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We all need a little diversion from our day jobs.

For Thomas E. Doyle, a Rockville lawyer who focuses on medical malpractice and personal injury cases, it's understandable he wanted to do something he loved away from that sometimes grueling occupation.

So a couple of years ago he took $10,000 and bought a basketball team, the Maryland Nighthawks minor league professional team, and moved it from Prince George's County to Montgomery County. For Doyle, a former playground and high school player, it was the perfect opportunity to hang out with athletes, put on family-friendly sports events and have fun.

That should have been enough of a diversion, right?

Not quite. For Doyle, owning a basketball team then turned into starting his own league last year, the Premier Basketball League, whose teams included the Nighthawks, the Reading Railers and Rochester RazorSharks, who played from January to March. And let's not forget the plans for a $60 million-to-$80 million multi-purpose facility in Montgomery. And maybe a television network?

That would be @SportsTV, Doyle's latest brainchild, with 12 million to 15 million homes across the country lined up and waiting.

"That's kicking off within three weeks," said Doyle, 45. "And we've made a deal with Arena Football2, so we can tell sponsors rather than just December to March with basketball we can go from December to June and also have football and other sports. The response has been good from advertisers … fast-food chains, beer companies, the armed forces …"

With all these ventures that are taking funds from his own pocket and his associates', not to mention the time involved, Doyle is quick to point out that his law practice of 17 years "is still my bread and butter. Certainly the practice has afforded me the opportunity to combine the passion and love I have for sports into doing something on the business side of it, too."

The Business Gazette recently talked to Doyle about his many ventures.

Q: You said you try to stay away from the word "arena" when talking about the facility you're trying to develop in Montgomery County. Why is that?

A: Yeah, I prefer multi-purpose facility, or complex, because people take the wrong connotation, that it's just for basketball, or sports. Really there's a lot of interest for this kind of facility — for one thing for high schools to have graduations in a nice place here instead of going out of the county. But then there will be a lot of other events there, too, like various community events, concerts, indoor football, hockey, ice shows, non-ice family shows, spiritual groups, state high school tournaments, track and field, AAU tournaments. The plans are right now for 6,500 to 8,000 seats.

You have some sites in mind?

Yes, one site is on the Germantown campus of Montgomery College. But then we are looking at some other sites, too, some on private land. The most difficult challenge is getting the site … we have funders, private backers waiting.

But you said you want to get public money as well?

Yes, and I realize the economic climate right now is not that good. But you look around the country and I don't think there are projects of this type done with 100 percent private money, whether the public part is the ground lease, infrastructure or other type of funding. We're in the preliminary design phase now, working with HOK [a prominent stadium and arena design firm]. Optimistically, in 2009 we'd like to see putting shovels in the ground … obviously there are some steps to go through before we get to that … traffic studies, etc.

You're starting the television network in December and the basketball league starts playing in January, but you said the Nighthawks are actually taking a year off from the league for the 2009 season to go overseas. What's that about?

Yes, we're doing a trip to Asia, going to play in China, and maybe Southeast Asia. Look, they are so basketball-crazy over there, what they really wanted is multiple teams from our league. It will be the Nighthawks this time to go over there and play a 15- to 20-game schedule. It's really good for us from a revenue standpoint — I have sponsors from here, league sponsors, because we will be broadcasting those games back here. Then next year we'll bring teams from China over here.

Hey, I say if you keep doing it how it's always been done, it will fail. I truly believe there are immense opportunities out there that nobody is seizing … you can't be traditional in this marketplace. So, yes, we're not playing in the PBL this season, but we'll play some exhibition games here in the county, do some things, have some family events, before we go over there.

You're from Montgomery County originally?

Yes … born in D.C., but we moved out here when I was a baby and I grew up in Aspen Hill.

Growing up, what did you want to be?

