The American Basketball League was the first independent professional basketball league for women in the United States. The ABL lasted two full seasons: 1996–97 and 1997–98. On December 22, 1998; with almost no warning, the ABL declared

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

and suspended operations. Each team had played between 12 and 15 games of the 1998–99 season.

Television package

Ultimately, the ABL never did land a major TV contract. None of the ABL games were broadcast nationally or on prime television channels for basketball.

SportsChannel

When the ABL began operations in 1996, its games were carried by the SportsChannel regional networks and Black Entertainment Television ( BET) under a two-year contract. SportsChannel would televise 12 games on Sunday nights while BET would televise only 8 games on Saturday nights. SportsChannel televised the

San Jose Lasers The San Jose Lasers were a women's professional basketball team in San Jose, California. It was a member of the American Basketball League. Their home games were primarily held at the San Jose State Event Center with an occasional game being p ...

' opening game on Friday, October 25, 1996 and would televise their January 5 game against the

Richmond Rage Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

BET

BET initially would televise eight Saturday night games, starting with the

New England Blizzard The New England Blizzard was a women's professional basketball franchise based in Hartford, Connecticut. The Blizzard was a charter member of the American Basketball League (1996–98), American Basketball League (ABL). Playing from 1996 through 1 ...

at the

Columbus Quest The Columbus Quest was a professional women's basketball franchise located in Columbus, Ohio in the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL). They were one of the league's original eight teams that started play in 1996. In the league's b ...

on January 4, 1997 and ending with a playoff semifinal February 22. New England home games on January 25 and February 15 would also be shown during the 1996–97 season. Come the second year, the ABL's television package included 36 games combined on Fox Sports Net and BET. During 1997, the ABL averaged a 0.6

rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of quality, quantity, or some combination of both. Rating or ratings may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness of an individual, c ...

while rival league, the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) scored nearly a 2 rating on NBC. A rating point is equal to 980,000 TV households. Besides NBC's weekly game, ESPN and the

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channel also each got a weekly WNBA game. That's a total weekly exposure of 130 million homes, more than double the 66 million the ABL reached on SportsChannel and BET. BET was scheduled to televise 12 games on Saturday nights. After broadcasting four games in December 1997, the remaining eight would be aired starting on January 4 and the following Saturdays through February. The ABL's revenue came solely from the BET. In comparison, the WNBA (as previously mentioned) boasted major television deals with NBC, ESPN, and the Lifetime cable network. BET would use the games to build a lead-in audience for reruns of ''

227 Year 227 ( CCXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Senecio and Fulvius (or, less frequently, year 980 ''Ab urbe condi ...

''.

Fox Sports Net

When league officials were negotiating with Fox Sports Net, it was in revision of a contract that the league signed with Fox Sports Net's forerunner, Prime Network. The ABL games were often broadcast on tape delay on BET and Fox Sports Net. All the while, the ABL had paid a fee to have two games of its championship series aired on CBS had the 1998–99 season been played in full and 16 games on Fox Sports Net, which at the time consisted 22 regional sports cable channels, up to seven playoff games, including all of the best-of-5 ABL championship series. Fox Sports Net's primary broadcast team included Tracy Warren (play-by-play),

Debbie Antonelli Debbie Antonelli is a college basketball analyst who works for ESPN, Big Ten Network, CBS, FOX, and Westwood One. She also does WNBA games for ESPN and NBATV, and has been the main play-by-play voice of the Indiana Fever; since its inception, in ...

(color commentary), and

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(sideline reporter). Also utilized by Fox Sports Net were Ron Barr (play-by-play) and Debbie Gore (color commentary).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:American Basketball League (1996-1998) on television Fox Sports Networks original programming BET original programming SportsChannel History of sports broadcasting