Halifax’s newest pro basketball team hopes to avoid the business mistakes that other teams have made.
This is the second team in Atlantic Canada to join league, following the Port City Power in Saint John, which joined in July.
League president Dave Magley said they have a better business model than older teams.
“The organizational league wasn’t structured in a way where they could really be profitable, and that’s what we’ve tried to create. We think we have the answer. It’s working in similar markets across North America,” Magley said at a Tuesday press conference.
Officially called The Basketball League, it was founded in 2017 by Magley and Sev Hrywnak and now has 40 teams.
Magley says teams used to use hockey arenas, which have massive costs to remove the ice and put down floor.
Geoff Clyke, the team owner, says they’re looking to use a university gym in the city, maybe at Dalhousie or St. Mary’s, which sits between 1200 and 1400 people. That way they save money, but it’s also easier to pack the stands.
“No player wants to play in an empty gym. So you want to walk in—it’s packed. It’s loud. You can’t hardly hear yourself,” says Clyke.
Although they won’t look for space at Halifax’s major Scotiabank Centre arena, they say it’s possible they could do a few games there in the future.
NBA hopefuls excited for team
Camille Hoffmann brought her two boys to the news conference.
She says they’re excited about having a new team.
“I think there’s more and more interest [in basketball] all the time,” she says.
“These guys, that’s all they do.”
Tom Hoffmann (left), Camille Hoffmann (centre), and Charlie Hoffmann (right) went to a news conference to checkout the new Halifax Hoopers basketball team on August 20, 2024. (Jacob Moore/Acadia Broadcasting)
Her 14-year-old son Tom Hoffmann says he hopes to one day make the NBA. He was hoping some players for the Halifax Hoopers would attend the presentation, but he was also curious how one day he might be able to play for the team.
“[Basketball], for both of us, it’s something we like to do a lot. Every day,” he says.
His younger brother, Charlie Hoffmann, is excited to see a team representing local players, and he hopes some he knows might make the team.
“I feel like, since I’m younger, I have a lot of experience playing with older people. I feel like a lot of people here in Nova Scotia, Halifax, not a lot of people have heard of them because it’s not a very popular place,” he says.
“But I feel like there’s definitely a lot of talent here, and a lot of people could make [the team].”
Community focus
The team also hopes to do a lot of community engagement.
For example, the league has a rule that the players can’t leave the floor for about 20 minutes after the game so they can sign things and talk to fans, according to Magley.
The community focus would also help advertise the team. Having recognizable people in the community, helping out at charities or reading to students at schools, the public recognizes those players, which the league hopes would bring them out to more games.
On top of that, Clyke doesn’t want to recruit players from outside of Nova Scotia. It’s important to him that people come and watch local players.
He says he hopes to sign some local legends onto the team, and has one player lined up who’s seven feet tall.
Cyke says they’ll scout for players in the next few weeks, and he hopes they’ll start selling tickets in December and play their first game March 1st.
