Philly 24 • 7 • 365 610.937.0353 [email protected] www.cityofbasketballlove.com

ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW CITY OF BASKETBALL LOVE

Last Updated: June 2, 2021 8 11 12 13 Contents • 02 Expenditures Fundraising Plan Budget Breakdown CoBL Board of Directors CoBL Board Our Story CoBL 3.0 Mission Vision Coverage Women’s Why Now? 7 3 4 5 5 6 OVERVIEW NON-PROFIT OPERATIONS NON-PROFIT CONTENTS OUR STORY ...SO FAR

Co-founders Josh Verlin and Andy Edwards started CoBL in 2012 as a website designed to cover all things basketball in and the surrounding area. Two young writers who loved the college game, Verlin and Edwards initially intended the site — built on a custom-yet-simple WordPress template — to cover everything from preps through pros, but quickly narrowed in on the high school and college scene.

The initial staff consisted of more than a dozen college students and recent college graduates, all of whom were learning on the job everywhere from offseason events to the NCAA Tournament; CoBL’s first year of operation saw its writers travel across the country to cover La Salle in the Sweet 16. At first, the organization focused its coverage on the ‘City 6’ and the area’s prep powerhouses, but by the second year of operation the site covered Division II and Division III hoops as well as more thorough coverage of the region’s quality high school scene.

By 2014, they’d run their first CoBL College Exposure Camp, and the following year they began running multiple camps each spring and fall, as well as the inaugural CoBL PA/NJ Shootout, which ran annually from 2014-2018. In 2015, CoBL relaunched its website on the SportsNgin (now NBC SportsEngine) platform, with improved player profiles, high school standings, stat pages, and more. It continued on that course until Oct. 2018, the CoBL staff running multiple successful camps and generating thousands of stories, but the organization wasn’t able to sustain a successful business model, and so in Oct. 2018 the site closed down, though not permanently.

CoBL reopened the following summer, operating in a reduced capacity from Aug. 2019 until April 2021, when Verlin had the opportunity to make a necessary pivot in how CoBL operates to attempt to rebuild the organization, utilizing the community and its support of local hoops to grow bigger and better than before.

Our Story • 03 CoBL 3.0

As of June 2021, CoBL has filed its Articles of Incorporation with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to become a nonprofit corporation, and an IRS Form 1023 to seek tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) charity, which it expects to receive in late 2021 or early 2022. We’re relaunching with a new vision and a renewed sense of purpose: to reflect the history and passion for the sport of basketball in the greater Philadelphia region, with a community-supported organization that provides high-quality journalism and exposure for the area’s amateur basketball scene.

With our new board of directors in place, CoBL will make a strong push to raise funds, form corporate partnerships, grow its group of writers and editors, and expand the site to cover a wider radius than ever before, including South Jersey, Delaware, the and the Harrisburg/ Lancaster area, as well as expanding into women’s coverage for the first time. We will also form an advisory board of high school and college coaches to help us garner feedback from the community we cover, and ensure our coverage is fair, impartial, and of the highest quality. CoBL 3.0 • 04 MISSION

City of Basketball Love (CoBL) exists to provide high-quality coverage of amateur basketball in and around Philadelphia. To help accomplish this goal, CoBL is also devoted to furthering the development of young journalists, training the next generation of sportswriters to contribute alongside its professional staff.

VISION

CoBL’s will be the go-to source for boy’s and girl’s high school and men’s and women’s collegiate basketball coaches, players and fans in the Delaware Valley and surrounding region. Its writers will maintain a website with news, scores, stats and player profiles, running camps and events year-round.

Mission & Vision • 05 WOMEN’S COVERAGE

Up until the summer of 2021, CoBL had covered only the boys and men’s side of the Philadelphia basketball landscape. Getting into the girls’ and women’s side was something we had wanted to do over time, but only in a significant and comprehensive manner. We wanted to make sure we had the resources to give the women the coverage they deserved. Now, that time has come.

Starting July 1, CoBL will be launching girls’ and women’s coverage for the first time. We realize this is long overdue, and all we can do is try to make up for lost time. CoBL has retained former Philadelphia Inquirer writer and current Rowan University professor Kate Harman to spearhead our women’s coverage and has already added several women’s hoops writers to the organization, with more to come. As this coverage grows and our fundraising grows, we pledge to grow our women’s coverage until it equals our men’s coverage in scope and scale.

