Photo Credit: River Lions/Facebook
The Niagara River Lions of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) have released their 24-game 2025 season schedule.
The River Lions will defend their 2024 Championship starting with the home and season opener on Friday May 16th against the visiting Calgary Surge, before going on a three-game road trip including a visit to the Vancouver Bandits for a championship rematch on Thursday, May 22nd.
The expectations are high for the River Lions, coming off their most successful season, where the organization set a new CEBL record with a perfect 11-0 home record at the Meridian Centre in downtown St. Catharines, and captured their first CEBL Championship by defeating the Vancouver Bandits 97-95, in what some have claimed to be the greatest CEBL playoff game in history.
“The release of the 2025 schedule is an exciting moment for our team and the entire Niagara community. Last season’s championship was a testament to the energy and passion of our fans, and we can’t wait to bring that same excitement back to the Meridian Centre.,” said Michelle Biskup, President of the team.
“As we enter our 10th anniversary season, every game will be a celebration of what we’ve achieved and a reminder of the hard work ahead.”
The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) announced earlier this year that the league would expand its regular season to a 24-game format in 2025, increasing from 100 to 120 total regular season games. As a result, the season will start approximately one week earlier in May and end two weeks later in August.
The 2025 Playoffs are scheduled to begin Thursday August 14th with the Conference Play-In games, followed by the Conference Semifinals on Saturday August 16th. The winners will advance to CW25 from August 22-24th to join the Winnipeg Sea Bears (host team) and the top ranked team from the Eastern Conference who are automatically seeded into the Conference Finals. Championship Weekend will take place in Winnipeg from August 22-24 where host Winnipeg, along with the top-ranked team from the Eastern Conference, will automatically be seeded into the semifinals hosted at Championship Weekend.
The 2025 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+.
Highlights of the Niagara River Lions schedule include:
Home Opener on May 16th at 7:00PM at the Meridian Centre
A total of 24 regular-season games during the 14-week Campaign
Twelve home games at Meridian Centre; twelve away games
Seven Friday, two Thursday and one Wednesday home games
Two Sunday afternoon home games
One home, school day game on Friday June 20th at 11:00am
A four home-game stand starting May 28th against all previous CEBL Champions – Saskatchewan Rattlers (2019), Scarborough Shooting Stars (2023), Brampton Honey Badgers (2022), and Edmonton Stingers (2020, 2021).
Final home game at Meridian Centre is Thursday, July 31st versus Ottawa Blackjacks.
Four-game road trip to Scarborough, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary to finish the regular season
Niagara River Lions season tickets and voucher packs are on sale now. Group tickets and single game tickets will be available in the coming months. Ticket information can be found at www.riverlions.ca/tickets or 289-273-5905.
2025 Niagara River Lions Home Schedule:
Friday May 16th vs. Calgary 7 pm
Friday May 30th vs. Saskatchewan 7pm
Friday June 6th vs. Scarborough 7 pm
Sunday June 8th vs. Brampton 3 pm
Friday June 13th vs. Edmonton 7 pm
Friday June 20th vs. Montreal 11 am (School Day Game)
Friday July 4th vs. Winnipeg 7 pm
Thursday July 10th vs. Vancouver 7 pm
Wednesday July 16th vs. Brampton 7 pm
Sunday July 20th vs. Scarborough 3 pm
Friday July 25th vs. Montreal 7 pm
Thursday July 21st vs. Ottawa 7 pm
All home games played at Meridian Centre.
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.
