A First For Saskatoon…International Basketball Games, Featuring Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team, in November

A chance to see N-B-A caliber players, competing in an international basketball setting, is coming to Saskatoon on Thursday, November 21 and Sunday, November 24!

Thanks to a partnership between the Saskatchewan Rattlers, the Canadian Elite Basketball League and Basketball Canada, SaskTel Centre will host a pair of games involving Canada, the fifth place team at last month’s Paris Olympics. This will be the second window of the F-I-B-A Men’s AmeriCup 2025 Qualifiers as the Canadian Senior Men’s National Team takes on the Dominican Republic and Mexico. During the first window back in February, Canada swept a home-and-home series with Nicaragua to give them a 2-0 record and first place in Group C of the 16-team event. The top three teams from each of the four groups will qualify for the F-I-B-A Men’s AmeriCup 2025. Tickets are now on sale for Canada against the Dominican Republic on November 21 at 7:10 p.m., as well as Canada-Mexico on November 24 at 2:10 p.m. – single game and Team Canada two-packs – through TicketMaster. Following is the news release and Les Lazaruk’s interview with Rattlers’ President Lee Genier…..

September 10, 2024
SASKATOON TO HOST CANADIAN SENIOR MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM FOR THE SECOND
WINDOW OF FIBA AMERICUP QUALIFIER AT SASKTEL CENTRE THIS FALL
Saskatoon, Sask. – Canada Basketball, in partnership with the Canadian Elite Basketball League
(CEBL), announced Tuesday that Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team will host the second
window of FIBA Men’s AmeriCup 2025 Qualifiers this November in Saskatoon.
Canada will take on the Dominican Republic on Thursday, November 21 (7:10 p.m. CT / 8:10
p.m. ET) before facing Mexico on Sunday, November 24 (2:10 p.m. CT / 3:10 p.m. ET). Both
games will take place at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, and fans can catch all the action live on
Sportsnet.
Single-game tickets and Team Canada 2-Packs are on sale now via Ticketmaster and start at $20
(plus applicable fees). Canada Basketball Insiders and Saskatchewan Rattlers Season Ticket
Holders and Insiders have access to select inventory for both games. Tickets can also be
purchased by contacting the Saskatchewan Rattlers by email at tickets@therattlers.ca, by phone
at 306-244-2182, or by visiting their head office at 2-183 2nd Ave South, Saskatoon.
Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team opened the FIBA Men’s AmeriCup 2025 Qualifiers with a
pair of home-and-home victories over Nicaragua in February and currently sit undefeated 2-0
atop Group C. During three windows, in February 2024, November 2024, and February 2025,
each team will play each opponent in their group twice under a “home and away” format.
The 16 teams in the FIBA Men’s AmeriCup 2025 Qualifiers are in four groups of four teams
each. The top three teams in each group (12 in total) will qualify for the FIBA Men’s AmeriCup
2025.
Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team is coming off a fifth-place finish at the Paris 2024 Olympic
Games, its first appearance in the tournament in 24 years. It was the team’s highest finish since
fourth place at the 1986 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Over the last several years, Canada Basketball and the CEBL have collaborated to bring more
international basketball events to Canada, including several FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup
2023 Qualifiers events and the first window of the FIBA Men’s AmeriCup 2025 Qualifiers last
February.
Canada is currently ranked fifth in the latest FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike. The
rankings were updated following the Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympic
Games.
QUOTES
“We’re excited to bring a pair of FIBA Men’s AmeriCup 2025 Qualifiers games to Saskatoon this
fall as our Senior Men’s National Team looks to take another step towards qualification for next
summer’s FIBA Men’s AmeriCup 2025. The Canadian Elite Basketball League, Saskatchewan

Rattlers and Basketball Saskatchewan have done a tremendous job growing the game of
basketball across the province in recent years, and we’re looking forward to working closely
with each organization to deliver a world-class experience for players, teams and fans. –
Michael Bartlett, President & CEO, Canada Basketball
“Once again, the CEBL is thrilled to partner with Canada Basketball to help host two more
world-class FIBA AmeriCup 2025 Qualifiers, this time at the home of our Saskatchewan Rattlers
at SaskTel Centre. We can’t wait to join basketball fans in Saskatoon and those tuning in across
the country in November to cheer on our Senior Men’s National Team looking to build on its 2-0
start.” – Mike Morreale, Commissioner & Co-Founder, Canadian Elite Basketball League
“The Government of Saskatchewan is proud to welcome the FIBA Men’s AmeriCup 2025
Qualifiers to the city of Saskatoon. Our province has a strong record of hosting both national
and international sporting competitions over the past number of years. Events such as these
have spurred the record growth we’re seeing in our tourism sector while creating economic
spin-off benefits for the people of our province.” – Hon. Jeremy Harrison, MLA Minister
Responsible for Tourism Saskatchewan Jeremy Harrison
“Saskatchewan sports fans are going to be in for a real treat. Canada’s Senior Men’s National
Basketball Team will be fantastic to watch, and SaskTel Centre and its team will be excellent
hosts. Congratulations to the Saskatchewan Rattlers for their part in this. This is what
Saskatchewan does best. Now let’s fill the place.” – Hon. Ken Cheveldayoff, MLA Saskatoon
Willowgrove.
“We are very excited to partner with Canada Basketball to bring this world-class event to
Saskatchewan as we continue to build basketball across the province and provide the fans more
basketball at the highest level.” – Lee Genier, President, Saskatchewan Rattlers
“Anytime our province gets to showcase the development pathway to our members we consider
that a win for the game. It is so important to be able to see yourself reflected on the court in
order to dream the big dreams, whether that’s as a player, coach or official and to be able to do
that in person is invaluable. A huge thank you to the Rattlers organization and Canada
Basketball for believing that Saskatchewan is a great place to host an event of this calibre and
we can’t wait to see you in the stands in November.” – Megan Penno, Executive Director,
Basketball Saskatchewan.