Vipers won’t play until 2023 season
COVID-19 forces ECBL to postpone start
The tip-off for the first season of the Eastern Canadian Basketball League has been pushed back a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
League president Tim Kendrick said it was ready to go for its March-June season, but the pandemic had other plans. The current restrictions created too many unknowns for the league to be sure it could start and end its season as planned, a crucial component for it from its inception.
“It was an awfully tough decision to make,” Kendrick said Jan. 20. “We’ve said from Day 1, we need fans in the seats, and we need to be able to conduct our league with full participation from fans in the communities and right now, obviously, that's not looking probable or possible.”
COVID numbers have risen significantly with the omicron variant and have led to tight restrictions in the region.
“We would not want to put any person’s health at risk when being present at
The Eastern Canadian Basketball League (ECBL) announced Nov. 17 that the Berwick-based Valley Vipers would be one of the league's teams in its first season of operation. Holding a Tshirt with the team’s logo during the announcement are Seth Whittier, left, and Lucas Perry, Grade 4 students at Berwick and District School. Making the announcement were ECBL community co-ordinator Lonnie States, left, and president Tim Kendrick. any of our events, nor do we want our first season to begin without having Maritimers present in our select arenas,” said Ravi Verma, league co-founder and executive officer.
The six-team league wants
its first season to go off without a hitch.
“Right now, there’s too much uncertainty,” said Kendrick, a Wolfville native.
“If you're looking at a league and you want it to be around for 100 years, to me, the first year is very important ... We want to make sure that everything that we can control we do the best of our ability.”
The league had set Jan. 19 to make its final decision on the 2022 start.
“We kind of went right up until that day,” Kendrick said, noting it explored various ideas. “The bottom line was, we want our first year to be great.”
The league has two teams in each Maritime province (Truro Tide and Valley Vipers in Nova Scotia, the Saint John Union and Bathurst Bears in New Brunswick, as well as the Summerside Slam and Charlottetown Power in Prince Edward Island).
Kendrick said they have reached out to the six communities that will host franchises, which are all owned by the league.
“Everybody completely understands,” said Kendrick, noting the disappointment felt on both ends of the conversation.
The Vipers will play at the Kings Mutual Century Centre in Berwick. Mayor Don Clarke was disappointed but not surprised by the league's decision given the uncertainty.
"Do you start now when things may be getting better or do you wait another year and you know things are better?" he said. "My hope is they’ll be there in another year.”
Sponsors and players are also aware of the situation. The league has had more than 400 players register to be part of its player pool, but no contracts have been signed.
The league had planned a combine in Bible Hill in December but had to postpone it due to the rise of COVID19. Kendrick said they had looked at 12 different dates for the combine but could not host one. The combine was crucial for a league that wants to have Canadian and Maritimes players play key roles.
“We're just not able to do it right now.”
The league was able to host two combines in the United States, one in New York and the other in California.
League officials have talked with five more communities and Kendrick wouldn’t rule out more than six being in for the first season, which is now planned to start in March 2023.