Pro basketball coming here

By John Kovach

The Youngstown Swish hope to play some games at the Chevrolet Centre.

YOUNGSTOWN — A new professional sports franchise is coming to Youngstown and possibly to the Chevrolet Centre.

The Youngstown Swish, co-owned by Dave Stambul of New Castle, a Youngstown State graduate, and Dennis Paige of Youngstown, is the newest team in the American Basketball Association and is hoping to play at least half of its home games at the Chevrolet Centre.

Youngstown will be the 40th member of the nationwide ABA and will begin play in December 2009 as a member of the 11-team Northeast Division that will include two other Ohio franchises, Cleveland and Columbus.

“We are considering playing the other games at Beeghly [Center], Mooney and Ursuline,” said Stambul, a Mohawk High graduate who played basketball there and at YSU for two seasons under coach Dan Peters, and also coached at Butler County Community College.

“We have it broke out that we have to attract at least 800 people for home games,” said Stambul. “We would be able to stay around for awhile with that number. Tickets will be between $10-15 dollars.”

Ken Bigley, executive assistant for the Chevrolet Centre, confirmed he has had some preliminary discussions with Stambul about the Swish playing some of their games there, but that no agreement has been reached as yet.

Stambul, who obtained a bachelor of science degree in sports management from YSU in 1999 and coached the Butler County Community College basketball team from 2005-07, is a familiar sports promoter in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.

Since 2001, he has operated the Local Competitive Athletic Association, which promotes both adult and youth sports leagues throughout the region, and serves as the organization’s commissioner. He also has organized basketball fundraisers with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Quicken Loans Arena.

Stambul said Columbus and Anchorage, Alaska, also will be new ABA franchises in 2009.

He believes the Youngstown area will support a professional basketball team that is based at the Chevrolet Centre, just like it has backed the Youngstown SteelHounds and Mahoning Valley Phantoms hockey teams, and the Mahoning Valley Thunder.

“I feel there is a passion for basketball in the Youngstown area and with the help of the ABA and the Swish, I believe that passion can be developed to serve, not only the players, but also the community of Youngstown,” said Stambul, who hopes to develop corporate partnerships and sponsors and to create a first-class business and marketing team to promote the team.

Paige, who serves as special events coordinator for the Swish, said that the team “is dedicated to impacting the local youth and the community of Youngstown through basketball.”

Stambul said the ABA is very interested in the Chevrolet Centre.

“[ABA chief executive officer Joe] Newman is aware of the Chevrolet Centre and said that would be a good site for the ABA All-Star Game and the ABA Championships,” said Stambul.

“Once we join the league, we could put in a bid for those events and they would bring in big crowds.”

Stambul said most of the Swish games will have to be played on the weekends, but since most of the weekend dates are booked at the Chevrolet Centre, he is hoping to play some games during the week there.

“Regarding playing weekday games, the coaches and players have other jobs so we would have to play most of the games on weekends,” he said.

“But, with franchises in Cleveland and Columbus with the shorter driving distances, we could schedule some weekday games which we could fit in at the Centre to have more games there.”

Stambul said the Swish is in the process of building the franchise, and that a timetable has been set for development.

“My next step is to get a head coach in place,” said Stambul, who hopes to complete that process by mid-January.

“Once we put together the staff, we can start recruiting and making contacts with players. Then we will begin holding training camps and exposure camps. We want to stay as local as possible [with players].

Stambul said applications for coaches, players, front-office personnel, marketing and sales currently are being accepted, and can be e-mailed to dave@youngstownswish.com, or by calling (330) 774-5845.

Stambul also is encouraging area investors and businesses to contact him for information and details about opportunities to sponsor and advertise with the team.

“We want to lock down partnerships with local sponsors, and we’ve got the ball rolling on that right now,” said Stambul.

kovach@vindy.com

XInformation about the team or the ABA can be found at www.youngstownswish.com or www.abalive.com.