Columnist Dean juipe: New leagues springing up on daily basis

THE ACRONYMS are blurring.

IBL. CPBL. PIFL.

Just a year after the WNBA and ABL and not too terribly long after the WFL and USFL, the IBL and CPBL emerged last week not as the latest in a string of unwanted boxing organizations but the latest in a string of unwanted professional sports leagues.

They're proliferating at an alarming rate. And, similar to the locust-like insects that have invaded Clark County, they just keep coming in spite of predictions of a short and unprosperous life span.

They're a plague.

It was almost noteworthy when Sunday passed without notification of some new league forming and announcing plans for a 1999 season.

Last week had almost a Marx Brothers quality to it, with three new basketball leagues vying for space in the public's consciousness. Two of the leagues, including the International Basketball League that allegedly will have a franchise in Las Vegas, targeted Jerry Tarkanian as a possible coach and made plans to court him over breakfast. Tark himself didn't know who he was supposed to meet and was surprised to realize Thursday that it was the CPBL and not the IBL that paid for his omelet.

He laughed it off, which is what fans are doing in the face of a cluttered sportscape.

But just what's going on here? New leagues -- in the major sports, not just for pastimes like roller hockey -- are on drawing boards from New York to Oshkosh.

There's no other explanation aside from the obvious: It's a reflection of the country's vibrant economy, and, to a lesser extent, the increasing infatuation with sports.

In some cases, need and demand actually come into play. The two women's professional basketball leagues are apt to someday meld into one, yet the WNBA and ABL are serving a purpose and will succeed.

However, these would-be men's basketball leagues don't seem to have a prayer of surviving unless the NBA lockout continues into the next century.

History indicates new leagues can be attractive and can fill a gap in a few rare instances. The American Football League was brilliantly conceived in 1960 and brought the burgeoning game of pro football into areas the NFL hadn't yet claimed. Similarly, the World Hockey Association (like the men's American Basketball Association before it) had its pluses and eventually merged with its more established competitor.

There may also be room for minor leagues with minimal expectations, which may be the case with the Professional Indoor Football League that plans to put a team in the Millennium Arena in North Las Vegas next year. Likewise, the Millennium may pick up a team in the minor Western Hockey League.

But to think a new league can come aboard and compete with established leagues like the NBA and NFL in major cities is pure folly. Nevertheless, here's billionaire media mogul Ted Turner prepared to help finance a new summer football league that will debut next year and fill some time on his cable TV networks.

He's IIFAR -- In It For A Reason.

Most of the others are simply dreaming and OTL -- Out To Lunch.

Or breakfast, as it pertained to Tarkanian.

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