Crain team has new meaning: critics Scoff, but Larry Crain has plan for his RimRockers.

IN 2000, LARRY CRAIN SR. thought minor-league basketball would be a hit in Little Rock.

At the time, though, Crain was heavy into negotiations to buy a portion of the Arkansas Twisters and Arkansas RiverBlades. When that deal collapsed, Crain turned his attention to possibly bringing a Continental Basketball Association team to Little Rock.

Soon the idea of owning a basketball team slipped away. Crain zeroed in on his other businesses, Crain Automotive and Crain Media Group.

His dream of owning a team resurfaced earlier this year when he learned the American Basketball Association was coming to Little Rock. Crain contacted ABA officials and bought the team.

The tip-off date for the first Arkansas RimRockers game is Nov. 16 at the Alltel Arena in North Little Rock. The player roster won't be set until October.

Some think starting a new minor-league basketball team in Little Rock will be a slam dunk. Others aren't so sure.

Critics point out that Little Rock fans rejected two minor-league ice hockey teams, the GlacierCats in 2000 and RiverBlades in 2003, and that attendance for the Twisters' arena football games has declined. They predict the RimRockers will fizzle.

Crain vows to stand behind his team.

"We're not in this as a hobby," Crain said. "We truly believe there's an opportunity to be a profitable organization."

Bill Valentine, general manger of the Arkansas Travelers minor-league baseball team, said he doesn't see how the RimRockers expect to pry entertainment dollars away from rabid fans of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. Little Rock doesn't support professional sports, he said.

"I hope (the RimRockers) do fantastic," he said. "But not being pessimistic but being brutally honest, the only thing that has ever survived here has been us and arena football."

If the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's basketball program is any indication of how the RimRockers will do, it might be an uphill battle.

For the 2002-03 UALR Trojans season, in which home games were played at Alltel Arena, the Trojans lost $257,000 on revenue of $940,000, according to the latest financial figures available.

While the team had a total of 50,100 fans for its 13 home games, ticket sales generated $487,000, for an average of just under $9.75 a ticket.

Game Plan

In 2000, the ABA revived a league that in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s had players like Julius "Dr. J" Erring slicing down the court dribbling a red, white and blue basketball. The current game hopes to recapture those glory days.

"It's fast-paced. It's exciting professional basketball at affordable prices," said Joe Newman of Indianapolis, ABA co-founder and chairman.

To ensure the ABA doesn't suffer the same fate as other Offshoot leagues, Newman said the key will be starting quality players. Most of the ABA players will have played on Division 1A college teams, he said.

Newman said enough players are available to fill the 39 teams that will be playing this season. And with a shorter season of 36 games, compared to the NBA's 82-game schedule, the players won't be exhausted, he said.

The ABA also is currently working on a deal to use players who are cut or unwanted by the NBA.

So more fans can see the action, the average ticket price will be in the $10-$12 range, Newman said. If fans can't attend, games could be heard on the radio. And the league currently is working on landing a television contract.

The ABA says the start-up costs for a team are $500,000. Crain said his start up costs will be more than that but declined to say how much. The ABA, though, will allow its team owners to keep all their revenue.

The Crain Team

Crain said he's got a business model that will ensure success for his team.

To start with, Crain has a plan to blanket the state with coverage of RimRockers games. Crain, who already owns seven radio stations in White County, is in the process of gaming Little Rock coverage for some of his stations to broadcast all of the RimRockers games. He also formed a RimRockers radio network, which has about 10 affiliates across the state, to carry the play-by-play.

The RimRockers also will be promoted in Crain's auto dealership newspaper advertisements. And the RimRockers' dance team and players will be mingling in the community for events.

Another strategy to bring fans to the games is to hold concerts either before or after game, with the price of the concert included in the game ticket price. Crain also is planning on inviting a Nascar driver to sign autographs at the arena.

Other revenue streams include corporate sponsorships, which Crain said he had lined up although he wouldn't say who they were, and selling advertisements on the team bus.

In the off-season, the RimRockers plan on holding fantasy sports camps.

Crain said he'll pay the players between $12,000 and $20,000. The league has capped total player salaries at $120,000 a year per team.

The RimRockers will need more than 2,500 fans to be profitable. Ticket prices will range from $10 to $50.

"But I honestly--and I know people will be skeptical of this--but I can envision us selling out," Crain said. "The Twisters sold out."

Critics

Valentine said he doesn't see how the RimRockers are going to survive.

The Travelers don't pay rent at Ray Winder Field, and the team gets to keep all its revenue, including concession sales, yet it still "scrapes," Valentine said.

"I don't think anybody can take a sports team into the Alltel Arena and make a dime," he said.

The RimRockers' contract with Alltel Arena calls for it to pay $7,000 a game or $10,000 if fans sit in the upper deck. The team will keep 12.5 percent of the concession stand receipts.

"I just can't see how any sports team can come in here and not lose $250,000 or more," Valentine said. "But I wish them well."

Crain said he "respectfully disagrees" with Valentine.

And the ABA's Newman said the failure of other professional teams in Little Rock doesn't doom the RimRockers.

"I think Little Rock can be one of the best ABA markets in the country," he said. "I have no reservations about what will happen there.

"To blame a city for a company or any business failing is doing a disservice to that city," Newman said.

Others don't see the ABA league surviving.

"The sports business has become pretty damn cautious in regards to spreading around dollars," said Steve Jefferson, a lecturer with the department of sport management at the University of Massachusetts.

What will decide the fate of the league is if it finds good players, he said.

He suggested the RimRockers hire former Razorbacks coach Nolan Richardson to build and coach the team.

"Other than that I don't know how the heck you're going to get people to spend their money ... especially in the college basketball season," Jefferson said.

Being part of the ABA is another challenge, since the league just reformed in 2000 after an absence of nearly 25 years.

"Startup leagues are a dime a dozen," Jefferson said.

Even in the NBA, owners are having trouble finding the next Larry Bird or Michael Jordan.

"We're going to Europe to get most of our talent these days," he said. "So you tell me where are you going to come up with a really good product with what's out there today in basketball? Unless you're going to import a league of international players ... I don't see it."

With 60 teams scheduled to be in the league in 2005, the talent is really going to be diluted across the ABA, he said.

"Once the novelty wears off, it's going to die out," Jefferson said.

Fast Break

Some aren't so quick to write the ABA's obituary.

The 60 teams might not hurt the ABA, as long as the games remain competitive, said John Mansell, a senior analyst at Kagan Research LLC of Carmel, Calif., which conducts sports business research.

And teams in cities where there aren't other local teams--cities like Little Rock--tend to do well, said Mansell, who wasn't familiar with the ABA.

"The American public has just an insatiable appetite for sports," he said.

The key for survival is landing a television contract, Mansell said.

Twisters President Jack Lankford said the RimRockers could survive, but it will be difficult.

"I don't think any type of startup operation, regardless of whether it's a sports or business, is easy to do," Lankford said.

If the team could recruit some former Razorbacks, it would have a leg-up, he said, especially the first year.

The ABA's Newman said the RimRockers should become a part of the Little Rock landscape.

"Larry Crain has to provide good quality entertainment at affordable prices and they'll beat a path to his door," Newman said. "Anything else and they won't."