'The Champions League' Summer Basketball Competition to Feature Ex-NBA Stars
A new basketball league not affiliated with the NBA called "The Champions League" will start in the summer of 2016, per USA Today. CEO Carl George announced that the league will have 16 teams from different basketball markets in the country.
"The Champions League" and its CEO is looking to provide the country with family-friendly and reasonably priced basketball entertainment during the NBA offseason. George also said that New York City already has a full roster that includes four-time NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace, Al Harrington and Maurice Ager.
He added that teams in Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Miami, Orlando, Philadelphia and Washington are already scouting their players with the league's goal of employing more than 250 people consisting of players, coaches and other personnel. Each team is required to have two former NBA All-Stars on their roster with one Basketball Hall of Famer heading the front office.
George also noted that about 60 players have already committed to playing in "The Champions League" as of this moment. According to Yahoo! Sports, in addition to the cities mentioned above, markets like Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix and San Francisco are expected to complete the 16 teams.
The league will have their first charity game on Jan. 29, 2016 in St. Louis, Missouri. It will benefit The V Foundation and the Stuart Scott Memorial Cancer Research Fund. Former NBA All-Stars Richard Hamilton, Josh Howard and Brandon Roy are scheduled to play in the charity game.
NBA Players Association official and former player Keyon Dooling is also expected to play in "The Champions League" and work as a recruiter for them. USA Today added that the teams will be playing about 30 games in July and August with 10 charity or marketing events in non-NBA cities like St. Louis.
The strategy of the league is to provide an alternative for players in the NBA Developmental League, offering a better payday of up to $200,000. Winning teams will also have additional bonuses that include a $50,000 raise for division winners and a $100,000 bonus for the league champions decided via an NCAA-style tournament.
One of the league's business partners is fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger and its long-time partner Star Branding. According to Bleacher Report, there will always be doubts about starting a new professional sports league that will compete with the big four (MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL). The most recent sports league that tried and quickly failed to compete with the NFL is WWE's XFL in 2001.
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