The Commissioner of the Canadian Elite Basketball League is expressing his excitement for the league to branch into Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Newfoundland Growlers Basketball Club are the 10th team to join the CELB, and will play their first game this upcoming May.
Commissioner and CEO of the league, Mike Morreale, says the decision came as the league was looking to grow through long discussions with Glenn Stanford, the COO of the Growlers hockey team.
He says the discussions proved to him that the Growlers and Deacon Sports and Entertainment were the right partner.
He says it’s not just financial side that drew them to partnering with the Growlers, but also what they’ve done for the community and professional sports in the province.
He says it was a natural extension to continue with the brand.
Deacon Sports and Entertainment CEO Dean MacDonald, says with playing basketball while growing up, the deal is special on a personal level.
He calls it a bit of a “dream come true”.
He says if someone told him three years ago that this is the path he’d be on, he wouldn’t have believed it.
He says as they get more teams under their belt, everything becomes possible.
Dean MacDonald says it was a bonus to bring the team to the university to offer scholarships and programs to the community.@VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/sjv5M1zPcs
— Noah Sheppard (@SheppardNoah14) November 26, 2021
