The Charlottetown-Summerside basketball rivalry is taking a day trip, at the very least for now.
Summerside was initially set to be a part of the inaugural Eastern Canadian Basketball League starting subsequent month, however determined in February to decide out.
J.P. Desrosiers, town’s deputy CAO, mentioned there weren’t sufficient particulars concerning the league at the moment to provide them a sense of whether or not it could possibly be profitable within the metropolis.
“From an operational perspective, we nonetheless hadn’t obtained an understanding of the place the financing was going to return from, the sponsorships, even participant housing. We know we’re right into a housing battle within the province, and discovering housing for athletes was not going to be a straightforward feat.”
Plans for the professional basketball league have been introduced in 2021, and included groups in each Summerside and Charlottetown.
The league hoped to signal a rental settlement with the City of Summerside to play video games out of Credit Union Place.
One factor we’re very lucky for, right here in our market at our venue, is there’s simply insane demand for our services.— J.P. Desrosiers
“One factor we’re very lucky for, right here in our market at our venue, is there’s simply insane demand for our services,” Desrosiers mentioned. “So for us to be holding dates for one thing that will or could not come to fruition was changing into increasingly more difficult for our present customers.”
The league goes forward with six Maritime groups: Charlottetown, Truro, the Annapolis Valley, Bathurst, Saint John and Moncton.
The Charlottetown Power’s house opener is April 8 on the Eastlink Centre. (Kirk Pennell/CBC)
The Charlottetown Power’s house opener is April 8 on the Eastlink Centre, although the staff’s roster continues to be not full. Tickets go on sale subsequent week.
“I want Summerside was in. It was a pure, built-in rivalry,” mentioned John Abbott, interim basic supervisor of Eastlink Centre.
Finding lodging a problem
League officers mentioned discovering lodging for gamers has been one of many main challenges of getting up and working.
“I feel a whole lot of it’s first-year blues, proper? I feel that is why a whole lot of it’s a bit late coming collectively,” mentioned league vice-president Dwayne Tingley.
“We additionally needed to anticipate different leagues to wrap as much as see what gamers can be accessible. I’m speaking about largely the European leagues. And once more, a whole lot of it was availability of arenas. That’s why the schedule was late being drawn up.”
Desrosiers mentioned if all goes effectively with the league this 12 months, Summerside would contemplate becoming a member of subsequent season.