A pro basketball player [laughs]. I remember the first pro game I went to was the Baltimore Bullets at the Baltimore Civic Center, and there was a warm-up game with the Harlem Globetrotters. And I played all around on the playgrounds, I was a point guard, and I played through high school and had some offers to play in college, but I figured I it was time I needed to pay attention to education, so I went to Montgomery College and then went to [University of] Maryland.

Then you went to law school, and when you got out you started doing what kind of cases?

The first couple of years I would take anything, criminal, domestic … then I met the guy I would call my mentor, Howard Siegel. He was a phenomenal trial lawyer, kind of a legend in this area for taking on difficult cases and getting big verdicts. I got into civil litigation, learned the ropes from him and got into doing medical malpractice and personal injury.

You've always been on the plaintiff side?

Yes, always for the injured party. Robin Hood if you will.

Do almost all your cases go to settlement? What's the split?

The medical malpractice ones, probably 50 percent, maybe 60 percent, settle. I did learn early on one of the things from Howard and other good plaintiff attorneys is you select the cases where there really is a legitimate negligent act, not just file suit to scare some money out of somebody. Because [the cases] are intense and all encompassing … so the amount of those kinds of cases you do take on are small in numbers because they do take a lot.

What has been your proudest accomplishment in the practice this year?

I had a wrongful diagnosis case involving a radiology diagnosis. As it is with most of these cases, it is someone who is never going to be like they were before. These kinds of cases, you don't take just to go after a doctor or a hospital, you really try to get some kind of relief for your client, the best you can get. This one went to settlement, we got in the high seven figures. At the same time you realize you are dealing with people's lives that are forever changed … but it will set up someone with an annuity for life, so in that sense that's good.

What's your percentage on cases?

Mine is 33 to 40 percent.

What was the most disappointing case in your career?

It was a police brutality case. I was a young lawyer and it was one of those cases where we won the case but the judge gave my woman $1. And the damages were tough and it was an emotional case … so it was like a slap in the face. Winning or losing is one thing, but those kinds of cases, it was a long run. The further you dug in that case, the uglier it got. The case went the better part of 15 months. What did it teach you?

You analyze ultimately what could be the return on the case, and … when you get older from the business side, you look at the hours. It taught me good business judgment, but that client remains a friend, so some things are worth more than money.

When did the sports involvement start in your practice?

That started actually when my wife came on board — she had gone and done the big firm thing right after college, in D.C., then she became a partner with me. Because I always knew a lot of athletes, basketball players and others, and I boxed and did weightlifting, too, when I was younger, we just started doing sports contracts and representation — I represented [former world champion boxer] Roberto Duran for a few years.

After you bought the Nighthawks, why did you start your own league?

After I bought the Nighthawks and moved them up here I tried to do some things different, tried to make a more professional situation for the players and for the league, make it more of a family type of entertainment thing. But what we ran into was some of the other people in the league [American Basketball Association] were not on the same page, not doing things, in my mind, that were going to be successful.

How did the TV network come about?

Essentially, with the advent of digital in February, with all networks going to digital, we were approached by a group to televise on their digital network. So then we [PBL co-founder Severko Hrywnak, Doyle's partner in the PBL and the television venture] thought about starting our own network, because of this need out there for content, with extreme sport and others. We combined with Fusion Communications, out of Davenport, Iowa, because they already have hookups with cable operators throughout the nation. We have 12 [million] to 15 million homes now. I hope by January we'll have 45 million homes.

Tom Doyle

-Age: 45.

-Position: Law firm of Thomas E. Doyle, Rockville, specializing in medical malpractice and personal injury cases; co-founder, president and CEO, Premier Basketball League; owner, Maryland Nighthawks professional basketball team; principal, D&A Sports Entertainment.

-Education: Bachelor's in business, University of Maryland; law degree, George Mason University.

-Organizations: Montgomery County Bar Association, Maryland Bar Association, American Trial Lawyers Association, District of Columbia Bar Association.

-Residence: Potomac.

-Family: Wife, Ferhan; daughter, Alexis, 13; son, Dominic, 10.

-Hobbies: "Any activity with my kids."