The Ottawa BlackJacks is one of seven teams in the newly formed Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). The BlackJacks will start playing the CEBL Summer Series on July 25, 2020, making the CEBL the first professional league in Canada to return to play following the COVID-19 outbreak in March. A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL has the highest percentage of Canadian players of any professional league in the country, with 80% of its current rosters being Canadians.
The new soccer team, Atlético Ottawa, will join the Canadian Premier League (CPL), Canada’s professional men’s soccer league that debuted in April 2019 featuring eight clubs from coast-to-coast. It is owned by La Liga outfit Club Atlético de Madrid, one of Europe’s most successful soccer clubs, winning Spain’s La Liga 10 times, along with a host of other championships.
Ottawa's new professional rugby team, the Ottawa Aces, will start playing in the Europe-based, three-tier Rugby Football League (RFL) in 2021. The club which began in 2013 as Hemel Stags located in Hemel-Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England was purchased by a Canadian consortium in 2018 and completed their move to Ottawa in March 2020. The move makes Ottawa the second Canadian city to boast a club in England’s storied RFL professional leagues. Following from the success of the Toronto Wolfpack, Ottawa will look to begin rising up the ranks of RFL.
The Ottawa Blackjacks, Atlético Ottawa and the Ottawa Aces will all be based out of TD Place at Lansdowne – a modern 24,000-seat stadium and 10,000-seat arena – run by Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG).
