A new ownership and a new home venue have also warranted a new identity for the Canadian Elite Basketball League franchise in Saskatoon.
After playing their first seven seasons — and winning the league’s inaugural championship in 2019 — as the Saskatchewan Rattlers, the team announced on Wednesday, February 4, that they’ve rebranded as the Saskatoon Mamba. Their old green-and-wheat colour palette and logo are out the window, replaced by black and bright purple.
Along with the identity change, Jason Ribeiro and Usman Tahir Jutt were introduced as the team’s new owners; they also own the Calgary Surge, a fellow CEBL team. The Mamba also announced they’d split home games between their old home, the SaskTel Centre, and Merlis Belsher Place on the University of Saskatchewan campus.
The Mamba’s new primary logo is a purple snake coiled into a diagonal M shape. The font of the wordmark underneath mirrors the shape of the snake.
Mamba maintains the franchise’s identity as a venomous snake with a modern look, feel, and sound, and is a deliberate acknowledgement of the franchise’s origins as the “Rattlers.” The icon and typeface reflect the same curvature and bend present in the City of Saskatoon’s logo, a nod to the city’s place along the South Saskatchewan River. The team’s primary colour is a bold and vibrant purple, with more colourways to be revealed soon.
— Saskatoon Mamba press release
The new identity was designed by REAL Studios, a creative agency founded by Ribeiro
Jerseys weren’t part of Wednesday’s announcement. But the Mamba are taking pre-orders for merchandise with their new logo through their online shop.
The Mamba’s 2026 CEBL regular season gets underway when they host the Vancouver Bandits at the SaskTel Centre on Thursday, May 14.
