Unfortunate News From CBA Headquarters

CBAThe Continental Basketball Association employs many talented athletes and coaches, and has provided an excellent venue for athletes to show their skill before making a jump to the D-League or overseas for over fifty years.  At the end of 2008, I heard a rumor that the CBA was thinking about folding after not finding enough funding to finance its teams.  That worry was eventually put aside, and the 2008-09 season began, with Dynasty clients on a few of the rosters.  Yesterday, a press release from the CBA affirmed what many of us feared back in 2008. The CBA needs resuscitation and may be gone for good.

ALBANY, NY (February 2, 2009) – The Continental Basketball Association today announced that they have abbreviated the remainder of the 2008-09 season. The regular season will conclude on February 3. The CBA will then hold a three-game series in Albany with the top two teams in the league standings facing off, the Albany Patroons and the Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry, to determine the 2008-09 CBA Champion.

The CBA Finals will start on Thursday, February 5 with Game 1. Game 2 will take place on Saturday, February 7 and if necessary, Game 3 will be on Sunday, February 8. All games will take place in Albany at the Washington Avenue Armory. Game time for all three games is 7:00 PM EST.

“Due to the ever increasing problems with the economy, the CBA has decided to abbreviate the remainder of the regular season,” stated CBA Commissioner Dennis Truax. “This is the best course of action for the CBA to take at this time. The economy has affected us all and we are now directly seeing the fallout from that. We will be holding an owners meeting during the finals as we look to restructure the CBA and come back next season stronger than ever.”

I thought sports were immune to a struggling economy? Not so much. This is very disappointing news for my company and many other players and coaches employed by the CBA. In a matter of months, two large “minor leagues” have folded with an ounce of hope that they will return in the future. The Arena Football League and the Continental Basketball Association will be missed this year. Will they ever return?

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.

5 replies on “Unfortunate News From CBA Headquarters”

what does this mean for dynasty? with basketball clients not good enough for the nba or europe will you abandon the basketball division or wait till this years draft?

Darren and others with insight, what effects do you think this will have on lower leverl basketball representation? As an aspiring basketball agent this worries me as this was a league in which i viewed as an opportunity break into the business. Also, do you see any other leagues folding, not just basketball but for all lower level sports?

Lower level representation in any sport is looking rough. The CBA ended early, the AFL never got started. Will the new UFL ever begin? How about talks about a re-birth of the USFL? Is it even worth throwing your clients at these leagues that seem to be destined to fail? False sense of hope?

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