League NBL Canada Team colours Blue, red, white Head coach Ben Resner Arena Centre 200 | Location Sydney, Nova Scotia President Tyrone Levingston Division Atlantic Division Date founded 2015 | |
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History Cape Breton Highlanders
2016–present | ||
The Cape Breton Highlanders are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Sydney, Nova Scotia. They will compete in the National Basketball League of Canada for the 2016–17 season.
History
In early June 2015, it was announced that Tyrone Levingston, the son of Halifax Rainmen owner Andre Levingston, was making an attempt to establish a basketball team in Sydney, Nova Scotia in Cape Breton Island. He drew attention from businessman Parker Rudderham and many other locals that were willing to become a part of the team's ownership. Instead of him being the sole owner, Levingston preferred to have a group of multiple investors. By August, the team had expectations of playing their home games at Centre 200 and hoped to compete in the 2015–16 NBL Canada season.
On September 22, 2015, the team was officially admitted into the league for the upcoming season. Centre 200 was confirmed as their future home arena. Commissioner Dave Magley expected the league's expansion into Sydney to have positive financial ramifications. The team was also announced to be called "Cape Breton", with their nickname to be decided through a public contest. The nickname would be announced on October 15.
However, at the time Cape Breton's nickname was expected to be released to the public, the team was put on hold for the 2015–16 season, because they were unable to "get all the financing and other details put in place." Levingston said that he aimed to strike more sponsorship deals to ensure that the team would compete in the following season. Nevertheless, he planned to promote their nickname and logo as soon as possible. On November 24, 2015, the team's nickname was officially announced as the "Cape Breton Highlanders". It was inspired by the Cape Breton Highlanders military unit and the geography of the Cape Breton area itself. Centre 200 was the site of a 2015–16 NBL Canada preseason game between the Halifax Hurricanes and the Island Storm in order to promote the league to the new market. The Hurricanes won the game 106-103 in front of approximately 1,100 fans. On August 29, 2016, the Highlanders announced its ownership group and confirmed that the paperwork was being finalized with the league in order to join for the 2016–17 season. On October 7, the Highlanders announced its first head coach would be Dean Murray.
