Cape Town Tigers: The Mother City’s basketball team aims to dominate

The Cape Town Tigers played their first friendly match in March 2021 and more will follow as the team prepares for their first official season in the Basketball Africa League (BAL), which is Africa’s premier men’s basketball league. The inaugural season kicked off in March 2020 and features 12 teams from African countries.

The Cape Town Tigers will be the first South African professional team to compete in the BAL and they will also be the first to participate in two of the world’s most renowned summer basketball tournaments: the Quai 54 in Paris and The Basketball Tournament (TBT) conference in the United States, which will be broadcast by ESPN.

A ‘BREATHTAKING’ OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CAPE TOWN TIGERS

“The opportunity for the Cape Town Tigers to be apart of the BAL is nothing short of breathtaking. I believe we have a lot to offer the league while building a great organisation,” said Raphael Edwards, a member of the Tigers’ ownership team.

The Tigers aim to be the top professional basketball organisation in the BAL within the next five years and develop the growing interest in the sport on the continent and South Africa. 

The organisation described Cape Town as the natural city of choice to base the team because of its appeal as a tourist destination and said that its economy was comparable to that of smaller cities in the United States that are home to a National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise.

“Cape Town Tigers believe in building the sport of Basketball from the ground up in South Africa. This includes a significant investment into early development programs for the youth,” said the organisation.

The organisation added that economic development and building basketball infrastructure in the country aligns with the BAL’s mission to make the sport viable and a benefit to economies on the continent.

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