A basketball bash in downtown Winnipeg CEBL to stage 2025 championship weekend in Sea Bears’ den By: Taylor Allen Posted: 4:29 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 9, 2024 Last Modified: 5:12 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 9, 2024 Updates

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Canada’s premier annual basketball event is coming to the Manitoba capital.

The Winnipeg Sea Bears will host the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s championship weekend in August 2025 at the downtown arena.

The club, along with provincial and city officials, made the announcement Tuesday morning.

The CEBL’s board of governors unanimously approved Winnipeg’s bid.

“Rest assured, this will be the biggest and best (CEBL) championship weekend to date,” said league commisioner Mike Morreale at Tuesday’s announcement inside the Canada Life Centre.

The hoops extravaganza will be staged a few months before the 2025 Grey Cup — the CFL championship — also in Winnipeg.

The CEBL championship features the final four vying for the league title. The host team has always received a spot in the semifinal but Morreale said it’s currently up in the air whether or not the Sea Bears will have that luxury in 2025.

The Vancouver Bandits went 8-12 in 2023 but competed as the hosts. The Montreal Alliance are hosting this season’s final four and will be part of the championship, regardless of their record.

“We’re always open to change. I will say that we do have plans to change several things about the league in the next little while and they’re all positive,” said Morreale.

“But we’ve evaluated what it’s like to have a host in and what it’s like to not have a host in. It’s certainly being discussed, but it’ll be presented probably in the next several months.”

It’s more than a basketball tournament as the weekend is expected to feature a free festival and concert series showcasing local and national musical performers, minor basketball events, and the CEBL awards show.

“It always has been a celebration of basketball, of everything basketball, not limited to the CEBL. It’s a chance for us to come together, all like-minded people, to enjoy it. There’s no other opportunity in this country outside of the (Toronto) Raptors winning the NBA championship, but that’s so limited in its scope,” said Morreale.

A report by Tourism Winnipeg estimates it will bring 1,300 visitors to town and approximately $5 million into the local economy.

The previous Progressive Conservative government annnounced last August that they’d be putting $1 million toward the team’s bid to host. The current NDP government is also committed to helping as they will spend $450,000 over three years to support the team’s operation.

The Sea Bears raised the bar in the league in their inaugural campaign with the five highest attended CEBL games in history. Before the Sea Bears stepped on the court for the first time, the organization had already expressed interest in the 2025 weekend.

“We think we have a great venue, I think really the only wild card was would we have enough engagement, fan experience, and all of that to do it,” said Sea Bears president Jason Smith.

“We had it as a goal, we weren’t sure if it was going to be feasible or not. But obviously with the support we saw from our fans, the community, sponsors, the city and province we were able to push it over the line potentially even earlier than we were thinking.”

Smith also noted the Sea Bears and Basketball Manitoba have purchased a new basketball court for the downtown arena. The one installed at Canada Life Centre last summer is decades old, as it was originally acquired for the 1967 Pan Am Games.

“There were a lot of dead spots,” said Sea Bears centre Chad Posthumus. “We will definitely welcome that new court with open arms.”

The hardwood will arrive this week from Cleveland as it was briefly used as a practice court at the NCAA women’s final four.

New gym floors can cost as much as $400,000, and the Sea Bears were able to save $150,000 on the gently used surface.

“A a new court is going to be huge for us,” said Smith. “And the ability to get it cheaper is obviously the Winnipeg thing to do.”

Posthumus, 33, won the first CEBL championship in 2019 with the host Saskatchewan Rattlers. He’s hoping he can experience that again with his hometown club.

“When we won it, it was incredible. Just the involvement from everybody and the excitement that it brought to the city was amazing. I can’t really even really describe it,” said Posthumus.

“So, Winnipeg is obviously a little bigger than Saskatoon and we know how to throw a party. So, it’ll be fun”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31