Is Peachtree City ready to

join the big leagues of Macon, Little Rock and Baton Rouge?

Steve Brown seems to think

so.

The mayor said "preliminary

discussions" have begun with organizers of a new professional basketball

league about locating a franchise in the city, though where game might

be played remains uncertain.

Except for the Kedron Field

House, the only gyms in the city are owned by the Fayette County School

Board and only one of those, the new facility under construction at McIntosh

High, would be appropriate for large crowds of spectators.

That wouldn't be an issue

with another semi-pro sports franchise considering a Peachtree City location.

A private "Select Baseball" organization has approached the

city about creating a "country club" type complex of fields

and amenities that would host traveling teams from around the nation.

Brown is proposing the baseball

complex be included in an ambitious plan created by John Wieland to annex

and develop the several hundred acres of isolated land north of Wynnmeade

commonly referred to as the "West Village."

The baseball venture is just

a small part of that overall proposal, which faces many obstacles before

it can become reality, mainly the city's moratorium on annexations.

It certainly makes a pro basketball

team more likely, Brown concedes.

Former University of Georgia

star and Detroit Pistons standout Litterial Green has been selected as

the general manager for the new franchise, Brown said.

Green, the career all-time

leader in scoring and assists with the Bulldogs, is a resident of Fayette

County. Green is also sponsoring a Spring Break Basketball Camp in Peachtree

City April 5-9, featuring a host of NBA talent as instructors.

"Litterial is a wonderful

athlete and is especially community-minded," Brown said in a press

release issued by the city.

"The opportunity that

he presents at his basketball camp for our youth is exceptional and I

would expect no less with the new professional basketball team."

The new league, not yet named,

would fill a void seen by many in the professional basketball ranks: Teaching

the various styles of play and exposing fans to the game across the NBA,

American Basketball Association, Canadian Basketball Association and the

like.

Teams for the new pro league

have already been announced in Rome, Macon, Chattanooga, Little Rock,

Jackson, Miss., Baton Rouge, La., and Montgomery, Ala.

The proposal for Peachtree

City would be the first attempt at a professional sports franchise in

South Metro Atlanta, Brown pointed out.

Arena football and pro hockey

franchises are based in Gwinnett County, and Rome in northwest Georgia

last year became home to an Atlanta Braves single-A farm team.

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