The Edmonton Stingers have announced that Manjit and Ravinder Minhas, co-founders of Calgary-based Minhas Breweries and Distilleries, have joined the club’s ownership group.
The pair are well known in the Alberta community, with the CEBL partnership the latest step in their foray into the sports and entertainment sphere. Amongst the Minhas’ portfolio of brands are Mountain Crest and Boxer Lager, with Ravinder being heavily involved in the Calgary Stampede as a board member, and Manjit having appeared in over 100 episode of Dragon’s Den since 2015.
“We look forward to help elevating not only the marketing but the team and the business that keeps it going not only for the next five years but the next 50 years,” Manjit Minhas told reporters.
“We were in town here in Edmonton last summer with our families, I have two girls and Ravinder has two girls, and we came to a game,. We loved the vibe, we loved the elite level of basketball play, we loved that it was family-friendly, and we left the game really energized for basketball in this province.”
“As we were on the way home, we thought: ‘Well, how do we get involved?’ The owners are friends of ours, so we had a conversation with them.”
“We’re really excited about when not only with this season, but more what the future holds for Edmonton… It really is about investing in our community and how the team does that in a very unique way.”
With the purchase, Manjit becomes the first female owner in CEBL history. The pair join Taranvir Vander and James Burns as partners in the Stingers Entertainment Group and investors in the CEBL.
“They bring a rich history of success in Alberta business, and their investment in our team and league speaks to their dedication to the continued growth of basketball,” Vander said in a statement.
“For us, it’s about diversity of ownerships and it’s about having something that young boys and girls can look up to, elite, right in their backyard,” Manjit added. “To be able to be fans of but then also participate in.”
Edmonton officially kicks off their 2024 CEBL campaign on May 21st against the Calgary Surge at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
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