The USBA Chronicles

Well, as I posted a post or two back, I have been named the Director of Communications for the newly formed United States Basketball Association. Over the next few months, I will be blogging about the experience of getting into professional sports from the beginning. This should be a trip and a half.

Yesterday I met with the coaching staff and the Director of Operations for the Jacksonville Admirals. Coach James Easton is an interesting guy whom I think will do very well with this franchise. He has the enthusiasm, has the passion, and knows the game very well. I think teams are going to have to expect to run and run as coach will emphasize defense and a run and gun type of offense. It will be interesting to see what teams will be able to keep up with the Admirals and to see if the scoreboard explodes with the amount of points he wants to put up on the board.

My role with the Admirals is going to be as their broadcaster and kind of a consultant of sorts. Since I am in the area, I have offered to help them out as much as I can. I would like to see the Admirals be the "model" for the way USBA teams run their own franchises. Do I know everything about running a team? Hah!! I have common sense knowledge, but if I can help Coach Easton and his staff out, I am more than happy to do so.

As far as the league goes, it is fascinating to see what it takes to get a league off the ground and the amount of money involved. I saw the budget yesterday and there is money allocated for every teeny, tiny little thing. It got down to how much is allowed for concessions, basketballs, officials, security, and again many things I never would have thought of.

This is going to be an education as I have never done media relations, nor have I ever worked directly with a league before. I have been in the broadcast business, but that is a far cry from what I am doing now. I crank out press releases, develop plans as to how to teach players to deal with the media and fans, and even taking calls about tryouts from agents and players. In a sense, I feel like I am back in school again which is a great thing. I am learning things every ten seconds and am anxious to get to the teaching part of my job. Of course I can't wait to broadcast the first game, but that is something I have done before. The thought of learning something new every day is a great experience for me.

One thing I have learned is about just how dumb players can be. I had a guy call me about the Jacksonville tryout and he actually asked me, "Will there be a drug test?" Now to me, this was a huge red flag and I told him so. Nothing like letting a representative of a league know one MIGHT be on drugs. I guess he needed to know if he needed to clean the body out or not.

More later as I need lunch.........