For Yeadon, an American basketball dream
YEADON » Even as the NBA remains inactive, Darrin “Slim” Akers has not given up on the idea of professional basketball in and around the Philadelphia market. Into that gap, then, will enter the Yeadon Kings, one of two Delaware County-based expansion franchises in the reimagined American Basketball Association of the 21st century.
“I got together with a couple of friends and I pitched the idea to them,” Akers said. “And they said, ‘This will be great.’”
Philadelphia born and Yeadon raised, Akers last season was the owner of the ABA’s Camden Monarchs. Long an acquaintance of ABA CEO Joe Newman, Akers owns a brand-management company called Dead Poetz Society, which assists rising artists and entertainers.
Involved in the All-City Basketball Classic, a showcase event for young players in the Philadelphia area, Akers’ ABA investors include Anthony Hinton, Bryant Tucker, Carl Graham and Marcel Chase, all of Yeadon.
Akers’ plan is to begin play in November with a schedule of games at Penn Wood High. At the same time, Collingdale businessman Kinji Ridley will operate the ABA Delco Desperados at the Collingdale Community Center.
As late as Sunday evening, it was not certain both teams could exist just 3.2 miles away from one another, considering pressures to attract fans and sponsors. With the ABA acknowledging that the Collingdale group was the first to be awarded a franchise, Ridley was not immediately warm to another team in his market.
By Sunday changed.
“We’re both going to play,” he said. “We are working out the details. But there was a settlement.”
The Kings will train at the Bell Ave. Elementary School on MacDade Blvd. According to Susan Packard, the ABA’s Vice President for New Team Development, Akers is a qualified team owner.
“Yes,” she said, emphatically. “He is a great guy. Joe has known Slim for a very long time. He has a lot at stake in flexibility to build a good franchise. So when he tells you he is putting a franchise up there, somewhere up there, I think he will do everything right.”
The Yeadon expansion plans, which dropped last week, resulted in some unexpected complications. According to Newman, an agreement with the Desperados had to be in place before another league team could operate so close to Collingdale.
“I don’t want to upset the apple cart,” he said. “We want to make this a win-win situation.”
As it exists in its second life, the ABA is always looking to grow. According to Newman, 175 teams will compete in the coming season. Broken into six regions, the ABA licenses teams in major-leaguesized markets and in towns as compact as Yeadon (population 11,471). Philadelphia had a team last season, the Cannons, who played at the Lucien E. Blackwell Community Center in West Philly. There are ABA franchises on record in York and New York, in West Chester and in San Diego, in Pottstown and in Las Vegas, in the Lehigh Valley and Shizuoka, Japan.
There have been ABA teams in Canada, Australia, China and, last season, Norristown,
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though, Newman said, there is a proposal to relocate that franchise to Florida. There are plans for an expansion team in Reading. At one time, there was a team called the Reigning Knights of Georgia. Dennis Rodman, Packard said, once played for the since-extinct Dragones de Tijuana.
Though technically not connected to the legendarily rebellious ABA of 1970s that developed Julius Erving, George Gervin, Moses Malone and multiple superstars before eventually merging the Nuggets, Spurs, Nets and Pacers into the NBA, there is a loose lineage, as the new ABA was required to rent the name from the NBA when it began in 1999. And don’t worry. The league still uses the iconic red, white and blue basketball.
According to Packard, ownership groups are required to pay a one-time fee of $2,500 for franchising rights, which they can keep as long as they continue to participate in the league. A scan of vanished ABA organizations suggests that franchise failure is chronic.
Beyond the up-front cost, said Graham, an ABA team will need to invest about
$70,000 annually in salary, and other business obligations. In-season road games are limited to regional travel.
An eight-team postseason tournament in Binghamton, N.Y., will match the best teams from the many ABA regions, though this year it was cancelled amid virus concerns.
Yeadon players can expect to be paid anywhere from
$100 per game to $1,000 per month, Akers said. Converse and Modish, a line of apparel, are among the Kings’ committed sponsors, with additional advertisers interested, Graham said. Gatorade may have an interest, according to Akers.
Ticket prices for Kings games will be $10, with available $30 VIP seating, which will come with complementary refreshments.
The Kings are planning three tryout camps and are determined to fill their roster with Delaware County talent. According to Akers, former Philadelphia high school star Rysheed Jordan appeared in some games last season for Camden, and may play this season for the Kings. Jordon
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had played for St. John’s before serving a jail sentence following a shooting incident in North Philadelphia.
“This is a second-chance league,” Akers said. “Everybody needs a second chance to prove themselves. This is a league built on that.”
Also potentially supplying the Kings with star power will be Gillie Da Kid. The Philadelphia-based entertainer with some demonstrated basketball skill, he generated substantial social-media buzz after surviving one tryout round with the G-League Delaware Blue Coats under his basketball name, Chauncey Gillups. Another player the Kings are targeting, according to Hinton, is Tyreek Duren, of Yeadon, who played college basketball at La Salle and professionally overseas.
The Kings do not have a coach, but Akers said the general manager will be Mo Boykins, the girls coach at
Penn Wood High. A logo and uniform design will drop soon. Team colors will be red, white, blue and yellow. As for the ticketing, marketing and sales tasks, Akers said he will recruit interns from Delaware County Community College.
“It’s a way for kids to learn they can be more than just a basketball player,” Akers said. “Everybody thinks, ‘Oh, I am going to be a basketball player. That’s my way out. That’s the way I’m going to be rich.’ But everybody can’t be a basketball player. So we are going to teach them the business side of things. There are other ways to be successful in the sports business.”
Akers and his partners believe minor-league pro basketball will be successful on the Delco-Philly border.
By Sunday night, it was official.
“We made an agreement,” Akers said. “We will be playing in Yeadon this season.”