Niagara River Lions Announce 2025 Schedule

St. Catharines, ON – The Niagara River Lions of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) announced Wednesday it’s 24-game 2025 season schedule presented by Crime Stoppers Niagara. The River Lions will defend their 2024 Championship starting with the home and season opener on Friday May 16th versus the Calgary Surge, before going on a three-game road trip including a visit to the Vancouver Bandits for a championship rematch on Thursday, May 22nd.



The expectations are high for the River Lions, coming off their most successful season, where the organization set a new CEBL record with a perfect 11-0 home record at the Meridian Centre, and captured their first CEBL Championship by defeating the Vancouver Bandits 97-95, in what some have claimed to be the greatest CEBL playoff game in history. 

“The release of the 2025 schedule is an exciting moment for our team and the entire Niagara community. Last season’s championship was a testament to the energy and passion of our fans, and we can’t wait to bring that same excitement back to the Meridian Centre.,” said Michelle Biskup, President of the team. “As we enter our 10th anniversary season, every game will be a celebration of what we’ve achieved and a reminder of the hard work ahead.” 

The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) announced earlier this year that the league would expand its regular season to a 24-game format in 2025, increasing from 100 to 120 total regular season games. As a result, the season will start approximately one week earlier in May and end two weeks later August.

The 2025 Playoffs are scheduled to begin Thursday August 14th with the Conference Play-In games, followed by the Conference Semifinals on Saturday August 16th. The winners will advance to CW25 from August 22-24th to join the Winnipeg Sea Bears (host team) and the top ranked team from the Eastern Conference who are automatically seeded into the Conference Finals. Championship Weekend will take place in Winnipeg from August 22-24 where host Winnipeg, along with the top-ranked team from the Eastern Conference, will automatically be seeded into the semifinals hosted at Championship Weekend.

The 2025 broadcast schedule with all nationally televised games on TSN will be announced at a later date. All games, including playoffs, will be streamed live on the CEBL’s OTT platform, CEBL+ Powered by BetVictor, on CEBL Mobile, the official app of the CEBL (available on Android and iOS devices), and on TSN+.

Highlights of the Niagara River Lions schedule include:

• Home Opener on May 16th at 7:00PM at the Meridian Centre
• A total of 24 regular-season games during the 14-week Campaign
• Twelve home games at Meridian Centre; twelve away games
• Seven Friday, two Thursday and one Wednesday home games
• Two Sunday afternoon home games
• One home, school day game on Friday June 20th at 11:00am
• A four home-game stand starting May 28th against all previous CEBL Champions - Saskatchewan Rattlers (2019), Scarborough Shooting Stars (2023), Brampton Honey Badgers (2022), and Edmonton Stingers (2020, 2021).
• Final home game at Meridian Centre is Thursday, July 31st versus Ottawa Blackjacks.
• Four-game road trip to Scarborough, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary to finish the regular season

Niagara River Lions season tickets and voucher packs are on sale now. Group tickets and single game tickets will be available in the coming months. Ticket information can be found at www.riverlions.ca/tickets or 289-273-5905. 

A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 75% of its rosters being Canadian and a record 12 players with NBA experience in 2024. Players also bring experience from the NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, NCAA programs, as well as U SPORTS and CCAA. Twenty-two players have signed NBA contracts following a CEBL season, and numerous CEBL players attend NBA G League training camps every year. The CEBL season runs from May through August with games broadcast live on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN, TSN+, RDS, Game+, Next Level Sports & Entertainment and Courtside1891. More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube.

For full schedule details visit www.riverlions.ca/schedule