Long rumoured, and now official. The National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada) is coming to Ottawa.
Professional basketball is coming to the Nations Capital.
“I’m truly excited for the City of Ottawa being awarded a new professional basketball organization,” said NBL of Canada president and CEO Andre Levingston. “I know the owners and players will do a tremendous job of supporting the community, along with serving as role models for the youth of Ottawa.”
“I’m confident our nation’s capital will embrace this amazing opportunity, and support their club.”
Ottawa becomes the 9th team in the league, with an official announcement coming on November 21st, 2012 at the ScotiaBank Place.
The unnamed Ottawa team will play out of the current home of the Senators and will eventually move to Landsdowne Park, a more central place and the home of the Ottawa 67’s.
The team will be owned by Bytown Sports and Entertainment, which is headed by Gus Takkale, a motivational speaker and author who is president of GTI Canada.
The Bytown Sports and Entertainment team also includes Denis Sabourin, the owner of Xactly Design & Advertising and co-owner of Bytown Media.
The nation’s capital is always been known as a hotbed for Canadian Basketball and is home to the Carleton Ravens, the eight-time CIS/U Sports men’s basketball champions.
The city features two universities (Carleton, Ottawa University) and two CCAA colleges in the Algonquin Thunder and french collegiate La Cite Coyotes.
“Ottawa is a great city with a wonderful sports tradition,” said Shaw. “They have the NHL, major junior hockey, the CFL coming back soon, professional soccer, double-A pro baseball and now an NBL of Canada team joins this great group of sports franchises.”
It will be interesting to see how this develops, who will coach the the team? How many will actually drive out to Kanata to see a game?
What local players will be a part of the team?
