‘We’re in Canada, we need to fill the stadium,’ GM Rowan Barrett says of Hamilton hoops games

Too many tickets still available to see Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, other Canadian stars play in Hamilton Friday and Monday.

Published Jul 01, 2026  •  2 minute read

Team Canada's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander takes a shot during practice. Ryan Wolstat/Toronto Sun

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Rowan Barrett is challenging Canadian hoops fans to pull out their wallets.

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Canada Basketball’s general manager relayed that message earlier this week ahead of a pair of FIBA World Cup qualifying games that will be played in Hamilton at TD Coliseum (formerly Copps Coliseum).

“I don’t know why I have to put out a reminder, we need people to get out to Ticketmaster and get these tickets,” Barrett said Monday when Team Canada assembled for training camp in Toronto.

“We got to fill this stadium. Our players are here. We very rarely get opportunities to play in our country, and this is a call to our whole country here,” Barrett said before mentioning a common criticism over the years of Canada’s top players.

Canada hosts Puerto Rico in Hamilton on Friday and Jamaica on Monday. Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is from Hamilton, is the headliner, but there’s plenty of star power on the Canadian roster for the games.

“I don’t want to hear people sharing ‘I want our players to play. They need to show up and play, they got to be wanting to play for their country,’ and then, when they do (play), and they come here, we don’t fill the stadium, right?

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“We’re in Canada, we need to fill the stadium. There’s players here that want something for their country, and their country has to want it for them too.”

Plenty of tickets are still available for the games even though, as Barrett said, Team Canada rarely competes at home for financial reasons.

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Canada is 4-0 in qualifying and will advance to the final round of qualifying, which will be in August and next March. The World Cup is next year in Qatar.

Canada finished third in the 2024 edition, upsetting the United States, earning an Olympic berth for the first time since Barrett teamed with Steve Nash in Sydney in 2000.

These will be the first games helmed by new head coach Gordie Herbert.

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