Brother, can you spare a dime? Part II

The Premier Basketball League (PBL). Also known as, The Strangest Minor League in the World is at it yet again. Apparently, newly appointed League President Andre Levingston needed some help (or supervision) so Anthony (Tony) Chase was appointed CEO and co-owner. Apparently, Tony Chase has as many problems paying bills as Andre Levingston. Apparently, only the Founder/co-owner Dr. Serverko Hrywnak has any real money.

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/01/08/1086832/bluegrass-stallions-basketball.html

...
Chase said he is behind in paying 25 percent of the Stallions' vendors but said he has the funds reserved to pay the Stallions' Horse Park bill, due Monday — about $3,000 for each of 10 games.

Chase said the team is leaving the Horse Park because the Stallions were going to have to spend an additional $13,000 to remove and later reinstall the basketball floor to accommodate another Horse Park event.
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Let me get this straight. Someone signs a lease agreement with a horse park arena to play basketball then this same someone seems surprised when horse events are also held? Hmmmm. Chase also owned another under-performing minor league basketball team during the same period of time.

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/below-rim

Tony Chase, the Lexington, Ky.-based owner of the American Basketball Association’s Music City Stars, issued a statement on the dismantling of the young franchise that read longer than the Stars’ season.

“We will spend the next few months determining what course, if any, will be taken in the future,” Chase began. “It is difficult at best to introduce a minor league sport into a community, much less attempting to do so following two attempts in the recent past.”

He went on to discuss how difficult it had been to get fans in the seats, adding that most of the attendance was the result of complimentary tickets.
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Considering Mr. Chase's track record, he is a strange choice for CEO. However, this IS the strangest minor league in the world.

Brother, can you spare a dime?

The strangest minor league in the world, the Premier Basketball League (PBL), is at it again. They have hired a new president.

Levingston unveiled as new PBL president
MATTHEW WUEST
METRO HALIFAX
June 09, 2010 1:26 a.m.

...
The Halifax Rainmen owner was officially unveiled as the PBL’s new president yesterday following the league’s annual meetings in Chicago and said he is “coming in shaking the rug” and that the league “can’t continue to do business as usual anymore.” Levingston, whose role with the Rainmen is expected to be unchanged, said his main focus is to have teams with more stable ownership.

“No longer are we looking for guys with an extra $100,000 thinking they can own a professional basketball team in our league,” Levingston said. “Those days are over. It has to be harder.

“We want solid ownership that will run business the way we want business run.”
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What is so strange about hiring a new president?!? Well, the new president wants solid ownership that will run business the way WE want business run. The Problem is that Levingston is also a team owner; the owner of the Halifax Rainmen and...

Halifax Rainmen $376,000 in debt
The Halifax Chronicle Herald
January 2010

The Halifax Rainmen basketball team and owner Andre Levingston are facing a full-court press for about $376,000 in unpaid debt.

A Toronto finance company called 565819 Ontario Ltd. says in court documents the team and its owner received $55,000 on March 12, 2007, and $252,200 on April 27 of that year but have not repaid the loans in full.

The amount the team and its owner owed grew to about $383,000 because of missed monthly interest payments, but the total was reduced after a May 25 payment of $10,000, say court documents filed in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
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Instead of whittling the loan amount down since 2007, the amount of the team's start-up loan amount actually grew because of so many missed payments. Does this mean the league is no longer looking for owners like himself??? This is a very strange league indeed.

Owner of the Strangest Minor League Interviewed

Finally the owner of the strangest minor league (at least, the strangest minor league I ever saw), the Premier Basketball League (PBL), was interviewed with real questions. Dr. Severko Hrywnak, owner and C.E.O. of the PBL re-affirmed why I think the PBL is such a strange league, but he answered the questions rather honestly. I found his candor refreshing. Apparently Dr. Hrywnak is not a spin doctor.

Excerpts from the article:

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Q: When do you think (the league can run without your money)?

Hrywnak: I wish I had that crystal ball. To run the league, it costs on the average about $1 million a year.

Q: What’s the goal, getting to the point where you aren’t the bank for the league and every owner has a stable operation?

Hrywnak: I’d like the team owners to be profitable, and I’d like, as an ownership group, that we’d all have a piece of the league and everyone can benefit.
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Next blog: Shouldn't the League Commissioner Present the Championship Trophy?

The Strangest Minor League in the World

What makes the Premier Basketball League (PBL) so strange? It is not because the league is disorganized. Lots of minor leagues are disorganized. It is not because member teams have come and gone (sometimes during the season). Lots of minor leagues have teams come and go. It is not because this league has a tendency of issuing rambling sour grapes type press releases. http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3982349 Lots of minor leagues have trouble grasping the concept of the proper press release. The PBL is strange because it is disorganized, teams come and go, they issue WTF type press releases, AND the owner (yes, this league has an owner) apparently has tons of money to correct those problems. Yet this league plods along on its current course.