The Maritime Women’s Basketball Association was fully anticipating an eighth team for this past season.
It went down to the wire before a potential suitor in Truro, NS, could not be finalized as the MWBA went with seven teams in 2025.
‘We were excited about the opportunity to move into Truro last season to give us a balanced amount of teams and we probably extended the negotiations too close to the start of last season,’ said MWBA commissioner, Jen Lloyd of Dartmouth. ‘We held out hope a bit too long and rushed a schedule. We have been in negotiations with some people interested in creating an expansion franchise, but this year, we are holding firm with a deadline date.’
The deadline for expansion interest is Friday, Oct. 17, at 5 p.m.
‘There is a lot that goes into our off-season, mainly scheduling which allows our teams to work within their own communities to secure facility dates and times,’ said Lloyd. ‘We know how competitive it us to find floor time and make it work around weekends and some mid-week games. We are developing schedules now that would accommodate seven and eight teams.’
Truro would seem a natural fit in the MWBA, given its location.
It is an hour from the Halifax Regional Municipality which already houses three MWBA teams including Halifax Hornets, Halifax Thunder and Lake City 56ers of Dartmouth/Cole Harbour/Preston.
Truro is also relatively close to Moncton which could allow for easier travel for intra-provincial contests.
The MWBA plans on opening its fifth season the first full week of May, running a 10-game regular season.
Similar format would exist of home-and-home within provinces for six games and playing out of province teams home and away for four more games.
‘There had been talk of interest of having one or two weekend tournament styles which we did the first two seasons,’ Lloyd said. ‘That was always exciting to have all the teams and players under one roof for a weekend, but it also meant teams had less home games and we want our loyal fans to have the chance to see their home team five times. Never say never, but the plan right now is to follow the past two seasons with a traditional scheduling.’
For details on expansion processes, fees and anticipated team budgets, please contact Lloyd at mwba.league@gmail.com