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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL
Wanted:An owner for an International Basketball League franchise in Lincoln.
If Mikal Duilio finds one for his new league with an old name, an up-tempo style of basketball could hit town by April.
Duilio, founder and commissioner of the IBL, was in Lincoln on Monday searching for prospective owners. He and members of his organization are making presentations in more than 40 cities with hopes of finding 12 teams by December.
Lincoln, which has minor-league professional teams in baseball and indoor football and an amateur hockey team, has never been home to a professional basketball franchise. The closest team was the Omaha Racers, a Continental Basketball Association franchise that folded in 1997.
Duilio has yet to talk to any potential buyers in Lincoln.
He knows what you're thinking.
"Every single person that calls with questions asks the same question: Why is this going to work, when all of the other minor (basketball) leagues don't work?" said Duilio, a Portland, Ore., resident. "It's because of the travel. You'll never be able to get the fan base to cover the excessive cost of travel."
Duilio, owner of PortlandBasketball.Com, the world's largest amateur basketball league, said he believes he has a solution that would make a franchise survive in Lincoln and other Midwestern cities.
It's called cluster scheduling, which Duilio said will save owners thousands of dollars in travel expenses.
The IBLrecruits teams in clusters - a region with three to five teams within driving distance (roughly 180 miles) of each other.
For example, if Lincoln lands a team, hypothetical teams in its cluster could include Omaha, Kansas City, Mo., and Des Moines, Iowa. The IBL is planning other clusters in the Pacific Northwest and California, and is also looking into a cluster in the Great Lakes region.
In a 20-game schedule, running from April to June, a team would play its first six games - three home, three away - against teams in its cluster. The rotation is repeated for the final six games.
That's 12 games with no flight travel.
The other eight games include a four-game, four-day, one-time trip to one other cluster, and four home games against teams from another cluster.
Duilio said his format would require teams to average 850 fans over 10 home games for owners to break even. He compares that to the CBA, the American Basketball Association and the United States Basketball League - leagues that require an average of 1,500 to 3,000 fans to break even.
Those who attend IBL games will witness what Duilio promises to be fast-paced basketball with highly skilled players. Eight of 12 players on a roster must pass a rigorous skills test.
Immediate inbounds, fewer timeouts, a 22-second shot clock and elimination of dead time will result in entertaining, high-scoring games - and quick ones. Duilio said a 48-minute game will be played in about 90 minutes.
"It's a really fast flow," Duilio said. "What you end up with is basically a non-stop game. It's up and down the court."
Former players from area colleges and universities will make up most of the roster, with players earning a minimum of $30 each for home games, $50 each for cluster road games and $400 each for the four-game road swing, with expenses paid.
Duilio suggested owners playing home games at smaller venues, such as area high school gymnasiums. He said some games could be part of a fund-raising activity for high school programs.
Owners must pay a year-one license fee - the inaugural season only - of $45,000, with $20,000 due by Dec. 31, along with a yearly rights fee of $17,000.
Duilio, 35, is a native of Indianola, Iowa, and a graduate of Iowa State. He founded PortlandBasketball.Com in 1992 and has scheduled and coordinated more than 55,000 basketball games and trained more than 100 basketball officials. He also owns and operates PugetSoundBasketball.Com, a league in its first year of operation in Seattle.
Duilio has been working on forming his new league for about a year. Only last month did he buy the rights to the IBLname from owners of the previous IBL, which folded in 2001.
"The name was the last thing to come. Everything we had said 'blank' league,'" Duilio said. "We couldn't come up with a name that was original."
Duilio was scheduled to visit with potential owners in Omaha on Monday night. He's making presentations in Sioux City, Iowa, and Des Moines this week.
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-4736 or brosenthal@;journalstar.com.
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