The Sylvan Lake Gulls will no longer be the newest franchise in the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) in 2024.
The addition of the Saskatoon Entertainment Group (SEG) was announced in a press release, March 29.
Gulls president and COO Aqil Samuel told Sylvan Lake News seeing the league grow is amazing.
“The Gulls’ success is directly tied to the league’s success, the SEG brings a lot of clout, experience and another major market into the WCBL. It’s exciting to see a group with the background of the SEG be a part of our league. To have a team back in a great sports market like Saskatoon solidifies our league’s claim of being Canada’s premier summer collegiate league.”
Being able to share some of what the Gulls have learned with SEG is exciting, Samuel said.
“Our experience in the WCBL for the last three years has been positive as we find all the franchises buy into the fact that the league’s success equals the individual franchises success. I personally am looking forward to sharing some of our learnings in Sylvan Lake with SEG and am excited to see them start something great.”
It’s an exciting time to be a baseball fan in Alberta and Saskatchewan right now, Samuel said.
“By bringing in a major market like Saskatoon our league fan base and footprint grows. Advertisers, fans and potential players see the growth of the league, the growth in attendance, the new stadiums and will want to be part of it. Baseball people all over North America are taking notice.”
With the Edmonton Prospects taking a leave from the league in 2023 to get their new stadium built in Spruce Grove, 2024 will see the WCBL as a 12 team league.