Women’s Coverage • 06 WHY NOW?

The Philadelphia basketball community is one of the oldest and most storied in the sport. This region has produced some of the game’s all-time greats, from Wilt Chamberlain to Kobe Bryant, with the history of Philly hoops dominance dating back to the early days of the 20th century. The local college teams are rich with talent, from Villanova’s recent pair of national championships and recent NCAA trips by each of the other five Division I programs in the city, along with impressive small-college programs at the Division II, Division III and junior college levels.

Around the region, Philadelphia’s public and private high schools regularly challenge for state championships, produce dozens of college prospects each year, and often have at least a handful of teams considered amongst the best not just in the Northeast but the entire United States. The Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals and championships draw nearly 9,000 fans to a sold-out , and games around the region regularly see thousands of fans in the seats to see their favorite players or support their local programs.

However, the state of basketball coverage in the region does not match the quality and quantity of teams and fans in the region. The state of local newspapers, as is the case with newspapers around the country, is unfortunately getting worse and worse, and sports coverage has borne a disproportionally large share of those cuts. The Philadelphia Inquirer doesn’t have any full-time high school sports staff anymore, and several other regional papers have pulled back on their local hoops coverage.

If the Philadelphia basketball community wants a hub to turn to for stats, standings, news, analysis and more, it has to come together to support an organization that’s there for that precise purpose.

That makes this the perfect time for CoBL to make its comeback.

It’s also why it makes sense for us to become a non-profit organization. As a non-profit organization, we’re showing that we’re fully devoted to our purpose to cover and support the local basketball community. Our Board of Directors consists of a group of individuals for whom basketball has been a major influence in their life and their career, and who understand the importance of having an organization like CoBL existing in Philadelphia. This move allows CoBL’s supporters and those in the basketball community who want to see coverage return to its peak levels have a more direct say in where their support goes, to make us more accountable to the community and better serve our mission and see our vision come to life.

Why Now • 07 OF DIRECTORS BOARD JOSH VERLIN PRESIDENT

One of CoBL’s co-founders, Josh has been running the organization since its inception. A graduate of with a degree in broadcast journalism, he made CoBL his full-time job after leaving Temple’s Beasley School of Law in early 2013, developing it into the area’s go-to source for high school and college basketball news and information. Since then, he’s covered thousands of games and events while mentoring well over 100 high school and college students who have contributed to CoBL over the years. He currently lives in East Falls with his wife, Aurora, and their two cats.

DICK JERARDI SECRETARY

One of the most respected writers in college hoops, ‘DJ’ spent more than 30 years with the Philadelphia Daily News, covering the Big 5 as well as horse racing, some professional sports, a decade of Penn State football, the Olympics, and everything in between. In his career, he’s covered more than two dozen Final Fours, more than 30 Kentucky Derbys, over a thousand local hoops games and a few professional championships along the way. A native of Baltimore, Dick now lives in Bucks County.

SHELLEY VERLIN TREASURER

A graduate of Emory University with a degree in accounting, Shelley has spent her career in a variety of settings, from corporate accounting to managing the books at several small businesses. She’s been with CoBL since its inception, keeping the organization’s financial matters in order as well as managing logistics and apparel and other behind-the-scenes tasks. A native of Havertown, she currently lives in Penn Valley with her husband, Mark.

CoBL Board of Directors • 08 DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE

ANDY EDWARDS

One of CoBL’s co-founders and former staff writer, Andy has served as director of athletic communications at Ursinus College since 2015, overseeing all aspects of publicity and media relations for the college’s 25 varsity athletic programs. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he’s also worked as a reporter and assistant sports editor at the Daily Local News in West Chester, Pa., as well as the Trentonian in Trenton, N.J. He currently lives in South Philadelphia with his wife, Molly, and sons Luke and Noah.

LINDA GENTHER

A Delaware County legend on the hardcourt, Linda was an All-Delco and All-Catholic guard at Archbishop Prendergast, then went on to become a 1,000-point scorer and ALL-ECC selection at Rider, where she’s a 2015 inductee of their athletics Hall of Fame. She’s been director of the Philadelphia Comets Girls’ Basketball Club for more than 20 years, helping more than 200 area girls go on to play college basketball. Still a Delco resident, she lives in Drexel Hill with her husband Chris, a longtime girls basketball assistant at Cardinal O’Hara.

