League attendance up 41 per cent from 2023. Photo Credit: CEBL.
As the sixth season of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) continues, the league’s growth is unprecedented.
The CEBL is Canada’s largest professional sports league with 10 teams, including the Niagara River Lions.
The year-over-year ascension from the same time frame and number of games from last season’s opening weeks includes a 41 per cent increase in league-wide attendance numbers (70,308) and a 189 per cent spike in viewership on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor.
The league’s 2,717,089 social media impressions throughout Opening Week powered by Neo Financial represented a 113 per cent increase from the same period last season.
Home opener attendance numbers were also up 31 per cent from 2023 as two of the three highest-attended CEBL games ever took place over the course of four days. The largest single-game crowd in league history tipped off the season May 21 when 12,327 CEBL fans filed into Scotiabank Saddledome to see the Calgary Surge and Edmonton Stingers. The Winnipeg Sea Bears followed that up three days later with the third largest single-game crowd ever for a CEBL game, hosting 9,116 fans May 24 in their home opener against the Scarborough Shooting Stars at Canada Life Centre. Winnipeg holds the CEBL single-game playoff attendance record of 10,580 fans (Aug. 4/23 vs. Edmonton).
Record growth highlights from the start of the 2024 CEBL season include:
Attendance
- 41 per cent increase in total attendance over 2023.
- 31 per cent increase in home openers league-wide over 2023.
- League record 12,327 fans at Calgary Surge vs. Edmonton Stingers season-opening game May 21 at Scotiabank Saddledome.
- Third largest crowd ever for a CEBL game (9,116) at Winnipeg Sea Bears home opener May 24 vs. Scarborough Shooting Stars at Canada Life Centre.
Livestream & Video-On-Demand
- Total CEBL+ viewership up 189 per cent over 2023.
- Video-on-demand impressions up 159 per cent over 2023.
- 652% increase in CEBL+ subscribers in May 2024 compared to May 2023.
- NOTE: Viewership numbers from CEBL broadcast partners (TSN, TSN+, RDS, RDS.ca, Game+, Courtside 1891 & NLSE) will be available at a later date.
Social Media
- 2,717,089 impressions (113% higher than opening week in 2023).
- 4.5 per cent engagement rate (3x higher than industry standard for sports leagues).
- 4.3 per cent overall growth.
- 67.1 per cent net weekly audience growth (week-over-week).
Website
- 119,207 page views (31 per cent higher than opening week in 2023).
- 68,896 unique visitors.
More than 50 CEBL games will be broadcast live nationally on TSN and Game+ this season, with an additional eight games in French on RDS. Fans can also livestream all regular season, playoff and Championship Weekend games on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN+ and the CEBL Mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Next Level Sports & Entertainment – The U.S. Home for CEBL, will pick up 40 CEBL games for its U.S. audience in 2024, while international streaming service, Courtside1891, will carry 27 games for subscribers outside of North America.
Locally, the Niagara IceDogs are (2-0) at home after drawing over 3,300 fans in their home opener and 2400-plus in home game number two.
Ticket information for all CEBL games, including the River Lions can be found by visiting www.cebl.ca/tickets.
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.
