The Niagara River Lions are set to tip-off their sixth season in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) and have announced their 20-game 2024 season schedule. Pictured: Antonio “AJ” Davis. Photo Credit: CEBL.
The roar returns in 2024.
The Niagara River Lions are set to tip-off their sixth season in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) and have announced their 20-game 2024 season schedule.
The River Lions open their season with a home-and-home against the Brampton Honey Badgers, first traveling to the CAA Centre in Brampton on May 24 before hosting the Honey Badgers at the Meridian Centre in downtown St. Catharines on May 30 in their home opener.
Niagara splits its first four games of the season home and away before a three-game road trip.
The River Lions finished the 2023 CEBL campaign in first place after the regular season with a league best record of (13-7).
The team earned an automatic bye to Championship Weekend in Vancouver where they were eliminated in the semi-finals by the eventual champion, the Scarborough Shooting Stars.
Within the Eastern Conference, the River Lions will play the Ottawa Blackjacks four times, and the Brampton Honey Badgers, Scarborough Shooting Stars and Montréal Alliance three times apiece.
As for the Western Conference, Niagara will play the Winnipeg Sea Bears and the Edmonton Stingers each twice then the Vancouver Bandits, the Calgary Surge and the Saskatchewan Rattlers once.
Highlights of the Niagara River Lions schedule include a total of 20 regular season games over 10 weeks. They will play 10 games at the Meridian Center in St. Catharines and 10 road games. Four games will be on Thursdays, two on Saturdays, one on Friday, one on Wednesday, and one on Sunday.
The River Lions will also host one School Day game at home on Wednesday June 19th at 11:00am.
The Winnipeg Sea Bears will visit the Meridian Centre on Thursday June 6th for their first time since joining the CEBL in 2023.
Six of their final eight regular season games are at home.
Niagara will close its regular season with and home and home against the Ottawa Blackjacks.
The CEBL season culminates at 2024 Championship Weekend (CW24) in Montréal from August 9 to 11. Host Montréal, along with the top-ranked team from the Western Conference, will automatically be seeded into the Conference Finals at Championship Weekend. The full playoff schedule, including the Play-In and Conference semi-final games, will be announced at a later date.
The 2024 broadcast schedule with all nationally televised games on TSN will be announced at a later date. All games, including playoffs, will be streamed live on the CEBL’s OTT platform, CEBL+ Powered by BetVictor, on CEBL Mobile, the official app of the CEBL (available on Android and iOS devices), and on TSN+.
For full schedule details visit riverlions.ca/schedule
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
