A new professional basketball team will have a home in Moncton.
The Moncton Motion is the seventh franchise to join the Eastern Canada Basketball League. The team’s launch was announced at a press conference Wednesday at the Avenir Center, which will host the team’s home games, league president Tim Kendrick said.
“Moncton has a strong sporting history, and you know they’ve been very successful in the world of basketball, as well as particularly supporting their sports, and that for us was key,” Kendrick said. .
Other league teams include the Saint John Union and Bathurst Bears, Summerside Slam and Charlottetown Power in Prince Edward Island, and the Valley Vipers and Truro Tide in Nova Scotia.
“The Eastern Canada Basketball League is a community league and when we talk about community, we talk about the Maritimes as our community,” Kendrick said.
“We are building our league in the Maritimes and we are going to stay in the Maritimes.”
Kendrick said each team will consist of a coach, an assistant coach and a business and basketball operations manager.
Bathurst and Saint John will also have new teams when the league’s inaugural season kicks off in March 2023.
David Tingley, director of basketball business and operations for Moncton Movement, said getting the role was like a dream come true.
As a teenager, he played on the Riverview High School basketball team, then played for Mount Allison University.
After graduating, he returned to coach his old high school basketball team and also coached Basketball New Brunswick.
“If you told me young that I would work for a pro league in town, I wouldn’t believe it, so it’s pretty exciting that way,” Tingley said.
Tingley said the league owns all teams, unlike other leagues where teams are individually owned.
He said it’s a model that ensures teams “stick around for a long time.”
Moncton has hosted professional basketball in the past, most recently with the Moncton Magic, which was part of the National Basketball League of Canada.
In the summer of 2021, this team, second tenant of Center Avenir, announced that it was leaving the league.
The season starts in March
Kendrick said the inaugural season is scheduled to begin March 17 and run through the end of June.
He said the teams will play a 24-game schedule with the first six to advance to the playoffs.
Kendrick said an annual championship tournament would rotate between franchises each year, with league staff predicting up to $2 million in economic activity generated by the host city the weekend it is held.
Games will be 48 minutes spread over four quarters, more in line with the National Basketball Association standard, Kendrick said.
“If we’re asking people to buy a ticket, we want to make sure it’s different from a college game.”
Kendrick declined to share details on player salaries, but said there would be a cap.
He also said more information on ticket prices, team budgets and coaching hires will be released over the next four to six weeks.
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