Las Vegas Venom co-owners Dan Savage and Tyrone Nesby may be on to something.

Working feverishly to get the word out about the new local American Basketball Association team, the pair has been visiting schools and talking to media in Southern Nevada several months before the Venom's first game in November, and doing everything in their power to give the expansion team a decent chance of surviving in a city with fresh memories of failed ABA teams like the Slam and the Rattlers and the International Basketball League's Silver Bandits.