Rocky Mountain Revue
From Hoopedia
The Rocky Mountain Revue is a pro summer league sponsored by the NBA's Utah Jazz. Games in 2007 will be played July 13-20 with no games played on Sunday, July 15.
History
Before the Rocky Mountain Revue built a reputation as one of the NBA's premier summer league operations, it began as a casual way to drum up interest in the game during the summer months, with players like Karl Malone, Tom Chambers, Danny Ainge and Mark Eaton dropping by and suiting up.
"This was before the days of the Finals running through June or the WNBA," said Utah Jazz Vice President of Public Relations David Allred, who along with Jazz Senior Director of Media Relations Kim Turner has nurtured the Rocky Mountain Revue since 1984.
"The NBA was looking at ways to foster interest in the offseason, so, because we had the time and the energy, we got the Jazz to commit to send rookies and free agents," recalled Allred. "And it was Kim's responsibility to load up five other teams with players. He called some local college guys and other players still on the market.
The first year, 1984, had a pro-am format. A couple of years later, some of the guys who had formerly played collegiate ball in Utah, for example, Tom Chambers, Fred Roberts, Danny Ainge and Greg Kite, joined in. They would call some of their buddies from Utah, BYU, Weber State and Utah State to play.
But eventually the talent in Utah universities dropped off and the pros got older and decided that taking a summer off wasn't a bad idea. The pro-am format, thus, lost its luster, leading Allred and Turner to suspend operation for a year.
In 1988, Scott Layden, then the Jazz' director of basketball operations, sent a team to play in the Summer Pro League in Los Angeles. Upon his return, he pitched the idea of running a similar operation in Salt Lake City the following summer.
So Scott called Sacramento, Portland and Phoenix," Allred said, "and asked them if they'd be interested in coming to play here in the summer, providing the atmosphere would be first-rate. And they said, 'Sure, we'll come'"
