The Baltimore BayRunners were one of eight founding franchises in the International Basketball League in the fall of 1999. The IBL was a nationwide minor league. It was similar in nature to the rival Continental Basketball Association, with whom the IBL would merge after both leagues encountered financial problems in early 2001. But by that time the BayRunners franchise would already be in the ground.
The Gary Steelheads were an Indiana minor league basketball franchise that competed in three different minor professional leagues between 2000 and 2008. Steelheads investors had the misfortune of purchasing a Continental Basketball Association franchise just as the NBA prepared to launch its own proprietary farm league, the NBA Development League (known today as the “G-League”). The NBA’s league undermined the rationale and investment prospects for the remaining independent minor pro basketball leagues, most of which closed their doors by the end of the 2000’s.
Another tombstone in the graveyard of sports start-ups that is Las Vegas, Nevada. The Las Vegas Silver Bandits (shortened to simply the Bandits in year two) were a minor league basketball outfit in the new International Basketball League that debuted in November 1999. The Bandits lasted just a year-and-a-half before collapsing in the middle of their second season. The IBL itself followed a few months later.
Publisher receives compensation for affiliate advertising on this website.
*Like our new look? Next up: site speed. You can help with a tip for our Speed Fund today. Thank you!
