Guelph Nighthawks flying out of Royal City, officially moving to Calgary

Guelph Nighthawks preparing to return From CTV Kitchener's Heather Senoran: The Guelph Nighthawks are gearing up to play again this season, but the KW Titans might not play again until the winter.

After days of fans speculation the Guelph Nighthawks franchise would be leaving the Royal City, the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) made it official -- the Nighthawks will be flying to a new location.

The current season will be the last for the Guelph Nighthawks, as the CEBL announced Wednesday the team will be renamed, rebranded and moved to Calgary.

Speculation of the team’s relocation swirled on social media after a tweet from The Rod Pederson Show on Aug. 15 said insider sources confirmed the Guelph Nighthawks would be playing out of the Win Sports Canada Arena in Calgary next season.

A public unveiling of the new nickname, logo and colours for the team will be held at a later date.

“Calgary has been one of our target markets for a long time and relocating a franchise from our smallest market to Canada’s third-largest city will allow the team to remain financially competitive as our league continues to experience tremendous growth,” said Mike Morreale, commissioner and co-founder of the CEBL, in a media release. “Several potential ownership groups have expressed an interest in bringing a team to Calgary, but none has been able to meet our criteria for ownership. The league will continue to own and operate this franchise as we do nine of our 10 teams until a qualified individual or group emerges.”

The Nighthawks finished the 2022 season near the bottom of the pack, sitting in seventh place in the standings out of 10 teams.

The team recorded 10 wins and 10 losses.

Earlier this year, the Nighthawks announced the acquisition of a former Toronto Raptor Lucas ‘Bebê’ Nogueira as an international designated player.

“The City of Guelph, Mayor Cam Guthrie, Sleeman Centre staff, and the community, in general, have been strong supporters of the Nighthawks and we are grateful for all they’ve done to make the franchise a success in that market under the outstanding leadership of team president Cam Kusch and his staff,” Morreale said in the release. “But the reality is that there is a ceiling in a market of Guelph’s size that will prevent the franchise from being able to compete on a sustained basis. When we launched the CEBL in 2018, it made sense for Guelph to be among our founding franchises. However, we are moving into the country’s largest markets at a pace much faster than we originally anticipated, and the economic realities of pro sports forces us to have to make this difficult decision.”

According to the CEBL, the Nighthawks averaged over 1,200 fans per game.

The Nighthawks season opener for the 2022 season against the Scarborough Shooting Stars saw 2,992 fans in attendance.

The Nighthawk’s final game was against the Niagara River Lions on Aug. 6 with 1,408 people in attendance.