The Raptors and owner John Bitove, Jr. are featured in the
current BUSINESS WEEK under "Hoop Dreams in a Hockey Town. Why
success will be such a stretch for the Toronto Raptors." If
Bitove has "an ace in the hole, it's business," according to
Michael Goldstein. NBA Exec VP Rick Welts calls Toronto a "huge
corporate market." Many top U.S. companies have their Canadian
office in Toronto "with wholly separate ad budgets and profit-
and-loss statements," according to Bitove. Of the 104 luxury
boxes that rent for up to $130,000 per year, 74 have been leased
for up to 10-15 years. Also, Bitove's "do it yourself business
philosophy should help." Bitove: "To not take the team and
leverage it into so many more business opportunities is a
mistake." For their broadcasts, the team is leasing 135 hours of
air time, will bear the cost of production, sell ads and keep the
profit (BUSINESS WEEK, 11/6 issue). On those broadcasts, "don't
expect much in the way of biting commentary," writes Chris Young
of the TORONTO STAR. "Do expect a lot of merchandising, and a
lot of snippets explaining how this new game in town works."
Raptors Dir of Broadcasting Chris McCracken: "We're going to try
to put the basketball game in the context of hockey" (TORONTO
STAR, 10/28). Negotiations between the Raptors and CKVR, a small
local station, are chronicled in the GLOBE & MAIL. CKVR, aimed
at the "young and hip," beat out bigger names in becoming the
team's broadcast partner. CKVR's Mark Rubenstien, who handled
negotiations: "They came to see us and liked the personality of
the station. Basketball is a young, urban, downtown game" (John
Doyle, Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 10/28).
