Glasgow Rocks rebrand to Caledonia Gladiators amidst lofty ambitions

After coming under new ownership last month, the Glasgow Rocks have announced their rebrand to the Caledonia Gladiators.

The new owners, Steve Timoney and wife Alison – who also own the Caledonia Gladiators WBBL franchise (formerly Caledonia Pride) – have a combined net worth estimated at anywhere between £60 million and £100 million and have lofty ambitions for the club including a 6,000 seat arena within the next two years.

In a long statement release by the club, Steve Timoney said:

“Following recent investments in the British Basketball League, there are clear signs that we are entering a new era of tremendous growth of the sport in the UK. Several projects are already underway including a new UK-wide marketing campaign and a Digital Transformation Project that will position British Basketball as the most technologically advanced sport in the world.

“Alison and I have been sponsors of Lady Rocks over the past 12 years and worked with the club, to build upon our lofty ambitions for women’s basketball. As a result, we recently acquired the professional WBBL franchise, Caledonia Pride and moved their professional outlet over to the Lady Rocks pathway. Since the move, we have completed a rebranding and renaming exercise and the club moves forward as Caledonia Gladiators.

“We are now in a position to draw on the extensive Rocks history and the exciting new brand to pool the resources of both clubs and create a structure that is dedicated to supporting what happens on the court. This platform together with the strong branding that not only reaches out to the whole Scottish community but instils in all of our opposition that men or women, we are elite warriors. We have no doubt that we will be able to compete for the best talent available and that success will follow.

“Our reason for acquiring both a men and women’s professional franchise is that we believe both should be viewed on an equal footing. We will invest in a culture that looks at our basketball players and does not see men and women but sees athletes. Indeed, that sees Gladiators. We will develop our club with equality of opportunity in our DNA; growing our club together where any individual and club successes will be inextricably bound to the success of our community.

“Using our three pillars of Community, Opportunity and High Performance we will continue to invest in a pathway that stretches not only in Glasgow but to every corner of Scotland. We look to identify young males and females and provide the facilities and expertise to develop them from the first bounce of a basketball to becoming elite athletes, potentially playing for club and country. This will provide a rich source of sustainable homegrown athletes for our club.

“Rocks have been working for a number of years to secure a permanent base to play games and develop the sport further. Historically, basketball in Scotland has struggled to find these facilities for practice and play and can often be displaced by other sports. In addition, from a professional sport perspective, it’s not possible to establish high levels of ticket and merchandise sales where fans have no certainty of dates or venues to support their club. We have no doubt that a pre-requisite to any degree of success in British basketball would centre on the club owning its own facility.

“We will not be left trailing in the wake, and we will lead from the front and at pace to develop a successful club in this new era.

“We will invest in a leading-edge, multi-use arena as the new home for our club. A home that our club will own; a home where the priority will always be club games before anything else and where we will build a game day that will thrill our fans and partners and aspire to rival any NBA experience. A home that will provide a pathway to success at the highest levels of basketball. That home is where you will see the greatest Gladiators perform.

“From today, Glasgow Rocks will be renamed Caledonia Gladiators and will join our WBBL elite athletes. We are keen that Glasgow Rocks’ rich history influences our future and Glasgow will remain a key centre for our pathway development and our partner and fan engagement, but we will now extend our reach out to all of Scotland to develop and support our pathway and our club.

“We believe our fans, our partners and all stakeholders in our club can look forward to a very bright future and we ask them to show their support by turning out in numbers, by seeking true mutual value and to join with us as we journey over the next two years to the launch of our new home.”

The Gladiators open up their BBL season on October 2nd against Surrey at the Emirates Arena.

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