KAREN HEALEY-LANGE

One of the best players in South Jersey women’s hoops history, Karen starred at Washington Township, winning the South Jersey Group 4 championship and scoring 1,000 points before going to Temple, where she played point guard and helped the Owls to the program’s first at-large NCAA Tournament berth. A member of the South Jersey Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, she’s currently an assistant boys’ basketball coach at Caravel Academy (Del.).

CHARLES MONROE

Born and raised in South Philly, Charles — who most people know as ‘Shoob’ — is a Temple University grad with a degree in speech communications. He founded what’s now known as the Rasual Butler All-City Classic in 1995 and still serves as the event’s director, showcasing the area’s top talent each year, from Kobe Bryant to the present; they’ve expanded into running annual Philly vs. New York and Jr. All-City Classic as well. By day, he’s worked for nearly two decades as a social worker with JEVS, helping people better themselves through a wide range of services. Charles currently lives in Delaware County.

CoBL Board of Directors • 09 JASON RITTER

A graduate of West Chester with his masters in math education, Jason teaches math at Penncrest, where he was an assistant coach from 2005-2012. As the head coach at Downingtown West from 2012-16, Jason led the Whippets to the district playoffs in four of his five years, making Ches-Mont League championships in 2015 and 2016; his 2014-15 squad won the Ches-Mont and went on to a berth in the state tournament. During his time there, he helped develop a pair of Division I prospects as well as several D-II and D-III players. Jason’s been with CoBL since 2015, helping make our CoBL Exposure Camps a major success.

ERIC WORLEY

Eric has spent his life in and around Philadelphia basketball and education communities, from growing up in Germantown and then playing at West Chester University, through serving as a teacher and administrator in Philly-area schools, and co-founding Philly Triple Threat (PTT) and Philadelphia Youth Basketball (PYB). After getting his Master of Education from Gwynedd Mercy, Eric started PTT, one of the premier boys’ and girls’ youth AAU programs in the region, which he’s run for the last 14 years. In addition to his work with PTT, Eric is also a co-founder and Program Director of PYB, which is a sports-based youth development program committed to empowering young people as students, athletes and positive leaders.

DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE CONTINUED

CoBL Board of Directors • 10 FUNDRAISING

City of Basketball Love’s annual operating budget will come from several sources: direct donations, Patreon support, camps and PLAN events, merchandise sales, advertising revenue and more.

DONATIONS CoBL will start out with a fundraising base of $25,000/year based on a committed annual gift from the Verlin family, and our average Patreon support base over the last 12 months. We project the Patron support base to grow back to somewhere around $1,500/month within the first two years of operation, with additional “friends and family” donors, including longtime CoBL readers and supporters, who will help take us to around $40,000/year from these donation sources by June 2023.

The untapped market from a donation standpoint are the current and retired professional basketball players and coaches who hail from the Philadelphia area, especially those CoBL covered during their high school and collegiate careers. Our goal in the first two years is to have 100 area basketball alumni donate an average of $250 annually, or $25,000 in total.

CAMPS We will bring back the successful CoBL Underclassman and College Exposure Camp Series, either in the second half of 2021 or at the latest 2022, depending on COVID safety and numbers. On average, a one-day CoBL exposure camp nets between $4000-5000, while the CoBL HS Fall Shootout brings in DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE around $4000 for a two-day event. Running six camps per year and two high school shootout-type events, a similar slate to what CoBL ran in 2016-2018, would net CoBL approx. $25,000 annually.

CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS Once CoBL has reestablished itself, we will seek to establish partnerships with local and regional businesses in the sports and basketball landscape, as well as other local businesses that wish to support our organization and its endeavors. Through these partnerships, we hope to generate $10- 15,000 per year.

MISCELLANEOUS There will be several other ways CoBL will generate or attempt to generate revenue throughout the year, which can help us reach our fundraising goals sooner than anticipated. That includes merchandise, as we set up an eCommerce shop; we’ll also begin applying for grants in FY 2022-23 to hope to generate another $5-10,000 in funds.

