Ottawa Redblacks to hire Mike Morreale as new president

Photo courtesy: Canadian Elite Basketball League

The Ottawa Redblacks are hiring Mike Morreale as their new president, sources have confirmed to 3DownNation. TSN’s Dave Naylor was first to report.

The 55-year-old served as the commissioner of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) for eight seasons, and departed the organization in 2025.

Founded in 2017, the CEBL grew to 10 teams across the country during Morreale’s tenure, and garnered media deals with TSN, Next Level Sports in the United States, Fox Sports Australia, TapGo in Philippines, SingTel in Singapore, and Astro in Malaysia.

The native of Hamilton, Ont. played 12 seasons at receiver in the Canadian Football League as a member of the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He recorded 509 catches for 6,649 yards and 24 touchdowns over 216 career regular-season games.

The six-foot-three, 210-pound target was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian in 1998, and won two Grey Cups. He also won Most Valuable Canadian in the 87th Grey Cup, which remains the most recent championship in Tiger-Cats history. He also received the Tom Pate Memorial Award in 2000.

After his playing career, Morreale spent seven years working for the CFL Players’ Association (CFLPA), including a stint as president. He also served as a colour analyst on radio.

The Redblacks have been without a president since August when Adrian Sciarra stepped down.

Having served as the CFL’s vice-president of commercial assets prior to joining the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), Sciarra became the president of the team in 2023. He remains with OSEG, though his role no longer involves the Redblacks.

The team has made the playoffs only once since 2019, and recently snapped a 22-game losing streak with a win over the Toronto Argonauts.

The Redblacks experienced the CFL’s largest year-over-year attendance decrease in 2026 at 16.4 percent. The team’s average crowds of 15,167 were the lowest in franchise history since at least 1970, with the exception of 2021 when some COVID-19 restrictions were in place.

The Ottawa Redblacks (1-16) will visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5-12) at Hamilton Stadium on Saturday, October 24 with kickoff scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET. The Redblacks are coming off a dramatic win over the Toronto Argonauts that ended their 22-game losing skid, while the Tiger-Cats were on bye this past week.

The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on TSN 1200 in Ottawa and the Ticats Audio Network in Hamilton.