Scott Radley: Honey Badgers leaving Hamilton

The Hamilton Honey Badgers are leaving town.

The Canadian Elite Basketball League champions are relocating to Brampton, effective immediately, citing concerns about a planned two-year renovation at FirstOntario Centre that will eventually leave them without a home.

We have to do what's best for the league," says CEBL commissioner Mike Morreale.

He says there was always a thought the team might be inconvenienced somewhat by the construction - meaning either playing for a brief time elsewhere or carrying on as the work is being done - but when they unexpectedly received notice two weeks ago that the project would cover two seasons and force them out during that time, they had to act fast.

With no feasible other options in town or close by, the Honey Badgers landed in Brampton.

The team started when the league launched in 2019. However, in the past three seasons, it's only been able to play 14 games with fans in the stands due to COVID. That meant a great deal of promotion and marketing was still going to be required to grow an audience.

Morreale says they could've played this season at FOC prior to construction but pouring the needed dollars and effort into a team that would be playing elsewhere for at least two seasons after that made no business sense.

There wasn't any certainty," he says.

Morreale says an expansion team could return sometime in the future, but there's no guarantee of that.

There is still no news on where the Hamilton Bulldogs and Toronto Rock are going to play when the arena goes dark.

The Spectator has reached out to HUPEG (the Hamilton Urban Precinct Entertainment Group) for comment.

More to come ...

Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com