The Canadian Elite Basketball League has come a long way

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Three years ago, the CEBL opened for business as a six-team outfit with no franchises east of Ontario's Golden Horseshoe. After its inaugural season, the league was stable enough to add a seventh club, in Ottawa. Then came the pandemic. It could have crushed the fledgling organization, but commissioner Mike Morreale (the former CFL receiver) spearheaded the formation of a two-week tournament in the summer of 2020 in St. Catharines, Ont., so that the CEBL could crown a champion — more than you can say for Morreale's old league, which didn't play at all that year. In 2021, the CEBL returned to a full regular-season and playoff schedule.

Now, as it prepares to tip off its fourth season on Wednesday night, the CEBL has one-upped the CFL in a few more ways. With three new expansion franchises set to take the court, the CEBL now boasts 10 teams (one more than the CFL) and a footprint that reaches from coast to coast (the CFL is still trying to get a proposed Maritimes team off the ground). Meanwhile, as the CFL is in the news for the wrong reasons (an on-again, off-again players' strike), the CEBL is making headlines for signing a famous rapper to play for one of its teams.

Just to be clear, no one is saying the CEBL has surpassed the CFL. The basketball startup is still a long way from catching the venerable football institution in terms of attendance, revenue and cultural cachet. But comparing the two all-Canadian leagues illuminates how things are looking up for the CEBL, which continues to grow while seeming unafraid to try new things. Here are some details to know ahead of