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ABA expands to Toronto

February 8, 2006 - American Basketball Association (ABA) News Release


Indianapolis, IN. The American Basketball Association (ABA) today announced that the league would be adding a fifth Canadian team next season - Toronto Canada. According to Joe Newman, ABA CEO, "The interest in the ABA in Canada has been nothing short of phenomenal. The Montreal team is playing to sellouts regularly; the excitement already in Quebec City, Ottawa and Vancouver has been very encouraging - and now, we have an extraordinary group ready to go in Toronto. We couldn't be more pleased."

The team will be owned by Can-American Entertainment Group Inc - a story in itself. The company began with the story of two ambitious, young men who believed in developing a dream. In the late 1980's, Wayne Seaton and Michael Kelly devoted all of their time to promoting events on local college campuses. Their efforts flourished and in 1988, Smokin' Boots Productions was established. Smokin' Boots production company ventured in many directions with live radio broadcasts and live entertainment productions in New YOrk City. The early 90's garnered the opportunity to break into live television through the development of a professional relationship that would prove to be important to their advancement.

In early 1992, the company relocated to Boston, MA and developed a working relationship with the Johnson Crew management team that was associated with the chart-topping group New Kids on the Block. Through this relationship, Smokin' Boots made a shift to more serious artist management. They would be highly successful with a new music group, Apex. Along with live videotaped productions, the compan would see their acts break gold. Apex stole Billboards #1 pop chart spot with the hit, Let Me Be, for four consecutive months.

In 2003, the company became Can-American Entertainment Group (CANAM) to better encompass the wide range of endeavors in the entertainment industry; from production to music to modeling. In addition, they added three partners; William Bellatty, Keith Kirkwood and attorney Craig L. Davidowitz, Esq. William and Keith bring youth and enthusiasm that has only made CANAM grow exponentially, while Craig heads the in-house legal department which focuses on intellectual property projects and all legal matters.

Keith Kirkwood, an experienced model himself, whose portfolio includes a national Sprint campaign, numerous photo shoots with magazines such as DNR, Vogue, Timeout, Saks Fifth Avenue and is the present Junior Mr. Olympia. Keith has now championed the position and responsibility of overseeing the acquisitions of new frontiers for the company in the areas of international runway modeling, commercial print and high-fashion.

Simultaneously, William Bellatty, a former all-star basketball player and model, has starred in numerous music videos, television shows, runway shows and print ads. William is responsible for overseeing Can-American's "Simply Runway" project which is a live-videotaped production focusing on behind-the-scenes look at the modeling world. Among the many duties of Bellatty is the orchestration of players, coaches and sponsors who will make up the Can-Amercan ABA program.

Together attorney Davidowitz, a basketball enthusiast and an experienced personal injury and intellectual property attorney has offices in New York. He oversees the legalities which affect CANAM in their pursuit of music, modeling, sports and entertainment. Presently, the company manages and represents models, actors, singers and dancers and has agencies in New York, Boston and Miami and is putting a complete production and music company into Toronto, Canada. CANAM is a truly evolving company with many fresh ideas on the horizon and a new power in the entertainment industry.

According to Mike Kelly, "We see the ABA as an extension of what we do - sports and entertainment at its finest - and we will bring both to our team in Toronto. This is a great city well deserving of the fast-paced exciting ABA sports and entertainment at affordable prices. We are pleased to be able to join Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa and Vancouver in the development of this unique concept in Canada." For more information, call 857 753 6959, email kellytalent@aol.com, or visit www.canamerican.org or www.abalive.com.

Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.

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