Gotham Ballers Inc

The Gotham Ballers is a professional basketball team in New York City.

It's part of the Champions Basketball League, a brand of sports with unique programming. The 16-team professional summer basketball league begins in July of 2017, and there's a $1 million tournament in Las Vegas in September.

The league features affordable tickets ($17.50 to $45), meet and greets, and special fan-focused programming.

The team has a top-notch front office, including Walt "Clyde" Frazier as President, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe as NY General Manager, and John Wallace, Coach.

Players come exclusively from the NBA. They include Al Harrington, Kenyon Martin, and Anthony Mason, Jr. As Maggie Gray from Sports Illustrated wrote, "This is an impressive list of NBA and former NBA guys."

And as Jeff Lenchiner from Inside Hoops wrote: "We're keeping a close eye on Champions Basketball League. So far, they're on the right track."

The company expects to make about $3 million in 2017

This is a high-risk investment and the valuation is steep. On the flip side, as Forbes reported, the average NBA team has gone up in value over ten-fold in the past 20 years.

The league already has a broadcast deal with ESPN.

Team Background

Brian Kelly - EVP & Director

Long-time executive with Time Warner Cable, including as SVP Marketing and Sales, and CMO of the Eastern Region.

Brian earned his degree from Boston College.

Carl George - Chairman & CEO

Successful entrepreneur over 20 years.

Founder of three start-ups that have been acquired:

Founder, Chairman & CEO of NetSelector, acquired by Apple.

Director, Founding Board Member, and Technology Contributor to Internet Gift Registry, acquired by Modern Bride.

Founder, Chairman and CEO of MedIntell, acquired by Columbia HCA.

Carl earned his Degree in Computer Science from Bradley University.

Mark Aguirre - President & Director

Aguirre is a retired basketball player in the National Basketball Association. Aguirre played from 1981–1994 and won two championships with the Detroit Pistons after being sent to Detroit from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Adrian Dantley.

Aguirre was a three-time All-Star for Dallas.

Co-Investors

Star Branding

Licensing and brand management investment partnership between Tommy and Andy Hilfiger, Joe Lamastra and Bernt Ullman. Founded in 2009, the group specializes in creating, incubating, developing, marketing and distributing leading global lifestyle brands.