The Saskatchewan Rattlers are no more, but professional basketball will remain in the Bridge City, just with a different look.
After seven seasons as the Rattlers that included winning the inaugural C-E-B-L championship in 2019, the organization announced a full rebrand today at Merlis Belsher Place with team now being known as the Saskatoon Mamba. Along with the new name is a brand new logo and colour scheme, dropping the green and beige rattlesnake and dawning a new snake design in “Mamba Purple”. The new logo is described as “the icon and typeface reflect the same curvature and bend present in the City of Saskatoon’s logo, a nod to the city’s place along the South Saskatchewan River. The team’s primary colour is a bold and vibrant “Mamba Purple””. More colourways are to be revealed soon announced in a press release.
Perhaps more important than the new look will be the new personnel steering the ship as for the first time in the franchise’s history, the Mamba introduced their new ownership group consisting of Jason Ribeiro and Usman Tahir Jutt, who also operate the C-E-B-L’s Calgary Surge. Since relocating the Calgary franchise from Guelph after the 2022 season, Riberio and Tahir Jutt have helped guide Calgary to three straight C-E-B-L Championship weekend’s, including two trips to the finals in 2023 and 2025.
Games this season will be played at both SaskTel Centre and Merlis Belsher Place, five of them at SaskTel Centre with the remaining seven to be played at M-B-P. During the announcement, Riberio noted what he and the ownership group have accomplished in Calgary having played majority of games out of an arena like Merlis Belsher Place but hosting key matchups at the Scotiabank Saddledome, in which they hold the single-game attendance record in the league at 12,327. The season opener will be on May 14th at SaskTel Centre against Vancouver, and the first game at M-B-P will be on June 15th against Ottawa.
Over the last three seasons, the former Rattlers have missed the playoffs with a combined record of 21-and-43 with their last winning record coming in the 2022 season. More announcements are expected in the coming weeks, including what management and the coaching staff will look like, as well as the team that will hit the court this spring.
More pictures below from today’s event, plus media scrum audio with new Owner Jason Riberio and C-E-B-L President Tyler Mazereeuw…..
