According to a statement released by Canada Basketball, a Canadian national 3X3 tournament will also be held at Yonge-Dundas Square and the festival will “celebrate the intersection of sport, arts and culture”.
“We need to be in the event business,” Bartlett said. “Therefore, we have to create our own opportunities so that we can bring our players to play more often, so that we can bring our fans to games in Canada to please more often.”
Canadian basketball has historically had financial problems – attracting domestic NBA stars to play for the national men’s team has been prohibitive in the past due to high insurance fees – but if GLOBL JAM is successful, it may be a turn for Canadian hoops. Can become a major revenue-generator. ,
“That’s where we’re going to go back to every dollar we raise on this net. Making us better competitively,” Bartlett said.
GLOBL JAM is an extension of the partnership between Canada Basketball and Sportsnet that began last February.
The two entities are splitting costs on the event, with the mutual benefit of receiving national coverage on SportsNet while providing content for the network.
Sportsnet President Bart Yabsley said in a statement, “(Global Jam) is an important way to reinforce our commitment and investment in growing the game of basketball in Canada and providing fans with more enjoyable content from their favorite sport. “
The men’s competition will feature host Canada. The US, Brazil and Italy, while the women’s tournament will pit Canada against the US, Belgium and France.
Despite it being a FIBA-sanctioned event, the tournament’s under-23 format is a bit odd as FIBA age groups typically cap out at “under-19s” and then jump to the senior level.
Canada Basketball saw a gap to fill and created an under-23 category to showcase young growing professionals.
“Through this joint venture, we are able to provide a platform for these men and women to showcase their skills – before they even ventured into the professional scene – and help make Canadian basketball talent household names, Yabsley said.
As part of the agreement to play at GLOBL JAM, all participating athletes – not just Canadians – will be expected to perform some community outreach work, such as helping with basketball clinics, during the week of the event.
The GLOBL JAM Games will be held at Ryerson University’s Matami Athletic Center. Canada Basketball hopes to make it an annual event with stops in Montreal, Halifax, Vancouver and Edmonton with the future prospect of touring the country.
This year’s GLOBL JAM time could prove to be very lucky for Canadian Basketball.
The senior men’s national team is scheduled to play a World Cup qualifying game from 30 June to 4 July, the venue for which is still to be determined.
Bartlett said his organization is working hard to see if Canada can host those qualifiers, something that would be the perfect lead for its new basketball festival.
“If we can pull this off, it’ll just be the cherry on top,” Bartlett said. “I don’t know if it’s possible, but we’re ambitious in Canadian basketball right now.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 23, 2022.
Steven Long, The Canadian Press
