Five teams meet NBL Canada deadline

SAINT JOHN - Five ownership groups have met the deadline for applications to join the National Basketball League of Canada. Groups from Barrie, Ont., and Charlottetown, P.E.I. submitted their applications along with $25,000 deposits Wednesday. They join Ontario applicants from Kingston, Oshawa and London. A group from New Hampshire, which was trying to establish a franchise in Moncton, did not apply while another group from Laval, Que. had not made their intentions known as of 11 p.m.
"I know that Prince Edward Island and Laval, Que., and Moncton were all working hard today to get paperwork in," Ian McCarthy, interim chief operating officer for the league, said early Wednesday evening. "Moncton and P.E.I. were going right down to the wire." Charlottetown businessmen Duncan Shaw and Darren MacKay met earlier this week with Mayor Clifford Lee to negotiate bringing a team to the P.E.I. capital. They managed to get the application in late Wednesday night. Barrie also cut it close.
A decision on all five applications will be made prior to the league's first general meeting June 29 in Toronto.
"We evaluate their applications based on financial ability to have their franchise as well as paying the fee to join and then they need to have a lease that they end up signing with their venue.
Those are really the things that lead to them being approved," McCarthy said.
The cost of establishing a team is estimated between $500,000 and $750,000 and applicants now have until June 29 to negotiate an arena lease.
 "Today's (Wednesday) deadline was just that they submit the application, it wasn't that they were approved, so we wanted to have sometime before the owners meeting June 29 to make sure that the teams we invite to the owners meeting were approved and be able to announce those all at once and be able to get dates so we can do a schedule in July. That's why this date is ahead of the owners meeting date," McCarthy said. McCarthy said he thought the Laval group would be applying for the 2012-2013 season, while Bill Miller from the New Hampshire group said they will be working toward next season as well. "To think that all these franchises are coming to the table paying fees to join and understand the division of the league and really getting on board in a short amount of time is really exciting," said McCarthy, also the general manager and president of the Saint John Mill Rats.
The Mill Rats, Halifax Rainmen and Quebec Kebs established the Canadian pro league in May after three seasons playing in the Premier Basketball League.
The league is to open training camps in October with a 30-game regular season and playoff schedule to be played between November and March. Following the June 29 meeting, the league is to announce its member teams for next season. Schedules, a draft date and league rules are to be decided in July.
Its board will also vote on the minimum number of Canadian players each team must have on its roster. McCarthy estimated that number will be between two and four.

* Curtsey of Telegraph Journal-Canada