The Jamestown Jackals are heading to Erie.

Kayla Crosby, founder of IntegrityFirst Inc. and owner of the Jackals, announced Monday that the Jackals would be moving to northwest Pennsylvania and playing their home games at Cathedral Prep’s Hagerty Family Events Center.

“The league had really grandfathered us into one year at JCC, but all the Canadian teams play in larger venues. I started a proposal with Northwest Arena and we had really hoped to play there this winter, but they didn’t feel like that was feasible,” Crosby said Monday evening. “I was able to meet with JCC three weeks ago, but honestly we’ve just outgrown it for what we’re doing. They wanted to increase the cost. It’s way more affordable in Erie … I met with the Hagerty Center last Thursday.

“The league wanted at least a 1,600-seat capacity,” Crosby added, “which is what the Hagerty Center is.”

The franchise, which will undergo a name change in the coming days, will remain in the eight-team Basketball Super League, which begins its season in late November and runs through April. The league’s schedule for the upcoming season will be announced in the coming weeks.

Jamestown finished 13-10 in the Basketball Super League last season before losing to top-seed Sudbury 103-100 in Game 5 of a best-of-five semifinal series. Sudbury went on to win the league title 3-2 over Windsor in the best-of-five championship series.

The Jackals called Jamestown Community College home for their first five seasons before being forced to Pennsylvania for the 2021 season due to COVID-19 restrictions in New York state. During that year, they played games at Warren Area High School, the Warren YMCA, the Erie Boys & Girls Club and the Hagerty Events Center.

The Jackals then returned to Jamestown Community College for their seventh season in 2022 and remained at the 1,400-seat Physical Education Complex through last season.

“It’s been extremely challenging, that’s why it’s taken so long to pull the trigger and decide to go out there,” Crosby said of the decision to leave Jamestown. “I love our community. Our mentoring program has been awesome over the years. I’m hoping we still have funding and support to do mentoring locally as well as free youth clinics. I really still want to be in the community with school-day visits and stuff locally.”

Erie’s last experience with professional basketball came in 2021 when the Erie Bayhawks of the NBA’s G League left for Birmingham, Alabama. The Bayhawks played their home games at Erie Insurance Arena.

“There is such a bigger population in Erie. I’m excited for the growth,” Crosby said.”I continue to promote the guys stepping out of their comfort zones and growing. When doors opened in Erie, although it’s out of my comfort zone that we’ve built in Chautauqua County, I’m excited for the opportunity to see what we can do in Erie as well.”