Raptors coach Butch Carter is "scared to death" that
NBA marketers and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE)
execs "will combine to break up his team," after a N.Y.
Times report this week quoted an ad exec stating that
Raptors G Vince Carter's talent "is being wasted in Canada,"
according to Mike Ulmer of the TORONTO SUN. Butch Carter,
on MLSE: "They have to understand that there are 28 other
entities trying to tear this team up." Carter feels that
there will be "pressure to sell the Raptors" from the hockey
side of MLSE, and that MLSE "always has viewed the Raptors
as a drain on what is a fabulously profitable and
prestigious entity" in the Leafs (TORONTO SUN, 3/22). Also
in Toronto, Craig Daniels cites a "highly placed" NBA exec
as saying that the league would like for Carter to play in
the U.S. The source: "We won't push him out, but we would
like to see him with a U.S.-based team." Daniels notes that
the league's marketing and TV numbers "would get a boost if
Carter played in a city south of the border." Butch Carter:
"We don't fit (the NBA's U.S.-based establishment's)
lifestyle. It's in the best interests of the NBA to break
us up" (TORONTO SUN, 3/22). But Sportscorp President Marc
Ganis disagrees that Vince Carter has to be in the U.S. to
maximize his exposure: "It doesn't matter where Vince Carter
plays. The NBA and NBC can still put them on television as
many times as they want to." MLSE Senior VP/Business Tom
Anselmi: "These days it doesn't matter where you are. How
much more exposure does this guy need down there [in the
U.S.]? He's on CNN every night. He's on the cover of four
major magazines this month" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 3/22).
