Sky Chiefs Bring Basketball to Providence

Updates about Providence’s new, semi-pro basketball team have been squeaking out sporadically since last summer, when the news first broke of a minor league franchise setting up shop here. They were the Providence Anchors then, a mysterious new entity primed to fill the basketball void in Rhode Island’s minor league landscape.

Now that squeaking is the sound of actual sneakers on hardwood. The team is now the Sky Chiefs, a tactical cross-branding move in the wake of CEO Giovanni Feroce’s acquisition of both the team and Benrus – that company made a famous watch of the same name – and they’re finally set to hit the court.

Led by head coach and former URI standout Kyle Ivey-Jones, the Sky Chiefs tip off against the Syracuse Shockwave in their season opener at RIC on November 2. The season, which started on Halloween away at Baltimore, will run through March and consist of 15 home games.

The convenience and low ticket price should make the Sky Chiefs an appealing alternative to schlepping up to Boston just to be disappointed by your crummy, expensive seats and another lackluster season. Plus the wealth of promising local talent gives Rhodies incentive to adopt the Sky Chiefs as their default home team.