The president of “The Basketball League” TBL David Magley says they are looking at putting expansion teams in more Canadian Cities.
Magley believes that Eastern Canada is a good basketball market, and they hope to meet with interested team owners to bring Francises back to former NBL markets including Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island, Halifax, Moncton, and Saint John. Another part of the plan is to have teams in New England play teams based in the Maritimes once they are established. Having teams in this region will help to reduce travel costs and it will provide an opportunity for aspiring professional basketball players to play the game.
Magley is not concerned about competition from other professional basketball teams based in the Maritimes or else ware in Canada pointing out that countries in Europe have multiple professional basketball leagues and they do not face issues with competition.
TBL has most of their teams in the United States and they will soon have two teams in Quebec and a team in St John’s called the Newfoundland Rogues. They are also looking to expand to other Ontario Markets such as Sault Ste Marie and North Bay. Magley also plans to look at Thunder Bay as a possible expansion city.
The long-term goal is to have 64 teams in the United States and 24 teams in Canada. Not all the teams will play in major arenas, some may play at other venues such as university courts as a less expensive alternative
The league will continue their partnership with NBL during the upcoming season and teams from both leagues will play one another during this time. They hope to have more news on their expansion next month.
