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 Reports
out of San Juan claim that the owner of the
Continental Basketball Association's Puerto Rico
Coquis will move his team to Birmingham before
the 1985-86 season. "There is a very good
possibility that Birmingham will be the home of
a CBA team next season," said Robert Jones, a
team representative."I am currently
negotiating with representatives of the State
Fair Authority for a lease of the State Fair
Arena, and everything is contingent on those
negotiations. If we can obtain a workable lease
agreement, I am 99 percent certain that
Birmingham will have professional basketball
next season. The people that I am representing
are very serious about Birmingham, even though
they have surveyed other cities in Alabama and
Georgia. Birmingham is at the top of the list
because the city is felt to be a good sports
city. We would like a lease of the Fair Park
Arena because it would best suit our needs. The
Birmingham-Jefferson County Civic Center would
be too large for our needs and Boutwell
Auditorium isn't acceptable to us," Jones said.
The fourteen team Continental Basketball
League was originally founded on April 23, 1946
as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League.
At some point, the EPBL renamed itself the
Eastern Basketball Association. On June 1, 1978,
the EBA became the Continental Basketball
Association to better reflect the geographical
expansion of the league. Since 1980, the CBA has
been the official developmental league of the
National Basketball Association. In addition to
financial assistance, the CBA grooms players,
coaches and officials.
The Coquis are owned by San Juan insurance
executive Walter Fournier and are playing in
their second season as a CBA expansion team.
Fournier wants to relocate the franchise due to
poor attendance and Birmingham has been the only
city named as a likely candidate. The Coquis
have only averaged around 300 people per game
this season despite finishing in first place for
the regular season last year. |
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It is learned that the Alabama State Fair
Authority Board has reached a tentative
agreement with representatives of the Coquis for
rental of the State Fair Arena. If a board
committee and an attorney for the franchise
decide to sign a contract, the team would play
at least twenty-four home games in the arena
this winter. The terms are for three years with
the franchise posting a $25,000 certificate of
deposit to offset any loss by the Authority if
the team fails to stay for the three years. The
team would pay $1,500 per game for the use of
the arena and would receive forty-one percent of
concession income. |
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Local attorney Bob Jones announces that the
Puerto Rico Coquis will not be moving to
Birmingham. Jones, who had been handling the
negotiations for Caquis owner Walter Fournier,
said the delays in securing a lease for the
State Fair Arena forced a decision not to move
here. Even though a tentative agreement was
reached, the State Fair Authority would not
commit to the agreement before the league
deadline for moving the team passed. "I think
the CBA is still interested in Birmingham. But
we just ran out of time as far as the 1985-86
season is concerned," Jones said. |
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The Continental Basketball Association did
indeed come to Birmingham. However, it wasn't
until 1991. In search of a larger fan base,
the owner of the CBA's Pensacola Tornados moved
his team to Birmingham. The team didn't make
many new fans and the team moved at the end of
the season to Rochester, Minnesota. |
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