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Saskatchewan’s only professional basketball team launched its new season and a new era of the franchise on Thursday with a 124-95 loss to the Vancouver Bandits.
It was the first regular season game since the team rebranded under new ownership, ditching the Saskatchewan Rattlers name and logo the franchise had used since slithering into Saskatoon eight years ago as one of the founding teams of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL).
The team invited school groups to attend Wednesday’s game for free. Thousands of students packed the stands at SaskTel Centre.
This was the second-highest number of people ever in the building for a basketball game since the very first Rattlers game eight years ago, team chairman Jason Ribeiro said in an interview at the game.
The team wanted to do something special for the community for the home opener, he said.
“This was always about youth, No. 1. No. 2, we’ve acquired this franchise on a couple months’ notice. It allows for a little bit of a tune-up game, allows for us to engage with the community and build up that momentum.”
The Rattlers won the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s first championship in 2019, but finished at or near the bottom of the CEBL standings in most seasons since then.
In 2025, the team had the CEBL’s second-worst record with seven wins and 17 losses, and finished last in the Western Conference for three straight seasons.
WATCH | Saskatoon Mamba launch new era with home opener:
The Vancouver Bandits dominate the Saskatoon Mamba
The Vancouver Bandits defeat the Saskatoon Mamba 124-95 in CEBL action. Jaelen House led the Bandits with 33 points in their opening season game of the Canadian Elite Basketball League.
Ribeiro, who owns the Mamba and the CEBL’s Calgary Surge with Usman Tahir Jutt, said he’s pleased with the reaction to the team’s rebrand.
“Whenever you do something bold, there’s gonna be mixed reactions,” he said. “I think the easiest path we could have taken was to do something people would expect. We purposely did something that I think would bring a little bit of newness or a little bit of freshness.”
But why did they choose a mamba — a snake native to sub-Saharan Africa — to represent a Saskatchewan team?
“I don’t know how many raptors roam the streets of Toronto or how many wizards are in Washington or bananas in Savannah, but I just know that it was a snake before, it’s a snake now,” Ribeiro said.
“We’re continuing that identity. And the Rattlers moniker, which has meant something to some people for eight years, isn’t going away either.”
The club was previously owned by Canadian Basketball Ventures LP, the corporate entity and founding ownership group of the CEBL.
For the 2026 season, the team will play seven of its home games at Merlis Belsher Place on the University of Saskatchewan campus and five games at SaskTel Centre.
Merlis Belsher Place has seating capacity for 2,750 spectators, while SaskTel Centre can seat over 15,000 fans.
