There’s new action on the local hoops scene. The Los Angeles Lightning will debut in the International Basketball League on April 18. They will play home games at the 1,500-seat Gilbert Sports Arena on the campus of Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

“In this market, there are so many people who love basketball, but it is difficult to travel to Staples Center,” said team owner Mark Harwell, a Hollywood producer. “We provide that niche for families in the northern and western part of the city where they can see familiar faces.”

This is the fifth basketball team that Harwell has helped launch, although it is the first one that he has also owned. The Lightning will operate on a $1 million budget, which Harwell says is higher than that of most other teams in the league.

That’s because the Lightning has recruited several former NBA players to the team, including former Los Angeles Clippers star Lamond Murray and UCLA Bruins standout Toby Bailey.

“Because we will be heavy on the NBA players, we could have the highest payroll in the league,” said Harwell.

The remaining players will be young and looking for exposure with hopes to play internationally. Harwell received 600 e-mails from players around the world interested in a spot on the team. At the conclusion of each IBL season, half of the league’s 200 players leave on long-term contracts to play in other leagues overseas. Many of those contracts could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even millions. Scouts from around the world attend the games, and some have even shown up at practice.

Harwell believes the four-year-old IBL will prove successful thanks to its financial practices. With several teams in the league based in South Korea, Japan and China, international exposure will permit them to make money through advertising and sponsorships in addition to ticket sales. Plus, travel expenses are streamlined.

“Leagues get in trouble because of the cost of travel,” said Harwell. “There is a one-flight rule that prevents you from doing a lot of extended travel and flying.” Instead of constantly flying for road games, teams plan one extended road trip.

New media will also play a role.

“We are going to podcast all games and have them available on our Web site,” said Harwell. Podcasts will be available in English, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese.

The team has received corporate sponsorship from vitamin and supplement manufacturer TwinLab Corp. As part of the sponsorship agreement, Twinlab is designing a sports energy drink that will be named L.A. Lightning.

Action Sports

El Segundo-based GrindTV signed a deal with Yahoo Sports that will add its 1 million unique monthly visitors to the Yahoo Web site.

GrindTV offers action sports video content and has a library of 20,000 files. It caters to a demographic of males between 12 and 28 years old.

“Larger media outlets haven’t embraced action sports the way Yahoo has,” said Erik Hawkins, GrindTV chief executive. Hawkins, a former Yahoo employee, left the company in 2005 and has grown GrindTV to 19 employees.

“We were approached by a competitor of Yahoo, but we’ve done work with Yahoo in the past,” said Hawkins. “When they found out that there was interest, we struck a deal.”

The action sports sector is considered a growth industry. Its activities continue to have a much broader appeal, especially with the addition of skateboarding and BMX biking to the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing. Hawkins expects a boost in consumer interest in all action sports due to the Olympics.

“There is a lot of crossover to similar sports when fans are introduced to one action sport like BMX biking,” he said.

Tennis Tribute

Creating a standout star-studded awards show in Los Angeles is not an easy task, but Billie Jean King is on her third year of the Billies. The event recognizes executives at media and advertising companies for focus on women in sports.

Since its inception in 2006, the event has generated $3 million for the Women’s Sports Foundation, which advances the lives of girls and women through athletics. This year’s event will pay tribute to the 35th anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs. It will be April 15 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

One of the main sponsors of the event is Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. subsidiary ESPN. Event co-chairwomen include Geena Davis, Kathy Smith, Laila Ali and Sheryl Crow, and honorary co-chairwoman Maria Shriver

Staff reporter David Nusbaum can be reached at

[email protected]

or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 236.