GREENVILLE, S.C. (July 19, 2003) – Basketball fans looking for a weekend family outing need look no further than the National Basketball Development League in 2003-04. The highlight of the new NBDL schedule, announced by league President Phil Evans today, is that nearly 80-percent of the games will be played on the weekend.

“NBDL fans have told us they want to see more games on the weekends,” Evans said. “In an effort to be more fan accessible, as well as play more games on weekends and after the first of the year, we reduced each team’s home schedule to 23 games and extended the overall season by two weeks.”

The 2003-04 season tips off with the Huntsville Flight hosting the Columbus Riverdragons at the Von Braun Center on Friday, Nov. 21, 2003. The regular season comes to a close with three games on Saturday, April 10, 2004.

The 2004 NBDL post season will consist of the top four seeds advancing to a single-elimination tournament format after a regular season champion has been crowned. The top seed at the conclusion of the regular season will host the fourth seed, while No. 2 will host No. 3. The winners of those two games will play for the post-season title at the arena of the highest remaining seed.

Evans said that, in addition to making NBDL games more accessible and convenient, increased weekend dates will allow more time for community involvement by NBDL players and coaches.

“With more time on school days being freed up for players and coaches, we plan to accelerate our involvement even more in our team markets,” Evans said. “Last season alone, more than 23,000 children were involved with NBDL Reading-timeouts and over 13,000 books were distributed free of charge by the six NBDL teams.”

The NBDL, the NBA’s minor league, includes the Fayetteville Patriots (N.C.), North Charleston Lowgators (S.C.), Huntsville Flight (Ala.), Roanoke Dazzle (Va.), Columbus Riverdragons (Ga.), and Asheville Altitude (N.C.).

The league offers players the opportunity to develop their talent in a highly competitive atmosphere under the NBA’s umbrella. Eighteen NBDL players representing 22 callups, three coaches and three game officials have been called up to the NBA since the start of the league’s inaugural season in November 2001.

Designed to help grow the sport of basketball both domestically and internationally, the NBDL serves as a source of on-court talent for the NBA’s 30 teams and as a diverse human resources pool for the NBA and its teams by training employees in management, operations, public relations, sales and marketing positions.