Vancouver's latest hoop dreams have Asian twist

American Basketball Association franchise to target the region's growing Chinese population

Glenn Drexhage

Business in Vancouver March 16-22, 2004 Issue 751

A new basketball team is hoping for local hoops glory nearly three years after the Vancouver Grizzlies fouled out of the city permanently.

This time around, a different league and a different style are on offer. And the squad also aims to tap the support of the Lower Mainland's sizable Asian community.

In February, the colorful American Basketball Association - which has its league office in Lenexa, Kansas - announced that Vancouver would host the ABA's seventh expansion team.

It's scheduled to make its debut in November when the 2004/05 season kicks off.

The team's co-founders are John Probandt and Weiqing "Walter" Huang, the president and vice-president, respectively, of Rising Star Holdings LLC.

BIV was unable to reach Probandt or Huang prior to press time. However, Rising Star lists a Portland telephone number on its Web site and bills itself as a venture-capital, industrial and stock-market fund firm.

The idea behind Vancouver's new basketball squad is to have it composed mostly of Chinese players so it would appeal to a big part of the city's ethnic makeup.

"The Asian population of Vancouver is very large," Probandt said in a statement. "It is the perfect city for this team. There is also a very large pro basketball following there and a great void since the NBA [National Basketball Association] Grizzlies left for Memphis."

In a subsequent release, Probandt said he would be interested in speaking with former Grizzlies employees.

Joe Newman, the ABA's co-founder and chairman, added that there will be other Asian benefits.

"We believe that the games will be televised in China," he said. "And because Vancouver is a Chinese team, it will have high visibility for the Chinese and the Asian market in the U.S."

Newman is confident of the prospects here despite the Grizzlies' departure in 2001 following a string of brutal seasons and diminishing support.

"Anybody that would lay the problems of the Grizzlies on Vancouver doesn't know what they're doing," Newman said from Indiana. "You have a great city and you can support any professional sport if the professional sports are operated properly and the market is taken care of."

He was adamant that the ABA was not a semi-pro league.

"We are an alternative, and we are exciting professional basketball at fan-friendly and affordable prices."

He said ABA ticket prices are about 15 per cent of comparable NBA prices. The league also has different rules that encourage higher scoring.

Rick Sanderson, media director with TBWA\Vancouver, said the team's Asian focus was "fairly" unique, noting that there have been local ping-pong and soccer events targeting this community.

He suggested a two-pronged marketing approach to launch and then sustain the team. It would target Asian males in the Lower Mainland aged 18 to 34, followed by a younger audience. Sanderson estimated that a marketing budget to execute a successful launch and get the sustaining effort rolling would ideally be more than $100,000. The campaign would mainly target Asian media.

At the beginning of March, the team, which doesn't yet have a name, named Jamian Lai as its president and general manager of basketball operations.

Lai will be responsible for overseeing team operations, including scouting, marketing, merchandising and business development.

A press release stated that the Harvard- and Beijing University-educated Lai has a strong international background in finance, marketing and media. Lai was on a business trip in China last week and BIV was unable to receive an e-mail response to questions by press time.

The ABA had its flamboyant initial run from 1967 to 1976. It was noted for its vibrant red, white and blue basketball, big hair and players with nicknames such as Fatty and Goo.

It also had a rivalry with the NBA. The two leagues made up in 1976, and four ABA teams - from Denver, New York, Indiana and San Antonio - joined the National Basketball Association.

The current version of the ABA began in 2000 although it suspended operations in late 2002. The seven-team league includes franchises in Las Vegas and Kansas City.

Newman - also a vice-president and director of marketing for International Equine Acquisitions in the U.S. - said that step was taken for various reasons, including a salary cap that was too high, excessive air travel and venues that were too big and costly. These issues have since been addressed, he said, making the league a more viable business venture.