The basketball team is leaving 黑马磁力 for a temporary home at a high school gym in Surrey, a city where owners of the minor pro franchise want to soon build a stadium for games.
The team will bounce over to the gym at Newton鈥檚 Tamanawis Secondary for the first time Saturday (June 9) against Tacoma Tigers. Game time is 7 p.m.
Since April, the Dragons have played home games at Trinity Western University鈥檚 , during the squad鈥檚 inaugural season in the .
T.J. Dhinsa, the Dragons鈥� majority owner, said the franchise wants to be based in Surrey, both now and in the future.
鈥漌e鈥檙e just getting our proposal ready, and hopefully in a couple of years we鈥檒l have our own basketball facility in Surrey,鈥� he told the Now-Leader on Thursday.
Team owners propose to build a 鈥渕ain court鈥� facility that could seat up to 3,000 spectators, possibly in the Bridgeview area, with additional courts for basketball, volleyball and soccer.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very, very serious proposal,鈥� Dhinsa said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e already talked with the city and they are very interested and told us they could give us land by Scott Road station, and we鈥檝e met with some local investors. We鈥檙e basically a week away from getting our proposal done, for investors, and then we鈥檒l bring that back to the city and, you know, we鈥檙e very hopeful that we can get this built by 2020.鈥�
The proposed multi-purpose facility would not include ice sports, Dhinsa noted.
鈥淲e told the city we want to stay away from any ice rinks 鈥� that鈥檚 where your money goes out the door, sort of thing, and they鈥檙e already building a rink in that area, so that worked out perfectly for us,鈥� he said.
鈥� RELATED STORY: , from November 2017.
Surrey needs a 鈥渃ourt sport鈥� stadium/complex like the one proposed by the Dragons, Dhinsa underlined.
鈥淲e鈥檙e were looking around to maybe put a big gym in an existing building in Surrey, but in talking with people, we realized that Surrey needs something like a 黑马磁力 Events Centre, especially for the kids,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat ties in perfect with the Dragons because we have the hashtag 鈥楥ommunityFirst,鈥� so we do a lot of stuff in the community, and we want our players to be part of it, to do basketball academies there, for kids. The high schools could use it for their championships, the Fraser Valleys, stuff like that. That鈥檚 our whole focus, and then reach out to the volleyball community, soccer, get everybody aboard.鈥�
This season, the Dragons have won eight games and lost just one, for top spot in the league鈥檚 five-team .
At Tamanwis, as part of a deal that involves Kevin DeBoice, the school鈥檚 basketball-loving principal, includes games on June 23 and 24 against Bellingham Bulls, with another on June 29 against BC Grizzlies. Game times and other details are posted at .
鈥淭he last game (this season) for us, hopefully, will be July 8 during the finals,鈥� Dhinsa said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got two more (home) games against Bellingham, and then the Northwest Conference Final Four, when we鈥檒l play two games, and then the league championships after that.鈥�
At TWU鈥檚 gym, the team鈥檚 home-opening game in April drew more than 1,000 spectators, he said.
鈥淎fter that the average has been about 350 to 450 a game,鈥� Dhinsa noted.
鈥淭he cheapest ticket we have is a $5 student ticket, with general admission $7 and VIP courtside $20.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got some really good talent on the team, and we鈥檝e been winning a lot of games.鈥�
At Tamanawis, the gym is 鈥渁 great fit for us right now,鈥� Dhinsa said. 鈥淲hat we were paying at Trinity Western and what we鈥檙e paying at Tamanawis, it鈥檚 basically a $12-an-hour difference, not much, but it鈥檚 more about feedback from the fans. We love Trinity Western, at David Enarson, but we鈥檝e found that we wouldn鈥檛 be able to host our league championships there, and we started looking for somewhere else and then we thought, what better way to play some games in Surrey, where we have that home-court advantage. We鈥檙e putting in a three-point line (at Tamanawis) for that FIBA standard (International Basketball Federation), so that鈥檒l be done. Until we get our own basketball facility, it鈥檒l work for us.鈥�
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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