B.Y. Group Ltd. is proud to have been a presenting sponsor of the 36th Annual Darcel Wright Memorial Classic broadcast. The Darcel Wright Memorial Classic is a women’s basketball tournament held annually in honour of the late Darcel Wright, one of the most prominent and accomplished athletes in the history of Canadian women’s basketball.

"We’re honoured to support the broadcast of this tournament, showcasing the hard-work of these outstanding athletes,"

Honouring the Legacy of Darcel Wright

Eight Canadian Universities are invited to participate in the tournament each year. This season’s entrants included:

• Western University
• Acadia University
• McMaster University
• University of Saskatchewan
• Toronto Metropolitan University
• Cape Breton University
• Wilfrid Laurier University
• Concordia University

Following Wright’s successful years as a student-athlete, she continued her contribution to the game of basketball by working with Basketball Ontario as well as a number of non-profit organizations dedicated to promoting girl’s basketball at the grassroots level.

In early 2008, she lost her fight to colon cancer and has been memorialized at Toronto Metropolitan University ever since, through this event. With the support of B.Y. Group Ltd., 2024 marks the first year in the history of the tournament that all twelve games were given a full-scale broadcast online.

"It is so meaningful to see such an amazing response to our efforts to provide coverage to women’s basketball in Canada,"

Supporting Women in Sports

The tournament was held at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, the former site of Maple Leaf Gardens, and was streamed online for an audience of over 10,000 viewers across three days of live coverage from October 18th to 20th.

The production was entirely student-led, including over 30 volunteer members from TMU’s RTA School of Media programs who worked tirelessly over two months to make this project a reality.

"It is so meaningful to see such an amazing response to our efforts to provide coverage to women’s basketball in Canada," said Broadcast Director, Matteo Ruiz, a 4th-year student at TMU who has been advocating for increased coverage of the event for several years. "Thanks to the support and generosity of B.Y. Group Ltd. we were able to provide a platform to share the incredible talent and skill of these gifted women with a greater audience than we could have ever imagined."

"We’re honoured to support the broadcast of this tournament, showcasing the hard-work of these outstanding athletes," said Jeff Masselis, General Manager at B.Y. Group Ltd. "Our goal is to amplify the achievements of women in sports and showcase what talented women athletes we have in Canada."