In just their second season of existence, the Calgary Surge has become bigger than even their biggest supporters expected.
The Surge, one of 10 teams in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL), has quickly morphed into one of Calgary’s most popular professional sports teams. It’s quite a feat given that it is a hockey-crazed market, though Jason Ribeiro, the Surge’s vice chairman and president, was confident that the city had more basketball fans than many were aware.
Ribeiro had the vision of a team succeeding in Calgary when seeing how much support the Toronto Raptors had throughout the city during their 2019 playoff run, which resulted in an NBA Championship. Once Calgary’s 2026 Winter Olympic bid fell through, he felt it was time to act.
“When the 1988 Olympics sort of redo for 2026 didn’t come to pass, I think we as a city had a void,” Ribeiro said in an exclusive interview with Daily Hive. “We knew we were a sports city, maybe the 2026 Winter Olympics weren’t the right opportunity, but we were still clamouring for a sport. There are so many kids in this city that we know are basketball fans.”
Still, even Ribeiro didn’t expect the Surge to gain this type of traction in such a short time. In late May, they chose to play their home opener at the Saddledome and wound up amassing a crowd north of 12,000. It was a very impressive turnout given that they are used to playing in front of a maximum of 3,200 at their usual home court at Winsport.
“It surpassed every expectation we had,” raved Ribeiro. “So much of this business since we’ve launched has surpassed all our expectations. That night in particular, for us, we were originally expecting a crowd of double, maybe triple, to what we play in front of at Winsport. To see us cross that 12,000 mark was astounding.”
The Surge’s success hasn’t been a fluke, either. While Ribeiro made it clear that the fans throughout Calgary are the biggest reason for the organization’s success, he explained that those involved behind the scenes have put in a ton of work.
“We promised the fans that we’d be more than a basketball team, and I think it resonated for those that saw that we were doing something different for this game,” Ribeiro said. “It wasn’t just, ‘Hey, it’s the existing product in a different building.’ We brought out a 40-piece orchestra to play Jay-Z as the players entered from the audience. We switched our jerseys at halftime. We teased enough to show that people could expect a show.”
The Surge organization, while thrilled with the early results, aren’t satisfied just yet. They are still working day in and day out to explore new ideas that will help the market evolve even further in Calgary.
“I really think we’ve just scratched the surface,” Ribeiro said. “We’re really tough on ourselves as operators, and we’re constantly seeing what we can do to improve. But then we remind ourselves our first game ever was played on May 27, 2023. So, it’s really only been in the market for just over a year. If you asked me a year and a bit ago, ‘Did you foresee all these things you’ve been able to achieve together with our fanbase?’ The answer would have resoundingly been “No.”
“For us, I think it’s just continuing to stay the course and keep being humble. Finding new opportunities to do new things like a ‘Dome game, and continuing to evolve the brand.”
One such idea Ribeiro did reveal is that they aim to have at least one, if not two, games at the Saddledome next season.
As for the players, they too are doing a good job of helping draw in more fans. Thanks to a three-game winning streak, they now sit at 9-7 on the season, good enough for third in the Western Conference. The strong play, paired with some great marketing efforts, has helped them flourish in what is still the early goings of their existence.