Patroons, league try to survive
Albany qualifies for playoffs, but low attendance a problem
The Basketball League is limping to the finish line.
Sunday, the Albany Patroons played their second-to-last regular season game when they beat the Jamestown Jackals 110-98 at Washington Avenue Armory behind 21 points from Shadell Millinghaus and 20 from Steven Cunningham.
The win secured a spot for the Patroons in the upcoming TBL playoffs.
The top four teams qualify for the playoffs. The Yakima Sunkings will finish first and the Mesquite Devil Dogs second and they will face off in the first round because of proximity to each other (the Kansas City Tornadoes were in second place in the league but have ceased operations according to Patroons coach Derrick Rowland).
The Patroons (16-11) and Raleigh Firebirds (15-11) will meet in the best-of-three series in the East. Raleigh is coming to Albany for a game Friday. Depending on how the Firebirds do during the week, the game could be a regular season game or the first game of the playoff series.
It has been a trying year for the league, which started with 10 teams and is now at nine after the New York Court Kings disbanded. The Patroons, once the poster boy for minor league basketball, have been struggling financially all season long. There are only two full-time employees in the front office, head coach Derrick Rowland and general manager Mike Corts.
“I spend less time coaching than I am doing everything else,” Rowland said.
Game-night attendance has not been what Rowland thought it would be. Sunday’s announced crowd was 476; it appeared like there were 150 at the Armory. Maybe.
At the start of the season, Rowland said the team needed to average 800 fans per game for this to work. That average has not been met.
“We need more than a few hundred fans in the Armory to make a lot of sense,” said David Magley, the president of The Basketball League.
Magley desperately wants to see this succeed in Albany because he has a history here. He played for the Patroons in the 1983-84 season and was Rowland’s teammate. They are friends.
Magley said the Patroons have been averaging between 400-500 fans per night, but said the number of those fans that have paid is half that number. The Patroons, in an attempt to get more people interested in them have given away tickets to groups in hopes they will come back to future games.
“They are not sick, but they are not healthy,” Magley said.
He also hinted that perhaps it’s time for the team to find a new home court.
“I think we have to look at the Armory,” Magley said. “We have to make money at some point.”
The quick solution, of course, would be for the team to get an owner. Having some kind of financial stability would go a long way in bringing this team back for a third season.
Magley said he hopes to have more teams closer in proximity to Albany next season. He mentioned cities such as Binghamton, Syracuse, Buffalo and Springfield, Mass. There is already a team in place in Rochester for next season.
Magley also is exploring the possibility of having teams in Troy and/or Schenectady, although there have been no discussions with anyone about that.
“We are trying to do as much as we can for people to get to know who we are,” Rowland said. “We know it takes time. We want to be back next season.”
Magley said the league owns the franchises in Owensboro and Mesquite and it has also helped out the Patroons financially.
There is no owner listed for the Patroons. Rowland, besides being the coach, has done a lot the marketing work along with Corts and Rocco Ricchiuti, the team’s director of sales.
Rowland hopes this team is back for next season, but he knows the Patroons need help.
“There are a lot of obstacles here,” Rowland said. “But we are determined to make this work.”