It hardly seems like the CEBL has only been with us for six seasons now since its original founding in 2017. The ten teams who now play in it are establishing strong fan bases for themselves and it also features the largest number of teams in any of Canada’s professional sports leagues. When it was set up it was announced by CEO Mike Morreale that the intention was to create “a party wrapped around a baseball game” to introduce some of the fun and razzamatazz that other sports have seemed to have lacked in recent times.
The league has gone from strength to strength, as the figures show. The 2024 attendance numbers increased by an impressive 41% overall. The season opener also achieved the single highest attendance for a game to date with 12,327 fans witnessing Calgary Surge take on the Edmonton Stingers in the Scotiabank Saddledome. It was a great start to the season, and one which saw the Surge make it all the way to the play-offs semi-final where they were finally defeated by the betting favorites the Vancouver Bandits.
Now the question is being asked about how the League can build on this great position to take it to a whole higher level. Here are a few suggestions.
Attract more sponsors
While it is still a long, long way from achieving the status of the NBA, there are valuable lessons to be learned from its moves to attract big name sponsors. This both brings money into the league and raises its profile in the process. It already has a number of partners covering various sectors including Spalding, New Era, Russell Athletic and Warner Music Canada. But it would undoubtedly be a good idea to spread the net a little wider.
Get more broadcast hours
For all the fans, and would-be fans, who can’t get to games themselves then maximising the chance to see broadcast games is key.
Existing rights are with Bell Media with games with English commentary on TSN, which also broadcasts a Game of the Week package. For French speakers, particularly around the Montreal area, RDS is the chosen channel. The CEBL+ channel also gives online access to all live games, plus an increasing number of extra features for paying subscribers. By further increasing accessibility to games through YouTube and other streaming services, a far greater reach could be achieved. That said, already things are moving in the right direction with total viewership in 2024 up 189% on 2023 figures and on-demand figures rising by 159%. The biggest surge has been in subscribers to the CEBL+ service that saw a 652% increase between May 2023 and May 2024.
Channel social media
Already, social media has proved to be a very successful form of fan engagement measuring at 4.5%, three time higher than the 1.5% generally considered average for sports leagues. The opening week of the 2024 season also saw over 2.7 million impressions. By becoming even more active across platforms like Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp there’s massive potential to grow not just fan numbers but the level of engagement they have with individual teams or the league itself.
Invest in marquee players
Social media is also instrumental in connecting fans directly with the players themselves. As other sports have shown, this can catapult the number of followers into a whole new league. So it might be a good idea for teams to scout around for high profile NBA players who may be nearing the end of their careers but still have one good move ahead of them. To take the example of soccer, you only have to see the effect that the arrival of Lionel Messi had following his move to Inter Miami. Ticket prices rose, games were sold out, even the selling of replica Messi shirts raised millions for the club. The wages that would be needed to secure an ex-NBAer might be high, but it would benefit not just the team but the whole league in general.
Playing with the rules
Finally, changing some of the format, just as the league did by introducing the Elam Ending rule, could create a real point of difference, as well as make for even more exciting play. So there’s plenty for the league to think about if it wants to build on its already phenomenal success.
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