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MPBA Exec making jump onto world broadcasting stage

By Jason Troop, 08/28/15, 10:00AM CDT

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League VP racks up nearly 26,000 miles since end of 2015 season

 

August 28, 2015

 

ST. LOUIS – Good thing the vice president and director of communications of the Midwest Professional Basketball Association got a new passport earlier this year.

                    Since the inaugural MPBA season ended in April 2015, Craig Fata has logged nearly 26,000 miles traveling to watch and broadcast basketball games in foreign countries.

                    His travels started in mid-May, when he went with the Bloomington Flex, the team he had been doing play-by-play for since the team’s inception in 2012, to China for a 22-day, eleven-game tour against Chinese Basketball Association teams, the Cuban National Team, and a pro team from Serbia, the Belgrade Stars.

                    “China was an amazing experience,” Fata said.  “They’re basketball-crazy over there, so we were really well received.”

                    Five days after getting back from China, Fata headed to the British Virgin Island of Tortola for the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) men’s and women’s championships.  That 16-day trip was much more work than pleasure, however.

                    “A friend from another league passed my name along to the folks at the CBC when he heard they were looking for a host broadcaster.  I was responsible for doing play-by-play for the television feed across the Caribbean, and that feed was carried by FIBA (International Basketball Federation) on its world network,” Fata explained.  “It entailed doing play-by-play for two games a day, plus directing the CBC’s social media and writing game recaps for the CBC website.  I also got to mentor and train two aspiring young local broadcasters, which was fun, because they were so hungry for knowledge and experience.

                    “But I was in the Caribbean 16 days, and didn’t put a toe in the ocean or set foot on a beach,” Fata pined.

                    A couple weeks after the CBC tournament, Fata got another invitation to broadcast a foreign tournament—this time, from FIBA itself.

                    “They called on July 9 and said they really liked my work in the Caribbean, and wanted to see if I was interested in doing the play-by-play for the 2015 FIBA Americas Women’s Championships, which were being held in Edmonton from August 9-16,” Fata explained.  “This tournament was an Olympic qualifier—the winner got an automatic bid to Rio 2016.”

                    Edmonton was even more difficult than the Caribbean, at least on the vocal cords.  “I had to do four games a day, and worked with three different on-air partners over the course of the eight days.  Fortunately, FIBA and the folks from the Canadian delegation made everything so incredibly easy.  And despite the difficulty of being handed the Brazilian roster not long before the team’s first game, the broadcasts went very well,” Fata quipped.

                    The games were again carried on the FIBA world feed, and several of the games Fata and his partner did were aired on affiliates of The Sports Network (TSN), Canada’s leading national sports network.

                    Canada won the gold and the automatic bid to Rio.  The U.S. Women’s National Team did not compete because it had already qualified for the Olympics by virtue of its win at the 2014 FIBA World Championships.

                    Before the women’s tournament was even over, FIBA Americas Competitions Manager Javier Otero approached Fata about another upcoming tournament: the FIBA Americas 2015 Men’s Championships in Mexico City, beginning Monday, August 31. 

                    “This one is also an Olympic qualifier,” Fata said.  “There will be quite a few NBA players competing for their countries in this one, so I’m pretty excited to be calling one of the top tournaments in the world,” Fata said.

                    The U.S. men won’t be competing in Mexico City—they qualified for the 2016 Olympics by winning the FIBA World Cup in Spain last year—and there will be a second two-person broadcast team there, so the days won’t be quite so grueling.

                    MPBA Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer Ed Schumer says it’s been difficult having such a key player in the MPBA’s front office gone during the offseason, while the league has been making expansion plans and refining operations for 2016, but that in the long run, the league is better for it.

                    “Craig really runs the show for us—from operations to compliance to communications to being my second-in-command, partner and friend.  But it’s worth it.  He’s already made contacts within FIBA and in other international basketball circles that will benefit the MPBA and its players down the road,” said Schumer.

                    “And if he gets discovered by one of the networks or something and hits the big time because of all this, well, we can say ‘we knew him when,’” Schumer said.

                    What’s after Mexico City?

                    “I don’t know—my family kind of looks at me funny now when I home, like some stranger is in the house.  The dog is really confused,” Fata joked.  “But FIBA has already asked if I was interested in doing the Intercontinental Cup championship series between Real Madrid and Bauru in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the end of September.  After that, we’ll see.  Preparation for the 2016 MPBA season will be in full swing by then.”

                    The MPBA’s second season begins in January 2016.  The league will be announcing its expansion plans and roster of teams in the upcoming weeks.  The first combine in advance of the 2016 season will be held on Saturday, September 26, in Chicago.

                    Schumer points to Fata’s success as what the MPBA’s vision is for everyone involved with it: “We’re a developmental league, but not just for the players,” he said.  “We want to see our coaches, staff members, media people, everyone that works for and with us, be able to gain the skills and experience here in order to reach the next level of their careers.  We did that with almost ten players in our first season, and now it’s carrying over into our front office, as well,” Schumer said.

                    “No doubt, if I hadn’t had the experience with the Flex the past four years, and being responsible for 60-plus high definition broadcasts for the MPBA last year, including doing more than half of them on air, that I wouldn’t have gotten this opportunity.  We believe in our model, and the players we advanced and the doors that have been opened for me is evidence of that.” Fata said.