CEBL has Bigger, Bolder Vision with More Teams on the Way

For the Canadian Elite Basketball League, every game finishes with a winning bucket.

This is literally true because of the target score format, but that winning feeling is starting to shine through off the court as well.

The CEBL smashed its own total attendance figures in 2023 with a 52 per cent increase from the previous season.

Nine out of 10 arenas experienced at least two sold-out games and in August, 10,580 fans passed through the turnstiles at Canada Life Centre to watch the expansion Winnipeg Sea Bears host the Edmonton Stingers in a playoff match.

CEBL commissioner and co-founder Mike Morreale attended the Sea Bears’ inaugural home opener several months earlier - and after years of trying to secure the venue which is also the home of the Winnipeg Jets.

The vision finally became a reality with the help of local businessman and lawyer David Asper who is also the owner and chairman of the Sea Bears.

Morreale came away from the experience very impressed and with a bigger and bolder vision for the league he helped create from the ground up.

“When I was there for the opener, it felt like a Raptors game to me,” Morreale told CEBL.ca. “Like, if I closed my eyes, I could have been anywhere. I could have been in [Scotiabank Arena].”

Morreale knew starting a professional basketball league in Canada would be a very risky situation, so in the beginning, he chose markets and venues that were a comfortable size and accessible to the CEBL head office in St. Catharines, Ont.

However, after the CEBL’s fourth season in 2022, Morreale believed the league was ready to take on bigger markets and bigger venues.

Morreale followed up that sentiment with a series of landscape-changing decisions that he described at that time as “all part of the master plan.”

The now Vancouver Bandits had already moved from Abbotsford, B.C., and a year later the Guelph Nighthawks were relocated to Calgary, the Sea Bears set up shop in Winnipeg, and the Honey Badgers took on a new address near Toronto in Brampton, Ont.

The 10-team league also has a presence in Edmonton, Saskatoon, Scarborough, Montreal, Ottawa and St. Catharines.

“In 2022, I think we realized there's something there,” Morreale said. “There's something here that's bigger than what we initially strived for, and I'd say the same thing today.

“What you saw in Winnipeg is likely the future of the CEBL. That's where I'd like the CEBL to go. So, whether it's playing in the Saddledome (Calgary) or it's playing in Rogers Place (Edmonton) - why should we limit ourselves to be a mid-market, mid-sized league when we could be a major-city and major-market league and a major-venue league.”

The CEBL has grown from six to 10 teams and Morreale says there are two more on the way for the 2025 season.

Morreale, who had hoped to have a team up and running in Quebec City for the 2024 campaign, says that franchise will be owned by media and telecommunications giant Quebecor and will play out of Videotron Centre which has a capacity of over 18,000.

Another team will be added in the west to balance out the conferences.

After participating in a panel discussion on league operations at the PrimeTime Sports Management Conference & Trade Show in Toronto on Tuesday, Morreale reflected on the significance of having a seat at the table alongside the leaders of other largescale leagues in North America.

The panel also included American Hockey League president Scott Howson, Canadian Hockey League president Dan MacKenzie and Canadian Premier League executive vice president Glen Johnson.

“I was thinking, you know what, five, six years ago, the CEBL didn't exist - there was no spot at the table,” Morreale said. “So, these are little proud moments, where the proof of concept is working and now you're aligned with other major leagues and major commissioners or major presidents.

“It just feels like, 'Okay,’ we're getting closer and closer to being more topical, more top of mind and aligned with other big, relevant leagues. I think that's part of the growth. We're still young - we're growing and we're doing a really good job - but if you want to sit at those tables, you've got to continue to do a good job.”