The Long Island Nets are headed back to Canada, while their future at the Nassau Coliseum remains a year-to-year proposition.
Speaking with NetsDaily at the team’s fourth annual Summerfest at Jones Beach on Saturday, Vice President of Business Operations Morgan Taylor confirmed that Long Island will return to Canada for a third straight season.
“Yes, we will return again this season. They’ve been a great partner for us, and hopefully we get to play Toronto and have a little bit of a rivalry,” Taylor
said.
While Long Island’s full schedule remains unknown — as does the number of games they will play in Canada, the team has now played 10 games in the Montreal suburb of Laval in the last two years, playing six in their first year there in 2024-25 and four last season.
A team spokesperson later told NetsDaily.“We’re planning to hopefully return to Montreal this season but still haven’t confirmed how many games at this time.”
During their first season in Canada, Long Island drew roughly 40,00 fans over their six-game slate, selling out Place Bell … along with its custom “Les Nets” merchandise. This past season, the organization attracted nearly 23,000 fans across four games, with a peak of 6,720 at one game. Each game were basically all sell-outs or close to it at the arena which seats around 7,000.
As they prepare for their third season across the northern border, though, the team has a new and broader connection beyond the games. Long Island’s first-year head coach, Shawn Swords, is Canadian-born, French-speaking and serves as an assistant coach with Canada’s National Basketball programs. His daughter, Syla, is a member of the Canadian national women’s team and plays for Michigan in NCAA.
“I mean, Shawn here, his family, you know, playing basketball at LuHi, his daughters, and then Sean in Canada, it really helps us and helps the fan base to have that connection to the team,” said Taylor.
Swords isn’t Long Island’s only international connection this year.
The Nets also selected French guard Tidjane Dioumassi in this year’s NBA G League International Draft, giving the organization a player with ties outside of the U.S. Dioumassi is a French speaker, which could bode well in Montreal.
While developing a fan base in French-speaking Canada may seem far-fetched, Taylor has previously called the outings “wildly successful” and not just because of the attendance but because the fan base has adopted the Long Islanders. Montreal is 375 miles from New York, only 50 miles further than Toronto. Groupe CH, the parent of the Montreal Canadiens, is the Nets partner in the endeavor. The group is trying to prove the city’s viability as an NBA franchise. Also, Joe Tsai is a Canadian citizen.
Back home, however, there is less clarity regarding where Long Island will play beyond this season.
The future of the Nassau Coliseum has been uncertain since Las Vegas Sands abandoned its plans to build a casino resort at the site. For the Nets, though, the Coliseum is home for now but they are not committing to anything long-term and Nassau Coliseum.
“We, right now, we know that we’ll play all of our, you know, 20 out of 24 games in Nassau this year, so we take it year by year,” Taylor told ND.
Beyond the news surrounding Canada and the Coliseum, Long Island’s fourth annual “Summerfest” offered a look at the organization’s continued efforts to grow its fanbase locally.
Attendees participated in a Boardwalk Wellness Walk, an expanded youth basketball clinic, a beach Pilates class, and a youth dance clinic, where they learned choreography from the Long Island Nets Dance Team, performing alongside the team. Fans also took part in pop-a-shot and parent-versus-kid basketball contests and met team mascot Dale the Eagle.
Taylor emphasized the importance of fan and community engagement throughout the offseason.
“Yeah, Long Island is home for us, and one of the benefits of Long Island is our beach. We would be remiss not to engage with our community during the summertime and have something here at Jones Beach. The state parks have been a wonderful partner for us, allowing us to host this,” she said. “This is our fourth annual Summerfest, and it’s exciting that fans will come out on a Saturday morning and play basketball with us.”
Over the past few seasons, Long Island has made an effort to increase its overall attendance for home games. Taylor also believes that hosting events like this to keep the community active and engaged will ultimately lead to higher attendance numbers.
The organization set a goal for last season of 3,000 fans per home game, well short of the league average of 5,000. While they didn’t reach even that internal goal, increasing attendance remains a focal point for the organization.
“Yeah, having events like this helps us to get our brand out there and get, you know, fans excited about the basketball on the court and during the season, so, you know, we really hope that we can drive attendance, as we always do every year, but this is a successful event today, and this will help us drive attendance for games,” Taylor told ND on Saturday.
Brooklyn’s young core will provide another reason for fans to keep a close eye on Long Island this season.
After selecting five players in the first round of last year’s draft, some of whom are expected to spend time with LI again this season, the organization also welcomed three additional rookies in this year’s Draft class.
While it’s highly unlikely that No. 6 overall pick Mikel Brown Jr. would find himself chucking up shots at the Coliseum, late first-round pick Joshua Jefferson, a 6’9” point forward could certainly see some time in the G League while second-round pick Tyler Bilodeau is on a two-way contract, meaning he’s likely to spend a lot of time on the island.
Despite that, according to Taylor, it would be difficult for Long Island to build promotions around players whose availability fluctuates throughout the season.
“We’re excited to celebrate the two-ways. I mean, we can’t promise when they’ll be in Long Island, so from a marketing standpoint it’s really about telling the story of the players whether they’re in Brooklyn or Long Island,” Taylor said. “We’ll celebrate them as much as they’re in Long Island, but we want to make sure they get on the court in Brooklyn too.”
The Long Island Nets open their season on November 13 at the Coliseum.
