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Wizards die in solitudeINDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Indianapolis Wizards and the month old All American Basket ball Alliance have quietly closed shop, leaving behind a quickly mounting stack of debts, eight teams of unpaid players and executives and a general feeling of public apathy.“1 felt they put it together too quickly, said Wizard Coach Roger Brown, a former player with the Indiana Pacers. “I tried to tell them so. It’s a very good concept a necessary concept — but they just threw the thing together too quickly.’’Each player was to be paid $100 per game, plus a percentage of the gate. “But we never got paid,” Brown said, “and there are going to be some suits filed over it.”The W izards, who played their home games at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds Coliseum, drew a crowd of 26 fans at one recent game.The collapse of the AABA,which had long been expected.became a reality over the weekend.“We re out of business,” said Richard Poliak, president and general manager of the Carolina Lightning. When the Rochester, N.Y., Zeniths, the only team that was drawing adequate crowds, dropped out of the league, the rest of the loop folded.Dick Hill, owner of the Roeh ester franchise, said he lost be tween $40,000 and $50,000 on the venture. However, he said he has proved basketball will draw in Rochester and he plans to organize another league for next season.But Poliak said Carolina Lightning will not be part of thenew enterprise. After watching the World Football League, the Southern Hockey Leagueand now the AABA tail. Poliak is disillusioned w ith sports.“Under-financing was the big problem, Polllak said of the AABA’s failure. “1 told them (league leaders) that they should have money to run the league torat least three months, if no one came to the games. They didn’t have it.“Owners took over tanchises without having the money to back the team,” he said. “Theygot the franchises for nothing.They wanted to get the league started, so they went without the proper financial backing,“1 really never had an idea of what was going on, said Richard “P.L” Drake, general manager of the AABA’s West Virginia Wheels franchise. “Communication between the league and our franchise has been minimal .”Drake said that after his teamplayed its first several home games most of the league teams played between six and 10 games before folding —it wasdifficult for him to reach the AABA’s officials in Princeton Junction, N.J.“1 just waited around every day to see what would happen next.”
Newspaper Details
Anderson Herald
Anderson, Indiana, US
Wed, Feb 08, 1978
Page 17
Full Page
Clipped by
Ohio C.
West Virginia, USA 15 Apr 2020
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