Saskatoon and Calgary for 2012

The International Basketball League (IBL) forum
Shootmaster_44
Site Admin
Posts: 799
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2003 7:45 am
Location: Saskatoon, SK

Saskatoon and Calgary for 2012

Post by Shootmaster_44 » Thu May 26, 2011 4:27 pm

Interesting press release from the Edmonton Energy today.

//www.oursportscentral.com/service ... id=4209853

I realize the USA All-Stars are a travelling team, but this does show that it is simply uniforms that are sent around to be filled. That said, I don't consider this in the same vein as the ABA doing this. The players on the roster are quality players, so it isn't like they simply dressed a bunch of guys who they found at the YMCA.

The most interesting part of the press release are the comments from Mikail Dulio.
this team of 13 players coming to take on the Edmonton Energy is expected to be a precursor of two separate emerging teams for the 2012 season. It is expected that a team from Calgary and a team from Saskatoon will play in the IBL in some capacity whether it be a full team or a branding team.
I just hope whoever backs the Saskatoon team put out an advertising blitz. I would imagine this won't be the same scale operation as the WBL/NBL/IBA/CBA teams of the past, so Credit Union Centre wouldn't be the venue. I anticipate they will play at the Physical Activity Complex at the University of Saskatchewan. It holds over 2,000 and is a nice venue. Granted, people in Saskatoon may not take the team as seriously as if it played at Credit Union Centre. However, I'm guessing that they won't want to play in a 15,000 seat arena.

Though, depending how good the team is, the fans may come out in droves. I remember being at a NBL Finals game in 1993 that had over 10,000 fans at it. The Storm and Slam routinely drew 4-5000 fans to their games. So if the new ownership can whip up a good advertising blitz, I could see this be a reality.

Of course since the Storm and Slam came to town, Saskatoon has had a bit of a run with bad pro sports teams. This may or may not have salted the earth as far as seeing 10,000 at a game again in the near future. The city has seen the baseball Riot spring up in the North Central League in 1994 and it left that league after that season to start its own league the Prairie League in 1995. The team ownership ran into money problems and walked away from the team and continued to run the league. A new ownership group came on board and renamed them the Smokin' Guns in 1996. They too ran into money problems. However, things looked bright in 1997, a new ownership group (with Japanese backing) took over and had an affiliation agreement with a Japanese team (the media never said which one or whether it was a NPB or some Industrial league team) and renamed the team the Stallions. Regardless, things looked bright. However, the league folded around the Stallions that year.

All was not lost for Saskatoon pro sports fans. In January of 1999, the Youngstown Hawks of the IBA moved midseason to Saskatoon and became the Saskatchewan Hawks. That first partial year drew reasonably well. It was sold in the off-season to a Vancouver business person, the wheels came off the franchise that year. The zany owner tried a bunch of promotions that never came to fruition and piled up debts. Coupled with low attendance, you'd assume that the team would fold. However, the Saskatchewan Indian and Gaming Authority (SIGA, who runs all the casinos in Saskatchewan save for two) purchased the team and the IBA and first IBL merged into a reconstituted CBA in 2001. However, attendance was dismal at those games and the team folded after the 2001-02 CBA season.

You'd think this would be the end of pro sports in Saskatoon. However, in 2003 the Canadian Baseball League sprung up. They placed a team in Saskatoon called the Saskatoon Legends. The roster was dotted with the best baseball talent Saskatoon had seen. Floyd Youmans formerly of the Montreal Expos played and there were other players with high level experience (MLB, AAA or NPB). However, attendance was dismal and the league folded midseason.

The last team that is proported to be pro (but questions remained) sprung up in 2007. The Saskatoon Accelerators of the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League were formed. After an exhibition season in 2007, the league launched in 2008. They affiliated with PASL-Pro and played until 2009 at Credit Union Centre. The team had poor attendance and moved to a local soccer centre for 2010 and then quietly folded up shop.

In addition to this, Saskatoon had been rumored to be the home for several different pro hockey teams. The first I remember predates the Slam and Storm and was supposed to be in the Global Hockey League. It was called the Saskatchewan Force, the league even held a draft. However, it never got off the ground. Shortly after, a group came about promising minor league baseball. The league was the Can-Am league (not related to the current Can-Am league) and was to begin play in 1991. The Saskatoon team was called the Spirit, but it never got beyond opening an office in downtown Saskatoon. The amusing thing was that the league folded but the awning outside their office had the logo on it until about 2000, when the building was remodeled.

The next rumored team was that the Edmonton Sled Dogs of Roller Hockey International would move to Saskatoon for the 1996 season. In fact the team held two regular season games in Saskatoon in 1995. But the team ended up being sold and moved to Orlando instead.

That winter saw two rumored moves. The first was that the International Hockey League's San Francisco Spiders were to move to Saskatoon for 1997. However, the team I believe moved to Denver and became the Grizzlies instead. The other move was the Edmonton Drillers of the Major Indoor Soccer League. They were perpetually rumored to move to the city. Every year they held a few games in Saskatoon and then rumors would spring up that they would move. However, they never did and ended up folding in Edmonton a few years later.

After this, the rumor mill quieted down. However, it picked back up in 2004. The pending NHL lockout meant that people were trying to create leagues. The first league was the Federal Hockey League and it had a team called the Saskatoon Chiefs. However, the league couldn't reach a lease agreement with Credit Union Centre and turned out to be a house of cards which quickly tumbled. The other rumored league was the reformation of the World Hockey Association. Saskatoon was pegged as a franchise, though the league never officially awarded a team to Saskatoon.

While the hockey leagues were springing up, there was also an indoor football league that was attempting to launch. I was excited about it and even applied to play or work for the league. It was called the North American Indoor Football League and the Saskatoon Swarm was their proposed team. Long story short the league was short of cash and never materialized.

The last team and one that more IBL fans would know about was the Saskatoon Prairie Wolves. They were temporarily launched in 2007 to join the IBL. They were to be owned by Troy Barnes, who also owned the Edmonton Chill. The paper caught wind of his financial misdeeds and ran him out of the market. The IBL had also confirmed that there was no franchise awarded to Barnes for Saskatoon.

I'm sure there were others I have forgotten about, but Saskatoon seems to be viewed by startup leagues as a place to go.

All of this may have salted the earth for this next venture. I will definitely support the team and attend their games, I just hope that people give this team a legitimate shot instead of writing it off as another of these fly-by-night ventures. Also, a branding season is a terrible idea if they want fan support. If fans caught wind of this simply being an exhibition season, I can see people deserted the franchise like rats off a sinking ship.

Edit: I do wonder whether this is a precursor of setting up a regional pod to join the NBL? I know the NBL has designs on going coast to coast. So if a fourth team, say Regina is set up, there would be enough teams for a regional pod for the NBL. Conversely, I wonder if this is a preemptive strike by the IBL to ensure that the NBL doesn't encroach their territory?
Last edited by Shootmaster_44 on Thu May 26, 2011 4:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Return to “IBL”