ABA Basketball Enters Talks for Celebrity Injection to Chicago

World famous for its over the top personalities that have included Dr. J and George The Iceman" Gervin, the ABA has begun exploring bringing the league presence back to Chicago with the added punch of a front office infused with celebrity power from the entertainment world.

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) December 11, 2004 -- American Basketball Association (ABA) president Joe Newman has initiated talks to have second generation star Rikki Lee Travolta take an ownership role of a proposed Chicago minor league professional basketball team.

ABA executive vice president Ricardo Richardson met with Travolta in Chicago on Tuesday to discuss the prospect of bringing him into the league in a figure head capacity.

Richardson met separately with a Chicago-based investment group focused on providing the ABA with a Chicago presence for minor league professional basketball.

Travolta, who stars in the upcoming Camelot: Excalibur" and has been identified in the press as one of the five principal actors being considered to replace Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond film franchise, has a substantial basketball history.

The one time cover model turned Shakespearean actor trained under NBA Championship coach Jack Ramsay as a child. One of his maternal relatives worked on staff at the Portland Rose Garden, home of the NBAs Portland Trail Blazers.

As an adult he has performed the national anthem for teams throughout the NBA, and he partnered with future Hall of Fame player Isiah Thomas, now president of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on the development of a television series based on the then Thomas owned Continental Basketball Association (CBA) league.

Thomas had to sell the CBA due to NBA non-compete rules when he accepted an offer to coach the Indiana Pacers.

Travoltas best selling novel My Fractured Life" features cover art exclusively in the team colors of the Chicago Bulls, a move the actor insisted on with the publisher in order to honor the NBA franchise.

Former Bulls player and coach Bill Cartwright exchanged autographs with Travolta after the release of the book and sale of the film rights to Port Magee Pictures, with each player on the 2003-04 roster receiving a copy of the book to continue the trend started by Phil Jackson of providing the players the opportunity to read on long road trips.

In the book, the protagonist character of the novel shares the author's love of professional basketball and makes references to the sport throughout the book. At one point the character openly ponders naming a pet after his favorite player and offhandedly touts trivia facts about former NBA world champion teams.

Travolta also joined the Bulls for this years Season Kick Off Celebration moderated by ESPN radio play-by-play announcer Neil Funk. At the event Travolta joked with players and posed for pictures with fans.

Travolta first became a friend of the Bulls organization when he was brought to Chicago as the first celebrity guest star in the Tony n' Tinas Wedding" franchise.

The new ABA league is a revival of the original outlandish 1970s league that introduced the three point shot, popularized the dunk, and catapulted Julius Dr. J" Erving, Rick Barry, George Iceman" Gervin, Artis Gilmore, and Moses Malone to fame.

An ABA team was tested in Chicago in the initial revival of the league in 2000 under the leadership of De Paul coach Joey Meyer. That team featured Farragut High School legend Ronnie Fields, De Paul star Dallas Comegys, and former NBA player Reggie Jordan.

Although a dominant force in the league, the team failed in marketing efforts to compete with the NBAs Chicago Bulls and was eventually relocated to Las Vegas.

The proposal of bringing a new ABA presence to Chicago hinges on marketing the team based upon the independent virtues of the league, and not in competition with the Bulls.

Reflecting the style of the Dr. J era ABA, a new team can provide an over-the-top, adrenaline charged, entertainment experience filled with an emphasis on outlandish personalities and promotions that would allow it to comfortably coexist the same way minor league baseball teams have been able to simultaneously flourish in the same markets as successful major league teams.

Current successful ABA team ventures in other states have also utilized celebrities on the rosters, as coaches, or in the ownership teams including Gervin, Dennis Rodman, Grammy Nominated R&B artist Brian McKnight, NASCAR television host John Roberts, pop singer Sally Anthony, Kareem Abdul Jabbar Jr., and Nate Tiny" Archibald.

Of the huge potential promotional draws the ABA offers allows each team to include an entertainment industry celebrity on its roster for each game and make them eligible to play.

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