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Competitor Files Federal Complaint Against Globetrotters

By Adam Kress

The Business Journal of Phoenix Updated: 7:00 p.m. ET Jan. 15, 2006

The Harlem Globetrotters are known for their antics on the court, but a complaint filed against them by a rival team with the Federal Trade Commission is no laughing matter.

The complaint was filed by the similar-sounding Harlem Ambassadors, a basketball entertainment troupe headlined by Lade Majic Prophete, "the queen of show basketball."

The Ambassadors, founded in 1998 and based in Colorado, are quite similar to the Phoenix-based Globe­trotters, but their complaint centers around a primary difference in the two: access to venues.

The complaint, filed by Ambassadors President Dale Moss, alleges that Globetrotter agreements with venues such as US Airways Center prevent equal competition between the two groups. According to the document, the Globetrotter agreements, in most cases, restrict other basketball entertainment troupes from performing at the same venue eight weeks prior and six weeks after the Globetrotters' show.

"This limits us in a lot of ways," Moss said. "It leaves us with a small-time image, and we can't get the bigger deals with the bigger venues."

The complaint is awaiting FTC review. After its review, the FTC can decide whether to investigate further and potentially force the Globetrotters to make changes to the exclusivity rules.

Such windows of exclusivity around performances are not uncommon, said Ralph Marchetta, vice president of entertainment for US Airways Center, where the Globetrotters will play two shows Jan. 21.

"In family-type show arrangements, it's fairly common to look for windows of protection because you're marketing to the same group of people," he said. "It can certainly be problematic, but it can be avoided."

While, in most cases, the Globetrotters have a three-and-a-half-month buffer around their shows, the majority of the year still is available for the Ambassadors.

The problem with the rest of the year, Moss said, is that it's not basketball season.

"If the rest of the year was attractive, the Globetrotters would be playing then," he said.

The Globetrotters tour America from approximately Christmas until the end of April, the core of the NBA's season. The Ambassadors' tour is similarly scheduled.

"We tour a little outside of their schedule, but the economics of playing in a major arena say it should be done during the basketball season -- when we're blocked out."

The Globetrotters declined to comment on the complaint.

Michael McCann, a leading sports attorney and professor at the Mississippi College School of Law, said the complaint could very well get the FTC's attention.

"I think the FTC will look into it and be concerned with the lack of competition over the years," he said. "Other acts like circuses have windows, but there still tends to be a good amount of competition."

McCann said the FTC also may view the three-and-a-half-month exclusivity window as excessive and make a change.

"This affects the Ambassadors, but also future teams that may want to get in on the action," he said. "Exclusivity windows have probably deterred others from trying to compete."

The Ambassadors don't have nearly the history of the Globetrotters -- which date back to 1926 -- but the Colorado group keeps busy touring smaller facilities around the nation and overseas.

Their show involves male and female players, who play against locals, such as former pro athletes, community officials or soldiers.

"Last year, we did 220 shows in 46 states and 19 foreign countries," Moss said. "We mostly play in smaller colleges and military installations."

In Arizona, the group has played at Luke Air Force Base, Fort Huachuca and smaller cities such as Kingman. Moss said the average attendance is about 1,500 people, and tickets typically cost $7 to $10.

The Ambassadors work with local Rotary Clubs, the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and other nonprofits to put on community shows. The nonprofits sell tickets to raise money and pay the Ambassadors a fee to perform.

At the heart of the FTC complaint, Moss said, is a desire to put on bigger shows for more people.

"We'd like to go into a building like US Airways Center and play for 40 Rotary Clubs that got together and sold 250 tickets for $10 apiece," he said. "Twenty-five thousand dollars could go to us, $25,000 to the building, and the clubs get the rest. The plan works whether you're playing for 1,000 or 10,000 fans."

Get connected

Harlem Ambassadors: www.harlemambassadors.com.

Harlem Globetrotters: www.harlemglobetrotters.com.