BY DERRICK GINGERY, Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly
derrickg@fwbusiness.com
John Zeglis' background at AT&T played a big part in Fort Wayne gaining a professional basketball team.
AT&T advertised heavily with the National Basketball Association, and Zeglis, as chairman and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services, got to know NBA Commissioner David Stern. After Zeglis retired and relocated to Culver, he and his son-in-law, Jeff Potter, began talking about creating a professional sports team.
After settling on basketball over baseball and indoor football, Zeglis' thoughts quickly turned to the NBA Development League. He used his relationship with Stern to bring the 16th Development League franchise in Fort Wayne.
For Zeglis, the team will be another venture to occupy his time during retirement.
"I fill time on campuses and with the corporate boards I'm involved in," he said. "This is just the extra thing I needed."
The team will begin the 2007-08 season in the fall at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. It will be the first professional basketball team located in town since the Fort Wayne Fury and Continental Basketball Association folded in 2001.
The team has not been named yet, but fans can help chose a name. A list of potential names that fans can chose from will be posted on the team's Web site, www.fortwaynehoops.com.
Zeglis said the ownership group considered several other cities, including others in Indiana, as potential locations. But he said Fort Wayne kept coming up with "trumps."
"I would not have asked my daughter and her husband and 6-week-old grandson to move to Fort Wayne if I didn't think it was real," he said.
The list of local team investors, or "members" as they are called, includes former Fury owner Jay Frye, attorney Dennis Sutton, Chad Parent of Fort Wayne OrthoSport, Diana Parent of Parke Group and Tim and Tom Borne of Asher Agency.
Asher will handle advertising and public relations for the team. Tim Borne said the firm will oversee the design of the logo and sales kits and also do some broadcast and print advertising.
He said after meeting Zeglis, he and his brother decided to invest in the team.
"He's been one of the biggest corporate moguls in America," Tim Borne said. "To have his expertise and to chose Fort Wayne is just very exciting."
Having weekend games are key for the team because they are the best opportunity to sell tickets. The D-League regular season and playoffs run from November through April. Finding enough weekend dates at the coliseum was a challenge with professional hockey and college basketball already under contract to use the arena during the same time.
Zeglis said he plans on the team playing several games on Thursdays, as well as some on Fridays and Saturdays. But he said the team's big game day will be Sunday. Start times still are unknown.
"It depends on when the Colts kick off," Zeglis said.
The NBA plans for the D-League to become a full-fledged farm system for its franchises to develop talent. The league now is for first- and second-year players who are not ready for NBA competition.
The D-League has 12 teams playing in the current season. Some are affiliated with three NBA franchises. Ultimately, the NBA would like to expand the league to 30 teams, one for each NBA franchise.
Potter, a former county prosecutor in Illinois who played basketball at the University of Oregon, will be team president. The 6-foot-10 former forward jokingly opened his press conference April 10 by assuring the gathering he would not be hiring himself to play this year.
Potter said he will expect team members to be leaders in community service.