Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

The 2024 CEBL season is weeks away and each season continuing to get better and better shows a different path to consuming basketball that other leagues should copy. From the very start, the CEBL has put emphasis on community and atmosphere, and they are creating an environment for anyone to enjoy the sport, regardless of if they are a fan of basketball.

Across the country and across the league, going to a CEBL game isn’t like going to a basketball game, it’s like going to a community event featuring a basketball game. Interactive in-arena hosts who constantly engage in conversation with the crowd, activations around the arena from local sponsors and groups, music playing throughout the night, the league puts as much effort into the atmosphere and environment as games as they do the product of basketball. That brings together people who both love and may have previously had no taste for professional basketball.

What the CEBL does best is foster a sense of community around each of the teams in the league, and that is reflected in everything they do. From the very beginning, team locations are selected for both major cities and places that have that sense of community and local identity the team can embody. Going into the draft, teams more often than not select local talent from schools around their area, creating a connection between the team and the school’s fanbase and driving home the feeling that the team is really a part of the area.

Looking at Championship Weekend, the biggest time of the year for the league, what they do around the games is arguably just as big as the games itself. Going back to the championship weekend in Ottawa in 2022, hosting a youth basketball camp at TD Place before the games took place, bringing in local artists to perform throughout the weekend, and really imprinting itself into the city of Ottawa, the CEBL had something for everybody, and that’s been a key to its success.

You don’t have to be a big fan of basketball to find something to enjoy at a CEBL game, and I think that can change how we consume basketball. Across any league, you always see teams try and create the feeling of “we are the city”, and I think the CEBL has figured that out better than any. Taking over the city and taking on the identity of the city with ties built between the team and local organizations and schools, each team represents where they are, and they create pride within their fanbase to help make the experience at that team’s games, the best, and put their city on top.