Continental Basketball Association (CBA)
Homepage: http://www.cbahoopsonline.com/

History:
Formerly known as the Eastern League, the Continental Basketball Association is the oldest professional basketball league in the world. The association came a long way since it was founded on April 23, 1946, then having only eight teams. Now, after 58 seasons, the association is a force to reckon with in US professional basketball.

CBA is proud to have been a training ground for many basketball professionals who went on to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Since 1981, CBA veterans started to play in the NBA; and in the 1988-89 season, CBA recorded a new record of 29 CBA-to-NBA player call-ups and an all-time high of 54 CBA veterans in the NBA. The CBA-NBA trend continued through the years, which peaked during the 1998-99 season, with 137 former CBA players appearing on NBA training camp and regular season rosters, 96 of those were on the regular season rosters only. There was also a record 63 CBA-to-NBA player call-ups during this time.

CBA also pursues capability building programs with NBA, signing their first contract for referee development in the1978-79 season. During the 1980-81 season, CBA and NBA again pursued another agreement for player development. In 1983-84, CBA again signed a $1 million contract with NBA to integrate previous development efforts into another program aimed at player and referee development. More than 10 years after this integrated development endeavor, the two leagues again embarked on a new, multi-year developmental agreement that expanded the relationship between the two leagues for the first time into the areas of marketing, broadcasting, public relations, community relations, and coaching development.

In 2002-2003, CBA achieved another milestone by making its high-definition, national television broadcast debut with a game between the Gary Steelheads and the Great Lakes Storm televised on HDNet – the world’s largest provider of high-definition sports and entertainment programming. Also in 2003, the CBA Championship was broadcasted live for the first time around the world, over the internet on www.sportsjuice.com.