FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. Jan. 4 -- Fayetteville, N.C. has been selected as the first city to be granted a team in the National Basketball Development League, the NBA's new minor league. The announcement was made today by Rob Levine, the NBA's Senior Vice President, New League Development, at the Crown Coliseum, the new home of Fayetteville's NBDL team. In addition, the event also saw the unveiling of the NBDL's logo.

"Fayetteville is the perfect place to launch this phase of the NBDL," said Levine. "It's a city that has all of the elements needed to succeed in the league including a first class arena. We are confident that the excitement of professional basketball will appeal to its diverse community, including its strong military population."

"This opportunity for our community to be associated with the NBA and SFX Entertainment -- two of the giants in the Sports and Entertainment business -- is a without a doubt once in a lifetime opportunity," said George W. Breece, Chairman, Crown Coliseum Complex. "We plan to make them proud they came our way."

The National Basketball Development League will tip off its inaugural season in November 2001 with teams based in eight Southeastern U.S. cities and a 56-game regular season schedule that runs from mid-November through March, followed by playoffs.

Designed to help grow the sport of basketball both domestically and internationally, the NBDL offers players the opportunity to develop their talent in a highly competitive atmosphere under the NBA's umbrella. In addition to being a source of on-court talent for the NBA's 29 teams, the NBDL will also serve as a diverse human resource pool for the NBA and its teams by training employees in management, operations, public relations and marketing positions in each NBDL city.

Season ticket reservations can be made by sending an email with your name, address, phone number and email address to nbdltickets@nba.com or by calling 1-800-4NBA-TIX.

Players must be 20 years of age or older to play in the NBDL. NBDL teams will not have a direct affiliation with specific NBA teams. Development league players will be eligible to play for any NBA team.

In addition to launching this new professional basketball league, the NBA and SFX Entertainment, Inc., a leading producer and promoter of live entertainment, have formed a joint alliance to offer NBDL cities the opportunity to experience world-class live entertainment not traditionally available in their metropolitan areas.