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The Peoria Kings, the local member of the ABA, has operated in Peoria under the ownership of Prairie Basketball Enterprises, and the Van Antwerp family for the past 2 seasons. Here was an early announcement from 2006--
However, their website is now defunct, and I can't find any evidence that their company, Prairie Basketball Enterprises still exists.
The Peoria Kings suspended operations last November, and apparently there is no plans to revive the franchise for this upcoming season.--
The ABA itself still appears to be in operation, and there are even a number of new expansion teams starting up this year (Aurora, Illinois,-owner is Kenny Battle, Detroit, Modesto, California, Phoenix, Knoxville, and Kansas City).
However, here is their list of teams that are slated to compete in the 2008-2009 season, and the Peoria Kings appear to no longer exist. Their future was doubtful after the scandal last year, but this appears to confirm that there will be no Peoria team in the ABA this year.
The index at the upper left also allow for linking to all the current teams, and there is no Peoria. In fact, searching all the archives of the news releases, there is no mention by the ABA of what happened to the Peoria franchise.
As we reported 3 months ago, former Kings coach Sergio McClain has a new job as head coach at D2 junior college Parkland, near Champaign.--
The ABA has developed a new marketing campaign and slogan for 2008-2009, "ABA - MORE THAN JUST A GAME".--
But recall that there was a bit of a scandal last year involving the owners of the Peoria Kings. The same people owned and ran a franchise in Rochester, Minnesota. They hired a general manager there named Steve Rodriguez. He had a really shady past, and he sold corporate sponsorships to Rochester area businesses to the tune of around $100,000 in revenues, then he disappeared off the face of the earth, taking all the money with him. It caused the owners to fold both franchises.--
However, their website is now defunct, and I can't find any evidence that their company, Prairie Basketball Enterprises still exists.
The Peoria Kings suspended operations last November, and apparently there is no plans to revive the franchise for this upcoming season.--
The ABA itself still appears to be in operation, and there are even a number of new expansion teams starting up this year (Aurora, Illinois,-owner is Kenny Battle, Detroit, Modesto, California, Phoenix, Knoxville, and Kansas City).
However, here is their list of teams that are slated to compete in the 2008-2009 season, and the Peoria Kings appear to no longer exist. Their future was doubtful after the scandal last year, but this appears to confirm that there will be no Peoria team in the ABA this year.
The index at the upper left also allow for linking to all the current teams, and there is no Peoria. In fact, searching all the archives of the news releases, there is no mention by the ABA of what happened to the Peoria franchise.
As we reported 3 months ago, former Kings coach Sergio McClain has a new job as head coach at D2 junior college Parkland, near Champaign.--
The ABA has developed a new marketing campaign and slogan for 2008-2009, "ABA - MORE THAN JUST A GAME".--
But recall that there was a bit of a scandal last year involving the owners of the Peoria Kings. The same people owned and ran a franchise in Rochester, Minnesota. They hired a general manager there named Steve Rodriguez. He had a really shady past, and he sold corporate sponsorships to Rochester area businesses to the tune of around $100,000 in revenues, then he disappeared off the face of the earth, taking all the money with him. It caused the owners to fold both franchises.--