Western Slam Event to bring NCAA basketball fever to city in 2024

By Lethbridge Herald on November 3, 2023.

By Justin Seward Lethbridge Herald Jeff Dunlap talks about the Western Slam Event at the Thursday press conference in the Enmax Centre.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Southern Alberta basketball fans and teams will be treated to top-notch American university competition next November at the Enmax Centre.

It was announced  Thursday morning that the city will be bringing in the inaugural Western Slam Event, which will attract four dynamic NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association)  Division teams that will play six games over three days.

Western Slam Event will be put on by the Toronto-based marketing events company On Ice Entertainment, who manages and owns the Western Slam and the Atlantic Slam.

The Atlantic Slam is Nov. 17-19 in Moncton, New Brunswick.

“ When you’re sitting there on the sidelines and you get to watch and you see how fast the athletes are, how skilled they are, (that) hopefully will motivate more and more Canadians to hone their skills and I think we’re seeing a lot of that now anyway,” said Jeff Dunlap, tournament director.

“You’re seeing more and more and more that are starting to dribble that ball earlier and earlier and picking up the sport of basketball.”

The teams have not been announced yet.

“I think it kind of depends on maybe that first dog that decides to say we’re going to do it,” said Dunlap.

“If you’re fortunate enough to go down into the States, maybe somebody on this side of the country from the WCC, the West Coast Conference, or take somebody like a BYU (Brigham Young University) , who would be very popular in this community or somebody like that ,” he said.

“Now they’re Big 12. If they become the anchor and again that’s all speculative, you’re going to draw other teams, like teams, that’ll want to be in a pool that is from that kind of a calibre school. So we’ll see where it goes.”

The Atlantic Slam has attracted  the Gardner-Webb University Running Bulldog from the Big South Conference, Weber State University  Wildcats from the Big Sky Conference, the Ivy League’s Yale University Bulldogs and the Colgate University Raiders from the Patriot League.  

Mayor Blaine Hyggen spoke about the partnership between the city, Lethbridge College and NCAA for this even and maybe attracting similar events in the future.

“We are so fortunate to have two post-secondary institutions with in a community our size,” said Hyggen.

“There’s not very many communities that have that. The partnerships that they have and the involvement with sport and our sport council. But between college and the university, they definitely are sports-oriented and having something like this, I know that they’ll be able to push it and we’ll get the draw and attention that will put Lethbridge on the map again for another large event like this.”

The city saw how recent bigger curling events enticed anyone from young people to families to students to come to the area and get involved in the Lethbridge community and the hope is the same for the NCAA event.

“We saw what happened with curling when curling came through here, how many got involved in curling. We’ve expanded our different teams” said Hyggen.

“It’s been amazing what we’ve done with that curling. This is exactly that when they start to see that you know what this could be me one day. I could be playing in this sport. It gets them out there. I know our local Lethbridge basketball clubs will be so involved with this because the kids will see this. Anytime you have a professional sport come through, if it’s hockey, or if  it’s basketball, volleyball, whatever it is, they gravitate to that and they want to be that, that they’re watching. So it gives them definitely that drive and determination to work hard at the sport that they love.”

Kids will have the opportunity to go on the court and play around at half time.

There will be skill-building clinics and engaging programs throughout the tournament.

Dunlap hopes the Western Slam is here for many years to come.

There will be more details released as time goes on.

The Western Slam Event takes place Nov. 28-30, 2024, at the Enmax Centre.