{"id":144,"date":"2026-01-18T14:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T14:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/?page_id=144"},"modified":"2026-02-01T22:41:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T22:41:54","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t\t<!-- Cool Timeline Free V3.2.3 -->\n\t\t\t<div class=\"ctl-wrapper\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Timeline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"cool_timeline_1\" class=\"cool-timeline-wrapper ctl-both-sided ctl-vertical-wrapper\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ctl-start\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<!-- Timeline Container -->\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ctl-timeline ctl-timeline-container\" data-animation=\"none\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- Center Line -->\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ctl-inner-line\" role=\"presentation\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- Story Year Section --><div data-cls=\"sc-nv-light vertical\" class=\"timeline-year scrollable-section ctl-year ctl-year-container light-year\" data-section-title=\"1976\" id=\"year-1976\"><div class=\"ctl-year-label ctl-year-text\"><span>1976<\/span><\/div><\/div><!-- Timeline Content --><div  id=\"ctl-story-175\" class=\"ctl-story ctl-story-dot-icon odd ctl-story-right\" data-aos=\"none\"   data-story-index=\"1\" role=\"article\"><!-- Story Date --><div class=\"ctl-labels\"><div class=\"ctl-label-big story-date\">June 1<\/div><\/div><!-- Story IconDot --><div class=\"ctl-icondot\"><\/div> <!-- Story Arrow --><div class=\"ctl-arrow\"><\/div><!-- Story Content --><div class=\"ctl-content\"><!-- Story Title --><div class=\"ctl-title story-175\" aria-label=\"2\"><a target=\"_self\" title=\"1976 &#8211; ABF Formed\" href=\"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/cool_timeline\/1976-abf-formed\/\" class=\"story-link\">1976 &#8211; ABF Formed<\/a><\/div><!-- Story Media --><div class=\"ctl-media full\"><a data-glightbox=\"1976 &#8211; ABF Formed\" href=\"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/abf.png\" class=\"ctl_glightbox\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"340\" height=\"340\" src=\"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/abf.png\" class=\"story-img wp-post-image\" alt=\"1976 &#8211; ABF Formed\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/abf.png 340w, https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/abf-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/abf-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/abf-128x128.png 128w, https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/abf-32x32.png 32w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/a><\/div><!-- Story Description --><div class=\"ctl-description\"><p>In 1975, amid stalled merger talks between the NBA and the upstart ABA, a coalition of owners, broadcasters, and basketball visionaries proposed a radical alternative: a true merger that preserved both leagues\u2019 identities under a single competitive pyramid. The\u00a0American Basketball Federation was founded on June 1st 1976, with a mission&hellip;<a class=\"read_more ctl_read_more\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/cool_timeline\/1976-abf-formed\/\" role=\"link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- Timeline Content --><div  id=\"ctl-story-172\" class=\"ctl-story ctl-story-dot-icon even ctl-story-left\" data-aos=\"none\"   data-story-index=\"2\" role=\"article\"><!-- Story Date --><div class=\"ctl-labels\"><div class=\"ctl-label-big story-date\">January 6<\/div><\/div><!-- Story IconDot --><div class=\"ctl-icondot\"><\/div> <!-- Story Arrow --><div class=\"ctl-arrow\"><\/div><!-- Story Content --><div class=\"ctl-content\"><!-- Story Title --><div class=\"ctl-title story-172\" aria-label=\"2\"><a target=\"_self\" title=\"1976 &#8211; Inaugural Season\" href=\"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/cool_timeline\/1976-inaugural-season\/\" class=\"story-link\">1976 &#8211; Inaugural Season<\/a><\/div><!-- Story Media --><div class=\"ctl-media full\"><a data-glightbox=\"1976 &#8211; Inaugural Season\" href=\"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/den.gif\" class=\"ctl_glightbox\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"303\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/den.gif\" class=\"story-img wp-post-image\" alt=\"1976 &#8211; Inaugural Season\" \/><\/a><\/div><!-- Story Description --><div class=\"ctl-description\"><p>Denver Wins First ABF Title The Nuggets defeat Boston in a one-game playoff to become the first ABF Premier League champions. Promoted:\u00a0Buffalo, Philadelphia, Houston (Premier); Oklahoma City, Baltimore, Memphis (Championship). Relegated:\u00a0Kentucky, San Antonio, Indiana (to Championship); Portland, St. Louis, Detroit (to Founders Cup). 1976 Season Recap<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ctl-end\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-144","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174,"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/144\/revisions\/174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.distantreplaysports.com\/abf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}