Contact: Colleen Roche (212) 788-2958
Joining the Mayor at the announcement were City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, Deputy Mayor Fran Reiter, the newly appointed Chair of the New York City Sports Commission and Modell's Sporting Goods President Mitchell Modell, Chase Manhattan Corporation Vice-President Charles McCabe and other corporate sponsors from General Electric Capital, Continental Airlines, The Princeton Review, Citizens Watch Company and MVP Sports. About 100 athletes and coaches who will participate in the tournament were also on hand to give demonstrations of New York City basketball talent.
"I like to call New York City the 'Capital of the World' for a lot of reasons," Mayor Giuliani said. "One of those reasons is because we have some of the best talent anywhere. Nowhere is this talent more visible than in sports, especially basketball. It is on these playground courts that you'll find some of the stiffest competition anywhere--competition which has produced some of the NBA's greatest players--Bob Cousy, Dr. J., Chris Mullin and Magic's most famous teammate, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar."
"But with all this great competition, there was no formal structure, no organized league," the Mayor went on to say. "With this Mayor's Cup Tournament, the New York City Sports Commission is setting the first building block for a Citywide league of amateur basketball for boys and girls of all ages. This league will go a long way in teaching New York City's young people lessons in teamwork and competition."
"It is an honor to be joined by a former member of the dream team and one of the greatest athletes basketball has ever seen, Magic Johnson," the Mayor said. "He was a winner, winning the N.C.A.A. championship at Michigan State, several world titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, and an Olympic Gold Medal with Team USA, the Dream Team. After today's press conference, I'm going to see if Magic would play for the Knicks."
There are many corporate partners associated with this first year event, including Chase Manhattan Corporation as the presenting sponsor. General Electric Capital is the title sponsor of the Mayor's Cup Slam Dunk and Celebrity HORSE Contest which will be part of the tournament. Supporting sponsors include Continental Airlines, Coca-Cola, Modell's, Citizen Watch Company, which will contribute one watch for every participant in the tournament, and the Princeton Review, which will provide SAT course scholarships for several participating athletes. MVP Sports will provide game jerseys and shorts for all athletes. The New York Post is the official newspaper of the Mayor's Cup.
The tournament is divided into three divisions: twelve teams of Boys Under 18, five teams of Girls Under 18 and five teams of Boys Under 14. In the preliminary games each division will have a round-robin structure. The top two teams from the Girls Under 18 and Boys Under 14 will advance to a final round. The Boys Under 18 group will be subdivided into two groups of six teams, producing four semifinalists who will go on to play each other in the semi-finals. The top two contenders will play each other for the championship.