The still yet-to-be-named National Basketball League of Canada (NBL) team that will be calling the Nickel City home is going to play its first game as part of the 2018 season.
That’s the announcement made late last week by Sudbury Wolves’ parent company, and NBL franchise owner, SW Sports & Entertainment.
“After a very busy spring and early summer here in Greater Sudbury, confirmation to start in 15 short months is exciting,” said Andrew Dale, VP marketing and development for SWSE. “This allows us the proper time to engage the Northern Ontario market in finalizing our naming contest and plan effectively with our community partners from local sports groups to the arena operations and have ticket sales and sponsorship programs in place.”
The seventh season of the NBL starts in November, with teams playing in the Central (Ontario) and Eastern Conferences. Each conference boasts five teams. The Central division features teams from Windsor, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Orangeville and Niagara, while the Eastern or Atlantic conference counts teams from Moncton, Saint John, Halifax, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island.
With the schedule for the upcoming 2017-18 season being finalized, the league is looking to play an exhibition game at Sudbury Arena this season “to demonstrate to the market what the level of the game is like and how competitive and entertaining professional basketball in the NBL really is in this country,” the league said in a news release.
The SWSE group includes the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL, the new NBL franchise, as well as the Sudbury Spartans of the NFC.
