Montreal introducing second professional basketball team in just over a year

Montreal is set to welcome its second professional basketball team in just over a year, leaving some excited about the opportunities it may bring, but others skeptical on the longevity of two professional teams in the city.

The new team, unveiled as The Montreal Tundra, will become the first Canadian team to join The Basketball League (TBL).

“Montreal is a Nordic city, and that gives us a tenacious, fierce edge. And the Tundra for us means a wide-open field of opportunity and potential,” says General Manager Juan Mendez about the reasoning behind the team’s name.

Coached by Quebec basketball icon Igor Rwigema, the team will only have players from Montreal and Quebec join the roster.

“It gives more exposure for these players,” says Quincy Guerrier, a basketball player for University of Oregon, who is from Rivière-des-Prairies in Montreal.

“It’s always good to have more teams for Montreal and for people to, you know, develop and show their talent,” Guerrier says.

And that’s exactly what the team hopes to do, with four current players in the NBA from Quebec.

Rwigema says “our team will give Montreal’s best basketball players a chance to pursue their careers at home, and be close to friends, family, and fans.”

The announcement of the new team trails behind the Montreal Alliance, part of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). Founded in 2021, it’s the city’s first professional basketball team in almost a decade.

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“If you have more than one professional team in a sport in a city, it’s almost a guarantee that one of them is going to fail,” says sports economist Moshe Lander, who is skeptical of the longevity of both the Montreal Alliance and now The Montreal Tundra.

Even if their seasons do not overlap, (The Montreal Tundra will run March to June and the Alliance from June to August) Lander says, there aren’t enough fans to keep both teams going.

“The fans really only have the disposable income to support one team,” adds Lander.

“Even if you find a fan in the street that says, I’ll happily go to both games or both teams, at the end of the day, it would be much better if that one fan went to one team instead of splitting their allegiance between two. It weakens both leagues and their finances, and that’s why inevitably one of them has to go.”

The Montreal Tundra, is set to play their first season in March with tickets starting at 20 dollars. They hope to welcome upward of 2,000 fans at home games at the Pierre-Charbonneau Centre in Montreal’s east end.

For Guerrier, like many others, he’s staying positive and hopeful the sport of basketball will continue to grow in Montreal.

“People are just excited to go to the games. And I feel like they’re going to sell tickets…I don’t think money’s going to be an issue…I think over the years it’s going to get bigger and bigger.”