound a good deal more like those used by American Football League Commissioner Al Davis in the last days of the football war than a plan for peaceful coexistence. The ABA has reinstituted its $300 million antitrust suit against the NBA. It also may move some franchises into better TV [television] markets, an ill-advised maneuver that will mean going against established NBA teams on their home turf. And for the first time since 1970, the ABA will go after established NBA players. We will have exploratory contract talks with lots of their men” said Storen. “Whether we’ll sign none, six or ten of them will depend on how things work out. But you can be sure of one thing: we’ll do this in a serious, orderly way.” See Peter Carry, “Having a Ball With the ABA” at http://www.sportsillustrated.com cited 18 March 2014.
- 6.
Other readings about the ABA–NBA merger include Curry Kirkpatrick, “A Season For All Men,” Sports Illustrated (25 October 1976), 34; “Basketball,” Sports Illustrated (17 February 1977), 116; Frank DeFord, “One Last Hurrah in Hyannis,” Sports Illustrated (28 June 1976), 64; Bill Rhoden, “ABA Superstars Join the NBA,” Ebony (January 1977), 88–89.
- 7.
Recent financial data about NBA franchises was in Kurt Badenhausen, Mike Ozanian, and Christina Settimi, “NBA Team Values: The Business of Basketball” at http://www.forbes.com cited 6 February 2014. For teams’ historical attendances, players, and coaches, see “Rodney D. Fort’s Sports Business Data” at http://sites.google.com cited 5 February 2014, the Official NBA Guide: 2013–14 Edition (New York, NY: NBA Properties, 2013), and the Official NBA Register: 2013–14 Edition (New York, NY: NBA Properties, 2013).
- 8.
For additional sources about the short- and long-run effects of the ABA–NBA merger in 1976, read such books as Peter C. Bjarkman, The Encyclopedia of Pro Basketball Team Histories (New York, NY: Carroll & Graf, 1994); Connie Kirchberg, Hoop Love: A History of the National Basketball Association (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007); James Quirk and Rodney D. Fort, Pay Dirt: The Business of Professional Team Sports (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992); Leonard Koppett, Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia (Wilmington, DE: Sport Classic Books, 2004); Jan Hubbard, The Official NBA Encyclopedia (New York, NY: Doubleday, 2000). Information about various teams is available online in readings at various websites. See, for example, “Basketball History” at http://www.history-of-basketball.com cited 20 September 2005; “History of Basketball” at http://library.thinkquest.org cited 24 August 2009; “National Basketball Association (NBA) History” at http://www.rauzulusstreet.com cited 12 August 2005; “NBA Growth Timetable” at http://www.basketball.com cited 17 September 2005; “Professional Basketball Leagues” at http://apbr.org cited 22 August 2009.
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Jozsa, F.P. (2015). American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association. In: National Basketball Association Strategies. SpringerBriefs in Economics, vol 84. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10058-6_7
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