WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Sea Bears are the newest franchise in the Canadian Elite Basketball League.
The team, owned by Winnipeg businessman and lawyer David Asper, will tip off the 2023 season at the Canada Life Centre.
The Sea Bears nickname was chosen in honour of the polar bear, whose Latin name, Ursus maritimus, means “sea bear.”
League commissioner and co-founder Mike Morreale said Winnipeg is an ideal market for the CEBL with a rich basketball history that dates back 120 years and a location that unifies the league’s geographic reach from British Columbia to Quebec.
He said Winnipeg has been a target market since the CEBL launched in 2018.
The CEBL has grown from six teams in its inaugural season to 10 with the addition of Winnipeg.
There has also been some recent movement, with the Guelph Nighthawks franchise relocating to Calgary to become the Surge and Hamilton becoming the Brampton Honey Badgers. Meanwhile, the league folded a team in St. John’s, N.L., after the 2022 season.