The professional basketball scene in Baltimore has been dormant since the NBA’s Baltimore Bullets left for Washington in 1973. And that didn’t sit well with Charles Carrington and Jacob Dennis.
“Baltimore deserves it, and Baltimore should have it,” Carrington said. “Maryland itself is a basketball state. It doesn’t get the proper respect that it deserves and neither does the city of Baltimore as a basketball powerhouse.”
Carrington and Dennis are seeking to start a revival as co-owners of the Baltimore Venom, the 40th franchise of The Basketball League (TBL). The Venom will join the nine-team Atlantic Northeast division of the professional minor league basketball organization in time for the 2025 season. Carrington and Dennis said they are still negotiating with several parties to determine a home venue for next season.
The team’s launch was first reported by Baltimore Fishbowl in April, but obtaining the almost $1 million, which was raised via private funding, necessary to fund the franchise over the first six years delayed the official announcement.
Magley echoed Carrington’s belief that Baltimore should host a professional basketball team. The NBA has long avoided placing one between Washington and Philadelphia.
“So unless an NBA team comes back to Baltimore — which they probably aren’t anytime soon — the next best model of pro basketball is going to be the TBL, and what makes the TBL special is our focus on community, which could use someone whose brand is built on community activation,” he said. “The more visible we are in the community and the more role models [we have] in schools and boys and girls clubs doing things to serve our way to success, the more we can impact lives in the greater Baltimore area.”
Carrington and Dennis — co-founders of a sports and entertainment company called Maelstrom Sports — have debated how to enter the sports ownership strata before turning their attention to the TBL two years ago. Dennis, an Upper Marlboro resident who graduated from UMBC in 2019 with a bachelor’s in economics, said he and Carrington had considered launching a franchise in Prince George’s County before talking to residents of Baltimore.
“What we found was the zeal and excitement that came from people was unlike anything else,” said Dennis, a 30-year-old business teacher at DuVal High School in Lanham. “And the nice thing about it was, we started to learn how important it was to the city. Everyone likes the idea of a professional basketball team, but when we started talking to folks about what it could mean to the city, it just seemed like a better fit.”
Carrington, who grew up in St. Mary’s County and played college basketball at St. Mary’s and North Carolina A&T before knee injuries derailed his career, pointed out that Baltimore has produced NBA players such as Carmelo Anthony, Reggie Lewis, Muggsy Bogues and Rudy Gay who are forced to play elsewhere.
“We want to bring it back,” said Carrington, a 28-year-old IT manager for the federal government. “We want to pour into the city. It is very much a love note to the city that means a lot to a lot of people, including ourselves. And people are hungry for the game. People are hungry for basketball to come back. Basketball has never died in Baltimore. It has always been a basketball city, and this is the perfect place to do this.”
Dennis acknowledged trying to start the team in time for the 2024 season, but the window proved to be too tight. Magley applauded the duo’s zeal.
“What I like about them is, they’ve got a little bit of a background in basketball, but they’ve got a bigger background in trying to build a business the right way because this is a business that happens to do basketball,” Magley said. “It is not a basketball business. The difference is, a business that does basketball recognizes that this is entertainment with DJs and dancers and mascots and hype people. A basketball business says, ‘Hey, I’ve got uniforms, players, a gym, and we’ve got a business.’ That’s not what this is. We’ve got to be bigger than that and better than that.”
The Baltimore Venom is just a 50-minute drive from the Frederick Flying Cows, an expansion franchise that began this past winter. But Magley noted that the Kokomo Bobkats and Lebanon Leprechauns in Indiana are about the same distance from each other, and Frederick co-owner Michael Witt welcomed the newest addition.
“The more teams we could identify as a pod that we could travel to in a three-to-four-hour maximum, then we could develop rivalries that are local,” said Witt, who owns the Flying Cows with Tony Mazlish. “Then there’s more competition to recruit good players. I think that competition just makes everyone better.”
Dennis said there is plenty of room for the two teams to co-exist. He also said he and Carrington have met several times with Witt and Mazlish, who have provided solid feedback.
“We appreciate everything they’ve done for us. … The only time we really want to smoke them is on the court,” Dennis said. “That’s the only time we would have a problem with them.”
Carrington and Dennis said that the team’s colors will be black, green and yellow, and that the team name captures Baltimore’s spirit.
“Venom when wielded improperly is poisonous,” Carrington said. “But if you know what you’re doing, it’s a healing salve, an antidote, and we’re trying to be an antidote and healing salve in the community of Baltimore. No matter what your color is and what part of the city you live in, we’re here to serve and provide.”