Steve Rossi sits at his desk in the offices of the Rochester RazorSharks basketball team. While he talks he squeezes and bounces a small orange rubber basketball, not necessarily nervously, but definitely fidgety.

At this point, Rossi has good reason to be antsy - he has a whole new basketball league to run. On the floor next to his chair sits a black and orange duffel bag emblazoned with the logo of that new organization: the Premier Basketball League.

Next to the bag is a stack of papers about 4" or 5" thick. He reaches down, picks the weighty packet up and drops it on his desk. "That," says the PBL's vice president of league operations, "is the bible."

Within those pages are contained the strict rules, regulations, and guidelines - financial and otherwise - each team in the PBL must follow to enter and stay in the league, which includes the RazorSharks as one of its founding members.

Rossi says no such manual exists for teams in the American Basketball Association. "There's a one-page handout," he says, adding that such lack of internal control is a big reason why the ABA has become a model of sports dysfunction.

It's also a big reason why the RazorSharks, who won the ABA championship in 2006, bailed on the old league before this year's ABA playoffs. They were joined by the Maryland Nighthawks, another disgruntled ABA team, in becoming the charter members of the PBL.

From the very beginning, Rossi says, the creators of the PBL - which is scheduled to tip off its inaugural season in January 2008 - set out to prove that minor-league basketball can work in America. So far, the PBL has eight teams signed up.

"We hope to continue bringing some semblance of professionalism to minor-league basketball," says Rossi, who is slowly leaving his former role as RazorSharks president as he assumes his PBL duties.

He's not the only member of the RazorSharks operation who has become a primary figure in the PBL. RazorSharks co-founder Dr. Severko Hrywnak divested his majority ownership in the Rochester team to become the PBL's chairman of the board, and, like Rossi, he's set his goals high. "We want to become the No. 1 minor-league basketball league," he says simply.

To do that, however, PBL officials realize they have to avoid the pitfalls that have paralyzed other leagues like the ABA. First and foremost, PBL officials say, the new league has a rigorous screening process - it will only accept franchises that have proven to be financially stabile and have the capital investment resources to help strengthen the league as a whole. So far, only eight teams have met those standards - the RazorSharks, Maryland Nighthawks, Minnesota Ripknees, Arkansas Aeros, Wilmington Sea Dawgs, Reading Railers, New England Stompers, and a yet-to-be-named franchise in the Dallas area. Four other prospective franchises are waiting in the wings, Rossi says.

Like Rochester and Maryland, the Sea Dawgs, Ripknees and Aeros are all refugees from the ABA. In addition, the Railers had originally intended to join the ABA, but they opted for the PBL when the new league offered stability - and sanity. (The PBL has already turned down the applications of 10 other ABA teams.

PBL officials also say their league administration will have a symbiotic relationship with its member teams, with all the teams maintaining a financial and structural stake in the success of the league. In return, the league will help its members develop the type of solid fiscal and marketing plans necessary to not only function, but, hopefully, to prosper.

Hrywnak says that as the league continues to come together, he and president and CEO Tom Doyle - the founder of the Maryland franchise - will gradually cede power to a board of governors comprised of two representatives from each team.

"Everybody has an interest in the league succeeding, and every team has equity in the league," says Hrywnak, who adds that profit-sharing among the member franchises will be a crucial part of the overall business plan. "That's unique to minor-league sports in this country," he says.

For his part, ABA CEO Joe Newman has reacted to the creation of the PBL - and the criticism thrown at him by the new league's founders - defensively and defiantly.In an interview with City, Newman dismissed critics - like Hrywnak - who say his league is ill-managed. "I find nothing they said to have any credibility at all," he says.

Despite the war or words, the basketball world is still reacting to the vision and structured proposed by the PBL, but initial reviews seem positive. "Minor league basketball fans rejoice," wrote Jeff Duncan on ProBasketballNews.com. "... It's encouraging to hear that the PBL is rejecting teams because of insufficient financing. The last thing the minor league scene needs is another poorly financed and (poorly) run league that leaves a trail of unpaid bills in its wake."

If there's one possible flaw with the PBL's gameplan, it could be the possibility of overreaching its grasp too soon: negotiations are already underway for possible inter-league games, and there's even hope for an eventual European division in the PBL.

Time will tell if such ambitious aspirations can come to fruition. For the time being, Rossi says, the focus will be on professionalism. "We are sports business people," he says, giving the rubber ball a squeeze.

For more information on the Premier Basketball League, go to www.pblpro.com. For more info on the Rochester RazorSharks, go to www.razorsharks.com.