It's been 35 years (exactly half my life ago) since I started the Tucson Basketball League. Most of our league players weren't even born when we had our first season at the old YMCA on 5th Avenue (a building that was torn down almost 30 years ago). All that time--at different venues, with different refs and hundreds and hundreds of different players--the goal has always been to provide good, friendly, SAFE competition at the lowest possible cost. The fact that we're still here after more than a third of a century would suggest that we have succeeded in that endeavor.

My least-favorite thing about the League is that it takes money to operate it. We have to pay for the courts, we pay the refs and the scorekeepers, we have to pay for insurance and we pay A LOT for championship shirts. My goal, since the very first season in 1988 has been to be the least-expensive league in Southern Arizona. To the best of my knowledge, we have succeeded in that endeavor for the entire 35 years. Our goal has always been to break even and, except for a handful of seasons where we actually lost money, we have succeeded. (I absolutely suck as a businessman.) While costs have gone up in recent years, we have held the line, but we can't do it any more.

I must say that we love our current location and hope to stay here for a long, long time. The courts are great, the people are great, the air conditioning is great, and it only occasionally rains indoors. (Weird, but true.) However, costs have gone up dramatically in recent years and we have not kept pace. (The cost of court rental, for example, is up more than 40 percent over what it was just six years ago and the minimum wage goes up every year.) Starting with this upcoming season (Winter 2023), the price of the League will be $700 per team.

This will allow us to cover all of the aforementioned costs, all of which have gone up and maybe give the refs a modest pay increase (they haven't had one in seven years). Don't say it!

I've checked. This will still allow us to be the least-expensive League in Southern Arizona (in some cases, by a lot). I sincerely hope that we don't lose any teams because of this. If we do, I'm really sorry, but it had to be done. I want to thank everybody for their support and in helping make the Tucson Basketball League the ongoing success that it is. Let's have a great season.

Tom