.jpg;w=960)
YORKTON - As the start of the 2025 Canadian Elite Basketball League nears, the league continues to evolve.
New for 2025 is a designated player roster spot available to each team. Its purpose is to help teams attract better talent. A designated player won’t count against his team’s salary cap, a new provision that attracts elite talent and also frees up cap money to be available to other players on the roster.
“We’re always trying to find ways as a league to provide more opportunities for players,” said CEBL Commissioner Mike Morreale in a recent interview with Yorkton This Week. “. . . The league has always been a very player friendly league.”
Morreale said since the league’s launch in 2019, efforts have been ongoing to ensure the CEBL is attractive as a summer play option for players and that has included expanded rosters and a 68 per cent increase in the salary cap.
The designated player is simply another step in that effort, said Morreale.
“We’ve talked for a long time about a marquis player program,” he said.
What has been developed for implementation this season is a program which Morreale said is rather elastic allowing teams to use the designated player position “as teams see fit.” He said it really allows coaches and GMs to define the position in a way which best suits their vision and needs.
“The beauty of it -- there are many options,” said Morreale.
So a team might opt to bring in a top player at the start of the season to help bolster fan interest, or they might reserve the position to add a player mid-season for a playoff run, or to use the spot to entice a player to stay rather than leave for other opportunities mid season, explained Morreale. Teams may also use the designated player to ensure signing a top Canadian player since two Canadians must always be on the floor, a rule that has been in place as a foundational element of the CEBL.
Morreale said in more general league terms attracting more ‘marquis’ players is of course a positive in terms of fan interest, ticket sales, and advertising.
The designated player position adds another option to roster construction, and dealing with the salary cap, in a way similar to how developmental players are handled. Through a partnership with U SPORTS and the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association the CEBL allows each team a maximum of three Canadian student-athletes who have remaining scholastic eligibility—defined as developmental players within the CEBL roster rules. Developmental players do not count against the team salary cap, and their salaries are deposited directly into a bursary at their institution to be applied to academic costs.
Another change ahead is an expanded celebration of the league with championship weekend 小蓝视频 an expanded event “with a lot more fanfare,” promised Morreale.
Another notable change for 2025 is an expansion to 24 games.
Morreale said the length of schedule is always something the league is evaluating, adding for a league currently focused on a May to mid-August season, there are limitations, but 24 is a good fit today.
One of the games this season will see Edmonton and Calgary playing a neutral site game in Red Deer, which of course raises question if that might be a prelude to expansion?
Morreale said while expansion remains likely, it is not currently on the immediate horizon. Instead, he said the CEBL is focused on finding local ownership for what started as a league-owned franchise operation. Most recently new owners for Montreal and Brampton have been announced, and he said another deal is close.
That said Morreale said the league knows there is interest in cities such as Halifax and Quebec City, and the longer term vision for the CEBL is likely to see the league grow.
