Bandits re-brand, become first CEBL original six team to land independent ownership

The Fraser Valley Bandits are re-branding as the Vancouver Bandits and have been sold to a local ownership group, the Canadian Elite Basketball League announced on Tuesday.

The Bandits become the first of the league's original six teams to secure independent ownership.

The Scarborough Shooting Stars, who joined the league as an expansion franchise prior to the 2022 season, are the only other club owned by outside investors.

The Newfoundland Growlers, Montreal Alliance, Ottawa BlackJacks, Hamilton Honey Badgers, Niagara River Lions, Saskatchewan Rattlers, Edmonton Stingers and a yet-to-be named Calgary franchise round out the 10-team league and remain under ownership of the CEBL, which began play in 2019.

Bryan Slusarchuk – co-founder of K92 Mining Inc. and principal of SluzCap – and Kevin Dhaliwal – founder and president of Essence Properties – have formed Bandits Sports & Entertainment and will continue to operate the team at Langley Events Centre in Langley, British Columbia.

Slusarchuk and Dhaliwal already had involvement with the Bandits as sponsors and season-ticket holders and initially reached out to the CEBL separately to express interest in purchasing the team.

However, all parties involved quickly saw the benefit of Slusarchuk and Dhaliwal joining forces to carry forward the vision of a team that values making an impact in the community just as much as winning on the court.

"I really came at this from a community-first perspective," Slusarchuk told TSN ahead of the announcement. "I got involved with the Bandits originally as a season-ticket holder and then I got more involved as a sponsor.

"The sponsorship stuff that I was involved with had a lot to do with youth basketball, youth sports in the community. By being around the community a fair bit, I saw how many points of contact every year the Bandits were having with kids – kids that are playing in school programs, kids that are playing in club programs. What I soon saw when I was at most of the games is that they were building this really sort of intense loyalty amongst these kids."

Bandits president Dylan Kular has been at the forefront of youth sports development in the Lower Mainland of B.C.

In 2016, as a recent graduate of Quest University in Squamish, Kular returned to Abbotsford where he co-founded the Abbotsford Basketball Association, a not-for-profit organization prioritizing access to sports for youth outside of the school system.

Kular, 30, furthered his involvement in the community when he guided the launch of the CEBL Academy in Abbotsford in 2021. The pilot project was developed to encourage all age groups to participate in sports.

The efforts by Kular and Bandits vice president Andrew Savory to forge a relationship with the community through sports has certainly caught the attention of Slusarchuk.

"The one thing that's really hit home to me as a parent and somebody involved in the community is if you're at any basketball event in British Columbia on a weekend, whether it's Sunday in Abbotsford or whether it's Saturday in downtown Vancouver, whether it's Burnaby on a Tuesday – these guys pop up," said Slusarchuk.

"They're just so ingrained in the basketball community within B.C. They've developed so many relationships with all of the club teams, the high school teams – they built those relationships over time. They've shown up, they've been there, they've helped with youth basketball in such a big way that you've got all of these clubs and high school programs that want to support the Bandits because of what Dylan, Andrew and their staff is doing."

The hard work also appears to be paying off at the gate for Kular and his staff.

After permanently relocating from nearby Abbotsford, the Bandits average per-game attendance increased by 500 to 2,750 in 2022. Furthermore, the Bandits set a CEBL single-game record when 4,404 fans gathered for a match against the Shooting Stars in June.

"We're definitely a very sound organization, super excited to have them with us now to take us to the next level," said Kular of the new ownership group.

"Obviously, if things are not performing well on the court or off the court, then adjustments will have to be made. But over the last few seasons, I think we've definitely proven ourselves to be one of the stronger organizations in the league."

Kular thinks the future of the Bandits is even brighter with Slusarchuk and Dhaliwal on board.

"For us, it's phenomenal. We have two community leaders, two business leaders, two locals who want to push sport in the province, specifically basketball and using the Bandits as a vessel to develop community," said Kular.

"It's super exciting that we have two very like-minded people coming together into our organization that already share very similar values with what we've already established here with the Bandits."

The Bandits reached the final of Championship Weekend in 2020, fell in the semi-finals in 2021 and missed out on the event entirely this season after losing to the Guelph Knighthawks in a play-in game.

Championship Weekend will be held in Langley next August, providing the Bandits with an opportunity to showcase the landscape of professional basketball in B.C. and with a heightened sense of determination to hoist the trophy for the first time.

Simply put, Kular says the product on the court will be better for the Bandits when the CEBL's fifth campaign kicks off in May 2023.

To that effect, Slusarchuk leaves no doubt that Kular and his staff will be given the opportunity and resources to take the Bandits to the next level.

"Our role is to be supportive of Dylan and Andrew and the team that they've put together," said Slusarchuk, regarding his vision for the future of the Bandits.

"They've laid this incredible foundation. We can help to fuel it and accelerate the growth. It is a model franchise in the league and I think that with local ownership now, it'll just get bigger and better and faster. “We're not reinventing the wheel. They are the guys that have driven the success and we recognize that."

Finding local owners has always been part of the CEBL's growth strategy, with commissioner and CEO Mike Morreale acknowledging that teams will benefit from having boots on the ground as opposed to the league office running the franchises from afar.

"[We found] people that have been successful in business that know what it takes to be successful and then look at the model we've created and agree that we've been successful in our own right and now let's just join forces and make it even bigger and better," said Morreale.

"That's exactly what’s happening. The CEBL is becoming better instantly with the addition of the Scarborough ownership group and now the Vancouver ownership group and the ones that are going to come down the line."