Things are coming together for the upcoming inaugural season of the Eastern Canadian Basketball League.
Training camps begin next week once the players arrive.
Vice-President Dwayne Tingley says tryouts were recently held for the six-team league, “Two of them in Los Angeles and another one in Truro, Nova Scotia. We had to choose each team from the 400 and 500 players who tried out. There are twelve players on each roster and it’ll be either five or six Canadians on that roster. For those Canadian spots, we’re trying to get two or three Maritimers.”
The Moncton Motion will begin training camp on March 20 and 21 at Crandall University. Their first home game is on April 1st at the Avenir Centre against the Bathurst Bears.
Each team will play a 26-game schedule, which includes 13 home games and 13 away.
“The season will culminate with a Championship Tournament. All teams will play in that. First and second-place teams from the regular season will automatically make it into the semi-finals. The other teams will be battling it out in the quarterfinals. The site for the championship tournament has not been selected yet. I know there are a few cities that have put in bids already but no decision yet.”
The Saint John Union plays their first home game on March 31st against the Bathurst Bears at TD Station. They’re the first two teams to hit the court.
Tingley is optimistic about the season, and the future of the ECBL, “Tickets sales and sponsorship sales have been very strong. It is going to be a solid six-team league, and we’ve already got applications for franchises for cities for next year.”
