Moving Forward

Kelley Bouchard from the Portland Press Herald reports:

Portland officials will discuss the possibility of leasing the Portland Exposition Building to an NBA D-League expansion team on Friday at Portland City Hall.

The City Council’s finance committee will take up the matter at 8:30 a.m. in Room 209, committee member John Anton said today.

This would be an interesting location given it's proximity to Hadlock Field while the Cumberland County Civic Center was also under consideration. Noting the fact that the team would have to share the latter facilities with the Portland Pirates, this writer has to believe that the Expo is a better fit if only for scheduling purposes. It appears that the meeting on Friday will be open to the public.

Anton said Friday’s meeting will start with some public discussion of a potential lease of the city-owned Expo, then the committee will go into executive session to discuss lease terms.

Stay tuned for more updates to come...

What Would You Like To See?

Most every sports fan in the State of Maine is aware of the Portland Sea Dogs success since the AA franchise was awarded to the city of Portland during the 1992 minor league expansion. The Portland Pirates arrived in 1993 on the heels of the recently departed Maine Mariners ('77-'92) and played their first game just months before the Sea Dogs' inaugural campaign in the spring of 1994. Both clubs have thrived in the City of Portland and the next logical step is to bring the NBA D-League to Maine's economic capital. This blog was created to document the efforts being put forth by the Maine Basketball Group and will provide updates on the process. In addition we will be looking for feedback from the readers and helping fans get to know the NBADL.

First, we want to get your thoughts on what you think would make the D-League a success here in Maine. What would you like to see? What do you think has worked well for the other local sports franchises? Tell us by posting a reply below in the comments section or send us an e-mail to maineprobasketball@gmail.com.

Season Tickets

We are very excited about the possibilities of bringing NBA level basketball to Maine. We have put together a strong ownership group led by Bill Ryan, Sr. and Bill Ryan, Jr. We also have K.C. Jones on board as an adviser. Maine has a basketball fan base that knows and loves the game. We have all of the ingredients for a very successful franchise.

Now we need to ask whether you would be interested in buying season tickets if Maine is awarded the franchise. Please send an email with your name, address, phone and email address to jon@maineprobasketball.com. Sending an email does not obligate you to purchase tickets but rather gives us your contact information so we can send you details about season tickets at a later date. We hope you will join us as we work to bring professional basketball to Maine.

Jon Jennings on Celtics Stuff Live

Jon Jennings was on Celtics Stuff Live in early February and talked about Maine Pro Basketball's efforts to bring an NBA D-League team to Portland, ME. He also told some fantastic stories on Red Auerbach, Larry Bird, and the personalities around the Bird era Celtics.

Click Here To Listen To The Show

Here We Go!

As you may have heard by now, a group of us are trying to bring an NBA Development League team to Maine. We are very excited about the response we have received to date from the people of Maine, government officials, the business community and die hard hoop fans.

As we all know Maine has an incredible history of supporting High School Basketball. I am originally from Indiana and grew up watching "Hoosiers" every Friday or Saturday night at the local high school. I see that same enthusiam for basketball as I have traveled the state and talked to people about our efforts to bring a pro team to Maine.

Just to give you a little background on what we have done to date. Last July I spoke with the NBADL about buying a franchise for New England. After reviewing the business model and financials I could see this was a great opportunity. The D-League had radically changed its business model from the NBA owning all of the teams to local ownership groups buying franchises. The D-League also created the affiliation system which means D-League teams will be affiliated with NBA teams like a true minor league system. The D-League is on the verge of becoming one of the most important basketball leagues in the world. Even now the L.A. Lakers and San Antonio Spurs have bought their own D-League affiliates. When I was an assistant coach with the Celtics we could only dream of having this type of minor league system.

After forming our ownership group and submitting our application, the NBA D-League President Dan Reed and NBA D-League Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Shawn Smith visited Portland a few weeks ago. The City of Portland and State of Maine officials went all out for their visit and we cannot thank them enough. I think Dan and Shawn were blown away by the support and enthusiam for bringing a D-League team to Maine.

This entire effort of buying a D-League franchise would not be possible without the support and partnership with Bill Ryan, Sr. and Bill Ryan, Jr. Bill, Sr. is the chairman of TD Banknorth and one of the best businessmen in the country. Bill, Jr. is a lawyer and successful owner of Oxford Plains Speedway. Bill, Jr. and I are working closely together to make sure our efforts lead to a franchise. If we get a franchise in Maine, it will be because of the Ryans!

Currently we continue to work with the NBADL on several issues before hopefully being awarded a franchise in the spring. I hope this is the first of many posts. We know we do not have all of the answers or ideas hence this blog. We want and need your input as we move forward. Please let us know your thoughts about the possibility of bringing the team to Maine or anything on your mind.