The American Basketball League, often abbreviated to the ABL of 1996 was a professional women's
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
league in the United States. At the same time the ABL was being formed, the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
(NBA) was creating the
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.
The WNBA w ...
(WNBA). The ABL began league competition in the Fall of 1996, while the WNBA launched its first game in June 1997. Both organizations came into existence during a surge in popularity for women's basketball in the United States that followed the perfect 35–0 national championship season for the
Connecticut Huskies in 1995 and the undefeated, gold medal-winning performance of the
United States Women's basketball team at the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
.
The ABL lasted two full seasons: 1996–97 and 1997–98. The
Atlanta Glory and
Long Beach Stingrays folded prior to the start of the 1998–99 season, and were replaced by two expansion teams, the
Chicago Condors and
Nashville Noise. 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, w ...
and suspended operations. Each team had played between 12 and 15 games of the 1998–99 season.
The ABL got off the ground before the WNBA, and at least early on its quality of play was higher than the rival league. This was partly due to the league's signing of a majority of players from the 1996 USA women's national team. Although the WNBA was bankrolled by the NBA, the ABL offered higher salaries. The two leagues did not compete directly; the ABL played during the winter while the WNBA played during the summer. However, this arrangement put the ABL in competition with the established men's NBA for an audience. Ultimately, the ABL found the WNBA's stronger financial resources—augmented by the NBA's marketing machine—to be too much to overcome.
The league operated as a single-entity structure, which was intended to control costs until it found its feet. However, it also meant that even the most basic decisions related to team operations had to go through the league office in
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
Th ...
. The ABL was also under-financed.
Of all the ABL cities,
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
, and
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
now have WNBA teams.
1996–98 clubs
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:500px height:auto barincrement:25
Period = from:1996 till:1999
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:60 bottom:20 top:0
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData =
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:Glory color:coral from:1996 till:1998 text: Atlanta Glory
bar:Quest color:coral from:1996 till:end text: Columbus Quest
bar:Blizzard color:coral from:1996 till:end text: New England Blizzard
bar:Rage color:magenta from:1996 till:1997 text:Richmond Rage
bar:Rage color:coral from:1997 till:end text: Philadelphia Rage
bar:Condors color:coral from:1998 till:1999 text: Chicago Condors
bar:Noise color:coral from:1998 till:end text: Nashville Noise
bar:Xplosion color:skyblue from:1996 till:end text: Colorado Xplosion
bar:Power color:skyblue from:1996 till:end text: Portland Power
bar:Lasers color:skyblue from:1996 till:end text: San Jose Lasers
bar:Reign color:skyblue from:1996 till:end text: Seattle Reign
bar:Stingrays color:skyblue from:1997 till:1998 text: Long Beach Stingrays
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1996
Seasons
1996–97
The 1996–97 ABL All-Star Game was played on December 15, 1996, at the
Hartford Civic Center. The Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference, 81–65, and the game's MVP was
Tari Phillips.
1997–98
The 1997–98 ABL All-Star Game was played on January 18, 1998, at
Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in
Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference, 102–73.
1998–99
The 1998–99 ABL All-Star Game was scheduled to be played on January 24, 1999, in
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...
, but was canceled when the league ceased operations in December 1998.
Notable players
*
Jennifer Azzi
*
Debbie Black
*
Cindy Brown
*
Edna Campbell
*
Sylvia Crawley
*
Teresa Edwards
*
Tonya Edwards, now head coach at
Alcorn State University
*
Shalonda Enis
*
Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the Olympic-champion long jumper and heptathlete
*
Molly Goodenbour
*
Yolanda Griffith
*
Sonja Henning
*
Kedra Holland-Corn
*
Shannon Johnson
*
Carolyn Jones-Young
*
Venus Lacy
*
Andrea Lloyd-Curry
*
Stacey Lovelace
*
Michelle M. Marciniak
*
Nikki McCray
*
Carla McGhee
*
Chasity Melvin
*
Delisha Milton
*
Taj McWilliams-Franklin
*
Kate Paye, now head coach at
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
*
Tari Phillips
*
Elaine Powell
*
Katrina Price
*
Jennifer Rizzotti, now the President of the
Connecticut Sun
*
Crystal Robinson
*
Saudia Roundtree
*
Sheri Sam
*
Katie Smith, now an assistant coach for the
Minnesota Lynx
*
Charlotte Smith, now the head coach at
Elon University
Elon University is a private university in Elon, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1889 as Elon College, the university is organized into six schools, most of which offer bachelor's degrees and several of which offer master's degrees or ...
*
Dawn Staley, now the head coach at the
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...
*
Katy Steding
*
Kate Starbird
*
Sonja Tate
*
Val Whiting
*
Natalie Williams, now the general manager of the
Las Vegas Aces
*
Kara Wolters
See also
*
National Women's Basketball League
*
Women's American Basketball Association
*
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.
The WNBA w ...
*
Women's Professional Basketball League
The Women's Professional Basketball League (abbreviated WBL) was a professional women's basketball league in the United States. The league played three seasons from the fall of 1978 to the spring of 1981. The league was the first professional w ...
*
American Basketball League (1996–1998) on television
References
External links
John Sage's ABL webpage capture, containing old interviews, articles, and final statisticsProfessional basketball research
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Basketball League (1996-1998)
Defunct women's basketball leagues in the United States
Defunct professional sports leagues in the United States
Articles which contain graphical timelines
1996 establishments in the United States
1998 disestablishments in the United States
Sports leagues established in 1996
Sports leagues disestablished in 1998