Continental Basketball Association - Bellevue Nighthawks

Bellevue will join CBA for next season

By Jayda Evans
Seattle Times staff reporter

BELLEVUE — If yesterday's news conference announcing the new Bellevue Nighthawks had happened last year, it would have included the introduction of Jack Sikma as the team's coach.

But scheduling kinks kept Bellevue from joining the Continental Basketball Association last year. And Sikma, a Sonics legend, went on to be hired as an assistant coach for his former team.

So the Nighthawks are beginning the first phase of building a team — finding a coach.

Michael Tuckman, president and general manager of the professional team, officially announced the emergence of the Nighthawks with CBA commissioner Gary Hunter. Tuckman said he hoped to have a coach in place by January, although the team won't be formed until next spring.

"For 24 hours we had Jack Sikma as our head coach," Tuckman said. "Unfortunately, things didn't work out. We have a list of about a dozen names and we're taking referrals. We want a coach that has head-coaching experience. And it doesn't have to be professional. It could be at the college or even high-school level."

The Nighthawks will play a 48-game season beginning Nov. 15, 2004. The CBA is comprised of seven teams, but that could balloon to 11 by next fall. In addition to Bellevue, Muskegon, Mich., Southfield, Mich., and Rapid City, S.D., also are looking to join the league.

Muskegon has already made its announcement. Southfield, a suburb of Detroit, and Rapid City are further behind in their plans, according to Hunter. One or both may not be ready to play until 2005-06.

The boom in cities clamoring for teams is a positive sign for the CBA, which almost was disbanded after NBA legend Isiah Thomas sold his interest in the league three years ago. Hunter blamed Thomas' guidance for the drop in average attendance (from 4,000 before Thomas to 2,600 last season), the league's near folding and possibly the end of the CBA working as a farm league for the NBA, which it had done for 25 years before Thomas. The NBA currently has its own developmental league.

"We have no official relation (to the NBA)," said Hunter, whose league has had several players called up to the NBA through the years. "The last two years we've had the option to merge, but we didn't feel it was economically quite right."

If Hunter changes his mind, Tuckman already has the slogan for a Sonics farm-league team: "Come see the Sonics players of tomorrow, today!" Until then, Tuckman is on his own in building a team.

The CBA uses 10-player rosters, and every player becomes a free agent at the end of the season. The players are either retained by their teams or enticed to relocate. A draft will be in September, where the expansion teams will have the first pick (order is decided by coin flip). The Nighthawks will host open tryouts in August and September.

"We'd like to involve local players as much as possible," Tuckman said.

Players are paid about $1,000 to $1,200 a week and while there isn't a concrete salary cap in the league, owners agree to a certain price range, so as not to price themselves out of making a profit. With these parameters, Tuckman said he needs to average 1,500 fans.

Tuckman, an attorney and co-founder of KONG-TV, said he wants to pack the arena. He agreed to a six-year lease with Bellevue Community College to host games, but his financial group has proposed a $60 million, privately-financed, 8,500-seat sports arena be built in downtown Bellevue. The arena would be used for the Nighthawks, a minor-league professional hockey team (the rights to which Tuckman already owns), high-school events and concerts.

And while Tuckman isn't asking for the public's help in building the arena, he is asking them to help define a "Bellevue Nighthawk." He plans to have a public contest to design the mascot. The colors are already set — purple, black and white.

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com

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