New Basketball League Signs Second Sponsor

The Collegiate Professional Basketball League on Wednesday said a second high-tech company has agreed to sponsor a team. Acunet.Net Inc. agreed to pay $400,000 to sponsor a team to be located in Chicago. Earlier, Lycos Inc., an Internet search engine company, agreed to sponsor a team to be based in Boston. The CPBL is a new men’s professional basketball league that hopes to begin playing in November with teams in eight cities nationwide. Companies that pay the franchise fee acquire naming rights, so the Chicago team will be known as Team Acunet.Net. The CPBL hopes to lure college-age basketball players by offering them the chance to play basketball while earning college scholarships. The CPBL has targeted high-tech companies that are looking for marketing programs that can help to expand consumer awareness, said CPBL President Paul McMann.