After years without action on the hardwood, a professional basketball team will return to Moncton.
On Wednesday, the Eastern Canadian Basketball League announced the Moncton Motion will be the seventh team to join the association for the inaugural season starting in March 2023.
“A lot of people that are going to be working in this league are Maritime people, including players. We’re going to have a large contingent of players in our league that are representative of the Maritimes,” ECBL President Tim Kendrick told a small crowd inside Moncton’s Avenir Centre.
Previously the city’s basketball focus remained on the Moncton Magic before the team announced its departure from the National Basketball League of Canada in August 2021.
Kendrick said the new league will prioritize “local flavour” by featuring local coaches in an assistant capacity, and creating rules to ensure Maritime-based players are included.
“We are not looking at going outside the Maritimes. We are building our league in the Maritimes, and we’re going to stay in the Maritimes,” Kendrick remarked.
For Moncton, the return of a professional basketball team will fill a significant gap, according to David Tingley.
The manager of business and basketball operations for the Motion expects fans from the former Moncton basketball organizations to cheer on the new team.
“What they love is the relationship with the players and the relationship with the other fans coming into the building and cheering them on,” said Tingley.
With the Motion set to call the Avenir Centre in downtown Moncton its home, businesses are also expected to get an added boost in customers.
The season is expected to run from March to June, which is typically the offseason for the Moncton Wildcats — barring a playoff appearance.
“It just sorts of puts communities like Moncton on a different pedestal in terms of the ability to host a pro team, as well as, you know, we have the Wildcats who are well established, so I think in that respect, it’s a sign of a growing city and the fact we can handle something like this,” said John Wishart, the CEO for the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton
The ECBL will now have seven teams, which include the Saint John Union, the Charlottetown Power and the Truro Tide.