NBLC out — Basketball Super League in

The London Lightning and their Ontario-based opponents in the former NBLC will enter a new circuit in 2023-24 — the Basketball Super League (BSL) — which will feature more games, bigger arenas.

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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All four former NBL Canada teams – the London Lightning, KW Titans, Sudbury Five, and Windsor Express – have agreed to join the newly created Basketball Super League (BSL), scheduled to tip off on Boxing Day 2023. Windsor had been the league’s lone holdout until last week.

“This is something new, something fresh, something played at a higher level. It’s going to be something special,” said David Magley, BSL President. “Fans are going to love the style of play and diversity of opponents.”

Loosely modelled on the premier professional soccer league in Europe, the BSL is bringing together the top teams from the NBL Canada and the U.S.-based The Basketball League (TBL), with seven teams set for the 2023-24 season. Canada will be the dominant geography in the league, with the four former NBL Canada teams, along with the TBL’s Newfoundland Rogues (St. John’s) already signed on.

Magley said two more teams will be announced in the coming days, one from the United States and one from Canada.

Eventually, league officials hope to build a 24-team league, with two-thirds residing north of the border and the remainder in contiguous U.S. states near the Canadian markets.

“I cut my teeth in the business of basketball in Canada,” said Magley, a former NBL Canada commissioner. “I have a more intimate understanding of Canada and the Canadian value to the game than the average American. I have seen the passion of Canadian fans. I have seen Canadian talent. I understand the dominance of Canadians in the NBA. I have seen it firsthand. I see how hard these kids work. I see how talented they are.

“Having a strong presence in Canada makes sense as we grow the league and the game.”

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Officially announced next week, the BSL schedule will feature more games than NBLC schedules in recent years, as well as play in larger venues than many TBL teams have seen (minimum capacity of 2,500). Magley said the idea would be for London, for instance, to play 24 games against BSL opponents (12 home, 12 away) plus an extra eight home games against other TBL opponents.

“Teams make more money when they play at home – so why not play more home games?” Magley said. “With a fan base like London has, it gives them 20 chances to create something special.”

The BSL will follow TBL rules – “basically NBA rules with a sprinkling of some FIBA flavour,” as Magley describes.

Perhaps the biggest change for NBL Canada teams will be enforcement of a defensive three-second rule, essentially eliminating zone defenses. NBL Canada’s rules around offensive and defensive goaltending (where any player may play the ball once it hits the rim – no ‘imaginary cylinder’) will remain.

In another departure from NBL Canada rules, teams will no longer be required to carry a minimum of three Canadians on the 12-man roster. But Magley says he still expects to see plenty of Canadian talent in the league.

“We are building the Canadian landscape for basketball. The model won’t make sense if we don’t keep Canadians on Canadian teams,” he said. “Nobody wants to be spending all their money on imports. I guarantee you that teams like the London Lightning will have more Canadians than Americans.

He continued, “There will be a strong Canadian presence. There is so much talent in Canada, we won’t need to enforce rules around that.”

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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The new league has already drawn the attention of major national sponsors – and an international cable broadcast partner with reach into countries across North America and Europe. Announcements on those deals are expected in the coming weeks.

All games will also stream via subscription on basketballsuperleague.com.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic halted the NBL Canada’s momentum. Most notably, it resulted in the loss of teams from its Eastern Division in 2022. Despite two successful seasons following the pandemic – including a season-long celebration of the league’s 10th anniversary – the league’s ambitions outsized its Ontario-only base.

Former NBL Canada commissioner Audley Stephenson said the league’s partnership with the TBL in 2022 was what brought the possibility of a new league into focus.

“Our partnership with TBL showed us what we could be – it proved that something bigger, something like a BSL was possible,” Stephenson said. “This is an evolution, a maturation of our league to the next stage. That’s why it’s significant that every NBLC team is going over together. Our presence is still felt. We’re still in KW. We’re still in Sudbury. We’re still in London. We’re still in Windsor. We’re just doing it under a different banner.”

In July, BSL owners – including owners of the four NBL Canada teams – met in Las Vegas over two days to iron out details of the new league, including rules of play, standards of operations, and a schedule that hopes to start on Boxing Day 2023.

“The BSL offers us the chance to evolve into something we always wanted to become – bigger, broader, better, stronger,” said Stephenson, who plans to be involved in the new league in some capacity – officially or unofficially – next season. “We’re proud that we’ll still be able to offer a quality basketball experience in all our NBL Canada communities.

“We’re not just here to play basketball. Our teams have worked hard to become part of their communities. We’ve made a difference for a lot of organizations and people over the years. The fact that will continue, albeit under a different banner, is still quite exciting.”

The BSL move, however, effectively ends the NBL Canada as an independent entity. The league has officially closed the record book on 11 seasons. Given the coming rule changes, league officials determined that a “clean slate” would be the best way to approach the new format.

The close of the 2023 NBL Canada season saw the league award its 10th – and final – championship in its history.

“This moment is bigger than any one team or any one league – it’s about this game we all love so much,” Stephenson said. “Our collective mission – you could even say our collective passion – is to advance the sport across Canada and the United States by focusing beyond the moment, beyond our own interests and striving to make the BSL one of the top leagues globally. It’s all about uplifting basketball on a national and global scale.”