Yes, Butch Carter hears the skeptics whispering that his fledgling pro hoops circuit, the Canadian Basketball League, will never fly.

And, yes, the former head coach of the Toronto Raptors knows his league, which tipped off Dec. 11 before a handful of fans in Hamilton, could have launched with more publicity.

But, no, he doesn’t think those obstacles will stop him from building a league he hopes will incubate talent for higher-level pro basketball.

Two years ago Carter unveiled his vision of a league with a long-term broadcast deal and teams spread coast to coast. Last month a scaled-down version of that vision began play. The CBL’s four teams are all located within an hour of Toronto, and their games are set to appear on Yes TV.

But Carter isn’t concerned with the size of the splash his league has made so far. He’s just happy he made the leap. And he’s confident that southern Ontario, already home to the NBA, the D-League and the National Basketball League of Canada, can support yet another brand of basketball.

“You can’t do anything about the chatter,” Carter says. “If you have a chance, you just have to get started.”

The four CBL teams —Scarborough, Durham (Oshawa), Hamilton and Wellington (Guelph) — with play a combined 52 games this season, with weekly matchups appearing on Yes, where the league has bought airtime.

Rosters feature a mix of local talent, U.S. college journeymen and American high school stars who lack the grades to play college ball. Players earn between $1,500 and $3,500 a month, but Carter says none of them joined the CBL to get rich.

Instead, he says, they came for the same reason former Raptor Milt Palacio signed on to coach the Durham franchise: to develop and to attract attention from higher-profile leagues.

In that sense the CBL and the NBL Canada are jockeying to occupy a similar market niche, but Carter says his league’s players skew younger than those in other developmental leagues because he targets talented teens who aren’t academically inclined.

And distinctions aside, NBL Canada commissioner Dave Magley says Canada has enough basketball fans to accommodate both leagues provided the product is entertaining and accessible.

“There are 52 major junior hockey markets in Canada, and our model requires us to have half of what they do to break even,” Magley says. “There are a lot of markets in Canada that are (hungry) for this product . . . I don’t see (the CBL) as a bad thing. I see it as an opportunity to grow more basketball opportunities for more people.”

But logistical hurdles remain.

Unlike NBL Canada teams, which mostly play in multipurpose arenas, Carter is adamant that CBL teams play in college and university gyms. That strategy lowers overhead — CBL teams don’t have to pay to convert arenas from hockey to basketball — but can complicate scheduling. Durham College could only accommodate the Oshawa squad for six home games this season, while rival teams will play twice as many home games.

While it’s tough for teams to compensate for absence from their home market, experts say the CBL can compensate by capitalizing on Carter’s NBA connections.

Drew Ebanks, who runs the GTA-centric hoops web site On Point Basketball, points out that summer events like the Nike Crown League and Drake’s OVO Bounce tournament thrive because organizers import NBA players and other celebrities. He says Carter is positioned to do something similar.

“It’s going to be an uphill battle, but (the key is) getting people aware,” Ebanks said. “Butch has to take advantage of the NBA connections he has. Maybe have Charles Oakley night. In Toronto we’re very big-time, and when we see big-time things happening, that can make people gravitate toward you.”

Either way, the path to profitability remains rocky for a brand new league that began play with little publicity, and whose teams cost up to $500,000 a year to run.

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Some sponsors, like GP8 Oxygen Water have already signed on, but Carter thinks more corporate support will emerge when the team establishes its TV presence.

Broadcasts will also help sell tickets, Carter says, and the league created its own ticket-selling site, allowing it to sidestep Ticketmaster and reap more revenue from each seat.

“Those are dollars you can spend on marketing, and getting people to your game,” Carter says.