As the Raptors have seen an attendance decrease from an
average of 17,568 per game last season to 16,343 this year,
the team "is launching a six-figure marketing campaign aimed
at raising consumer awareness and increasing single-game
ticket sales," according to Marty York of the Toronto GLOBE
& MAIL. The campaign, which is being called "Believe The
Hype," will consist of print and electronic media ads.
Raptors President Richard Peddie: "We feel the time has come
to do something significant like this. We have what I like
to call a healthy concern about our attendance." Peddie
said that with a 9-5 record, the Raptors are
"overdelivering" on the court, and he wants fans to know
that the team "is as good as we know it is." But Peddie
added that he does not want his concerns about attendance to
be "misconstrued as panic." Peddie: "We're still new. It
took the Blue Jays 10 years before they started selling out
at the SkyDome" (GLOBE & MAIL, 11/30). The Raptors have yet
to sell out a game this season at the Air Canada Centre and
the marketing effort comes at a time when the team plays its
next seven games at home. Peddie: "Until we sell out, our
job is incomplete. We've focused a lot of our attention on
season tickets and mini-packs, but we now want to focus on
each game and the entire team" (TORONTO SUN, 11/30). In
Toronto, Steve Simmons notes that both the Raptors and Maple
Leafs are in first place in their divisions and writes that
the teams' Owner Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment "is
barely two years old. The Air Canada Centre is not even a
year old. And here in Toronto, the sporting air has never
felt quite so crisp" (TORONTO SUN, 11/30).
