AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear Calgary,

Last year, when we brought professional basketball to our city, we honestly didn’t know what to expect. Would we connect with Calgary’s basketball community? Would folks connect with our players? Could we fill seats? Did we even know how to put on games?

Turns out a lot of work goes into putting on a professional basketball game! Our small but mighty front office staff had to learn the ins and outs of ticketing, organizing vendors, crowd management...they even had to learn how to convert an ice hockey rink to a basketball court.

And yet, Calgary’s open embrace of our team completely blew us away.

We called last season “THE FIRST DANCE.”

On May 21, we will welcome fans back for our “ENCORE” Season II beginning at the Scotiabank Saddledome. As we gear up for this one-night-only event, I need to emphasize that this would not be possible without the support and passion fans have shown our team.

Over the course of our 2023 inaugural season, our fans helped us define a clear mission that is at the core of all we do.

The Calgary Surge are here to reflect, entertain, and unite our city through the power of basketball and the arts.

So, what can Calgarians expect from our ENCORE performance?

Reflecting our city means that everyone, especially our most vulnerable, have a place at our games. Last year we ensured that nearly 1,000 kids and deserving families attended our games for free thanks to the generous support of donors. This season we will welcome thousands more.

Entertaining our city means continuing to invite people to ‘come for the game and stay for the party,’ but going the step further to make the party and the game one and the same. Last year we created several new stages for incredibly talented and diverse artists to perform during our games, outside our venue, online, and in the community. This season you will see our work with the arts community become even further intertwined.

Finally, uniting our city requires taking risks that defy convention and push the sports, arts, and entertainment sectors further. Our promise to intentionally tell our city’s story in new and unique ways that bring Calgarians together began the day after the 2023 Championship Finals. We know this is an audacious goal, but we hope that we can count on your support.

I wish I could write this letter and tell you all that we will win every game we play, or that we will reverse the twist of fate that saw us fall a few baskets short of a CEBL Championship in our first season.

But I can’t.

What I am certain of is our commitment to the process of becoming a world-class team and organization.

We will adapt. We will learn. We will compete.

But you know what won’t change?

Our values of inclusion. Our critical relationship with community.

As I write this letter, our players are about to land at YYC Calgary International Airport from cities across the country and globe. Tomorrow morning, they will be in junior high schools across all four corners of the city talking to youth about well-being. They are committed to our mission.

For months we have been toiling away, thinking about this moment and I can assure you, we are ready to meet it.

On behalf of our incredible players, coaches, front office and basketball staff, community and corporate partners, and volunteers, thank you for your support.

Our work continues in becoming now, and forever more, your Home Team.

Yours,

Jason Ribeiro, Ph.D.

Vice-Chairman & President, Calgary Surge