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The Rattlers will play six of 10 home games on Thursdays, and the rest on Fridays, all at 7 p.m. They avoided weekend matchups, says Genier, because of dynamics in the local market.

“In Saskatchewan, from May until August, everyone loves their weekends,” he said. “So we really tried to stay away from home games on the weekend. You’ll see a lot of Thursday-night games in there, which fits the market just perfect.”

Teams will include 70 per cent Canadian talent while playing FIBA rules.

The Saskatchewan team, which has been working out of downtown office space, launched a ticket-deposit drive on Aug. 15. Season passes will formally go on sale sometime over the next few weeks. They’re also seeking a combination head coach and general manager, and hope to announce that hiring “realistically, in the next month,” Genier said.

His attendance goals, as always, are optimistic.

“Ideally, my thoughts are that SaskTel should be sold out,” Genier said. “That’s my ultimate goal, for the league, to have all the venues across the country sold out. Obviously, SaskTel is a big building — 15,000 seats — and this is one of the reasons we took this approach on Thursday and Friday nights is to create that vibe in the summer. We did some polls with the fans, and those days came back — people want their weekends.

“And I’d say my ultimate goal is to set a record for a sporting event at SaskTel Centre. I did it before (with the Rush), and I’d love to see every seat filled at SaskTel Centre.”