The CEBL Officially Releases The 2020 Regular Season Schedule and More!
Commissioner Mike Morreale and the CEBL have dropped incredible unexpected news over the past few weeks. With the recent addition of the Ottawa Black Jacks joining the CEBL as the fourth team in Ontario and the seventh team in the league, Morreale and the CEBL have just been getting started. The CEBL has released an in-depth regular season schedule while keeping the season 20 games for each team. Despite holding the length of the season the same as last season, the addition of the Ottawa Black Jacks makes the season much more competitive. However, what else is coming next year and past that? To answer that question, I want you first to sit down and relax because what the CEBL has in store for the next few seasons will truly blow your mind, especially if you're living in Edmonton.
What To Expect This Upcoming Season
Mike Morreale announced today that the CEBL playoff weekend would be held at the Edmonton Expo Center, which is exciting news for all Albertans. I was fortunate enough to attend last year’s playoff weekend in Saskatoon, where the Rattlers won it all in front of there home crowd. With Edmonton now hosting the playoffs and bringing back most of there cornerstone pieces, including Xavier Moon, Jordan Baker, Travis Daniels, and many more, the Edmonton Stingers can keep the playoff tradition and win it all in Edmonton, but that’s for another conversation. Furthermore, the CEBL announced the dates for the Championship weekend, which will be through August 14, 2020, to August 16, 2020. However, due to Edmonton hosting the CEBL playoffs, the Stingers automatically get inducted into the playoffs, which raises the question of competitiveness. However, with all the teams releasing their team's schedules earlier than expected, fans can pick and choose what games they would be interested in to watch.
What To Expect In The Next Three Years.
The Edmonton Stingers hosting the 2020 Championship weekend is exciting and all, however, the CEBL struck an incredible with one of the biggest news networks in the world known as CBC! The deal includes a three-year partnership between the CEBL and CBC as the league’s main media partner. Every game of the CEBL will be streamed for free for all Canadians on CBC Gem, CEBL.tv, and the Island Sports Network. The CBC network will also be including a series called CBC Game of the Week, which is going to be games nationally televised. This means that these selected games will be broadcasted nationally, which gives the CEBL more areas to grow across the entire world!
Significant changes are coming to not just the CEBL but Canadian basketball as a whole. The Toronto Raptors winning the championship this past summer has opened a new chapter in Canadian sports. The United States may have the quantity of an abundance of teams as well as talent, but Canada is on the rise to slowly reach that level of popularity. More kids across Canada are begging their parents to buy them a pair of Jordan’s or Kyries instead of hockey skates which goes to show how fast basketball is growing. With leagues like the CEBL and impactful individuals such as Mike Morreale, basketball has the potential to become the most popular sport in all of Canada! I might be pushing it, but a man can dream, this sport has done so much for me, and I hope basketball can do the same for you.
