Moncton Miracles need local owners, NBL commissioner says
CBC News | Posted: September 14, 2015 3:24 PM | Last Updated: September 15, 2015
National Basketball League says after a terrible ending to last season changes have been made
The Moncton Miracles should look at adopting an ownership model that brings in more community investors, according to the National Basketball League's commissioner.
David Magley, the new commissioner of the National Basketball League of Canada, is in Moncton this week helping to promote the upcoming season and to find new local owners.
As the professional basketball club is looking for new owners, the commissioner said it should look to Halifax and Saint John as possible options to add more community investors.
He said it has become clear that in the Maritimes an ownership model including a large group of investors works better than one or two.
"Twenty-five people in Halifax stepped in, all in a very small part, but collectively their net worth is in the billions of dollars," he said.
"They're the who's who of Halifax businessmen so as we go to talk to people that model seems to make a lot of sense."
Magley said the Saint John Mill Rats have a group of 20 local owners and he is hoping the same number of investors will come forward in Moncton.
"The benefit is, you look at these 25 guys, if each of them just gets 10 of their friends to buy season tickets they've just doubled their season ticket base just from local ownership," he said.
Brennan Bellmarr, the general manager of the Moncton Miracles, is looking for local investors to take ownership of the Moncton team.
The Miracles have been without an owner for more than a year, after Kim Blanco left the team and returned to her home in New Jersey after the third season.
Bellmarr said people have come forward to express interest in the team.
"Going forward we're going to look at the business community, we're going to follow along the lines of the Halifax — in the past we were looking for just a couple owners, now we're going to expand that," he said.
League problems
Magley took office at the end of May after the season's controversial finish.
The Halifax Rainmen forfeited the final game against the Windsor Express in the championship series.
"Who's ever heard of a team forfeiting the seventh game of a playoff series ... that really left a black mark in a lot of the people's hearts in Halifax," he said in an interview on Information Morning Moncton on Monday.
Magley said the incident brought to light many problems in the league, problems he is now hoping to find solutions to.
"I think it really got everybody's attention — how fragile this league could be if we don't really get on the same page and work together so I think it's a stronger league than it's ever been."
"A new drug policy will be enforced and the game will be refereed tighter."
Magley, who is a former coach, says the final game of last season between the Halifax Rainmen and the Windsor Express, which ended in a brawl on the court, is an example of how the officials let things get out of control and why officiating in the future must be better.
"We almost intimidated our refs to the point that it was hard to call our games because our refs — you know in basketball the coach is supposed to stay in a box, there's a line that you can't go past and you're not supposed to go on the court — yet most of the coaches are outside that box jumping and yelling and screaming."
He says referees will be empowered this season to ensure coaches stay in their boxes and that players stop complaining.
The Moncton Miracles are holding a town hall meeting on Monday night at 6:45 at the Moncton Coliseum to answer questions about the team and the league.