1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 The American Basketball Association was not founder Dennis Murphy’s original intent.&amp;nbsp; Thwarted in his attempt to get the fast-growing city of Anaheim, CA (he was mayor of nearby Buena Park) into&amp;nbsp;the fledgling American Football League during the mid-1960s, Murphy quickly pivoted his attention to basketball – reasoning that with only 12 teams in the staid, yet long-established National Basketball Association, there surely must have been room for more. “What the hell,” Murphy told author Terry Pluto in his seminal 1990 oral history Loose Balls.&amp;nbsp; “The AFL had worked, hadn't it? &amp;nbsp;Maybe we could force a merger with the NBA.&quot; By the end of the ABA’s ninth season in 1976, Murphy’s unwitting prescience had become reality – and along with it, a validating blueprint for how to modernize professional sports in North America. The legendarily inveterate sports entrepreneur&amp;nbsp; (Murph: The Sports Entrepreneur Man and His Leagues) joins the podcast to discuss how the iconically idiosyncratic ABA got started, as well as hints of how other future pursuits – like the World Hockey Association, World Team Tennis, the World Football League, and Roller Hockey International – would similarly come to be.&amp;nbsp; Check out Warby Parker – whose exclusive Home Try-On program is the free, no obligation way to select high-quality eyeglass frames in the convenience of your own home!&amp;nbsp; Go to warbyparker.com/GOODSEATS to take the simple quiz and find the perfect pair(s) for you! Good Seats Still Available https://goodseatsstillavailable.com <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/11151905/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/aa0926/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/51405833