Initial Goal: Annual intake of $100,000/yr by end of year two as a non-profit organization (May 31, 2023)

Fundraising Plan • 11 EXPENDITURES CoBL’S YEARLY EXPENDITURES WILL COME IN FIVE MAIN AREAS:

CONTRIBUTING WRITER FEES: EDITORIAL SALARIES: CoBL will pay per-story fees to writers, with the number of stories we can freelance out per CoBL will employ Verlin as its Editor-In-Chief at a month and the amount we can pay per story salary that will scale with the annual fundraising variable depending on fundraising levels. These amount for the organization. There will also be freelance expenses will make up between 28-30% at least one assistant editor, with an additional of CoBL’s expenses. Once CoBL is large enough assistant editor for women’s coverage joining to employ full-time writers, our non-editorial the organization once it reaches $45k/year in writer salaries will make up approximately 40- fundraising. As CoBL’s annual intake grows, we 43% of expenditures (editorial salaries would be will add more full-time and part-time writing approximately 35% at that point. contributors. Editors are responsible for writing features, as well as assigning them out to our writers, communicating with schools and CAMP ADMISSION: coaches, and training our internets. These CoBL understands that not all players can afford salaries will make up approx. 45% of CoBL’s its camp fees and wants to make its camps as expenses at first, though that percentage will accessible as possible. It will set aside a certain decrease as fundraising grows. amount of funds each year (3-5% of intake) to make it easier for high school athletes whose families or schools can’t afford the camp entry COLLEGE STUDENT PROGRAM: fees to get into camp.

CoBL will form partnerships with local universities to utilize local journalism and communications BUSINESS EXPENSES: students for season-long paid internships. CoBL will offer stipends to be paid to college juniors At first, CoBL’s business overhead will be low: or seniors with sports journalism experience shirts for writers, business cards for editorial who want to spend their year working for CoBL staff, a few online services like email marketing, working with the site’s editorial staff, covering photo storage, and website hosting. As the high school and college. As the site’s finances business grows, there will be further costs such grow, we will offer multiple such stipends each as travel for certain events (AAU tournaments year. This program will account for around 10- and NCAA Tournaments), signage for camps, 11% of CoBL’s spending. camera equipment, and more, which all scale as fundraising increases. Business expenses will account for around 6-8% of all CoBL spending.

Excess funds each year will go towards a mix of extra stories, camp allotment, college stipends and some marketing costs the following fiscal year. (June 1-May 31).

Expenditures • 12 BUDGET Here’s how our budget would break down as we reach certain monetary goals, which we plan to hit by the end of Year 2 (May 31, 2023):

ANNUAL BUDGET $25,000 $55,000 $95,000

Josh: $1,175/mo Josh: $2,075/mo EDITORIAL Josh: $500/mo Ass’t 1: $400/mo Ass’t 1: $783/mo SALARY Ass’t: $300/mo Ass’t 2: $400/mo Ass’t 2: $783/mo

$675 $1,425 $2,400 CONTRIBUTOR PAY (13-15 stories/mo (23-25 stories/mo (35-40 stories/mo (MONTHLY) @ $50/story) @ $60/story) @ $60/story)

COLLEGE STIPENDS One @ $3,000 Two @ $3,000 Four @ $3,000

CAMP ALLOTMENT $1,500 $3,000 $5,000

BUSINESS $1,500 $3,000 $4,000 EXPENSES

MISCELLANEOUS $250 $1,750 $2,500 BREAKDOWN TOTAL $23,850 $53,250 $92,200

Here’s what the CoBL budget could look like in several years as we hit other potential fundraising milestones:

ANNUAL BUDGET $200,000 $300,000

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF $40,000 $50,000 SALARY ($3,333/month) ($4,166/month)

Ass’t Editor: $3,125.00/mo FULL-TIME STAFF Ass’t Editor: $2,900/month Add’l Emp1: $2,500.00/mo SALARY Add’l Emp.: $2,500/month Add’l Emp2: $2,500.00/mo

$6,250/month (60-65 ADDITIONAL $4,150/month (50-55 stories/mo @ $100/story) WRITER PAY stories/mo @ $75/story) Score staff: $1,000/mo

COLLEGE WRITER 7 @ $3,000 6 @ $5,000 STIPENDS

CAMP ALLOTMENT $6,000 $10,000

BUSINESS EXPENSES $12,500 $15,000

MISCELLANEOUS $4,750 $6,000

APPROX. TOTAL $198,000 $295,500

Budget Breakdown • 13 Philly Basketball 24 • 7 • 365 610.937.0353 [email protected] www.cityofbasketballlove.com

ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW CITY OF BASKETBALL LOVE

Design by: Marissa Mohrman Last Updated: June 2, 2021 [email protected]