NBA to Direct Women's League

The Lady Lakers? The Lady Celtics? The Lady Knicks?

Women's professional basketball is coming to an NBA arena near you.

The NBA announced Wednesday that it will sponsor a women's league for a 1997 summer season, though no details were given.

Beginning in June of 1997, the NBA expects to run an eight-team women's league, in NBA arenas yet to be identified, sources said. The teams will play a 28-game, June-August schedule.

The NBA plans to hold a draft next April. Training camps would open in mid-May and the season would begin in mid-June.

No decisions have been made on which NBA cities will have women's teams, Commissioner David Stern told owners Wednesday.

"TV is a big factor in all this, and he wants TV people to have some input into what teams will have women's teams," one NBA owner said.

According to the owner, Stern and other NBA staffers made a presentation pointing out a steady growth of TV ratings in recent years for women's college games, rising attendance and interest generated by the 39-0 U.S. National Team, on its way to the Atlanta Olympics.

"Stern told us corporate sponsors love the fan base for the women's game, that's it's basically women, kids and families," the owner said.

Originally, 12 to 16 first-year teams were considered, then 10, then eight.

"It was decided to keep it small, to insure that the first season would be high-quality basketball," the owner said.

The owners were told some players with strong geographic identities would be assigned to hometown areas before the draft--Sheryl Swoopes (Texas Tech) to a Texas team, Lisa Leslie (USC) to a Los Angeles team, Rebecca Lobo (Connecticut) to Boston, if women's teams are placed in those areas.

After coaches are hired, Stern told the owners, the teams will use existing NBA marketing, public relations and promotions staffs.

Owners were also told the women's league in its first season would be operated as a single entity, and that player contracts would be negotiated by the league office.

Women's basketball coaches across the country applauded the NBA's move, but many also expressed concern over the possibility of competing leagues.

As it now stands, the women's game in the United States will in one year go from no pro leagues to two.

The American Basketball League was founded last year by a Palo Alto public relations firm, Cavalli and Cribbs; an Atlanta investor, Bobby Johnson, and former Silicon Valley computer executive Steve Hams.