The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) was an American

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

basketball league that operated from to . Founded in 1969, the league originally began from an idea to keep the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

players from the Central States Football League in shape during the offseason. The ''Continental'' name was chosen over ''Central States Basketball League'' so that it would be more inviting to potential teams outside of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, where the football league was based. The CBA played using

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

rules, which included a 24-second

shot clock A shot clock is a countdown timer used in a variety of games and sports, proving a set amount of time that a team may possess the object of play before attempting to score a goal. Shot clocks are used in several sports including basketball, wat ...

. Each team played a 20-game schedule, divided into 10 home games and 10 away. The six inaugural teams in 1969–70 were located in Illinois ( Decatur, Peoria, Rockford and Waukegan),

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

(

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

) and Wisconsin ( Waukesha). The Waukesha team began the season based in

Cudahy, Wisconsin Cudahy () is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 18,204 at the 2020 census. History Originally known as the Buckhorn Settlement, it was renamed in the late 1800s when Patrick Cudahy purchased of land in the ...

, but moved mid-season due to lack of fan support. Though they were on top of the league's standings, the Medalist Mods were second to last in attendance. Waukesha went on to win the league title that season. During the 1970–71 season, the NBA

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

entered a player-development agreement with the CBA Milwaukee Muskies. The Bucks ended the relationship the following season and the Muskies folded as a result. The Chicagoland Travelers (originally named the Northwest Chicagoland Travelers) also folded after the 1970–71 season because they failed to come up with the $20,000–$30,000 in annual operating costs. The CBA folded after its 1973–74 season.

References

External links

Continental Basketball Association 1969-70 to 1973-74
at APBR.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Continental Basketball Association (1969-1974) Defunct professional sports leagues in the United States Sports leagues established in 1969 Sports leagues disestablished in 1974 Basketball leagues in the United States