Menu
Franchises

Raptors’ Success A Windfall For MLSE; Team Execs Learn From N.Y. All-Star Game

The Raptors hold the second best record in the Eastern Conference at the mid-point of the NBA season, and are "proving to be a surprise windfall" for MLSE co-owners Rogers and BCE, according to Gerrit De Vynck of BLOOMBERG NEWS. MLSE Chief Communications Officer Dave Hopkinson said, “The feeling right now is that the Raptors have arrived. ... It took us a little longer than we might have liked but it’s undeniable that it’s here now.” He added that the team has the fifth-best attendance in the NBA and is “selling more season tickets than any club" except the Cavaliers. Hopkinson said that the Raptors’ share of revenue within MLSE “is growing in proportion" to the Maple Leafs. BCE President of Sports & Entertainment Programming Phil King said that Raptors games average 320,000 viewers, up 60% from the same time last year and “on track for a record.” NBA Canada VP & Managing Dir Dan MacKenzie indicated that the Raptors’ success “has helped fuel a basketball culture that’s likely to keep growing, even if the team runs out of luck on the court.” MacKenzie: “It’s almost like a snowball rolling down the hill” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 2/17).

YOU'RE AN ALL-STAR: In Toronto, Ryan Wolstat noted as the city prepares to host the '16 All-Star Game, dozens of MLSE employees "soaked up the atmosphere" last weekend in N.Y. and "gathered intel ... in order to figure out how to pull off the complicated and enormous event as efficiently and spectacularly as possible." Hopkinson said, “Having key MLSE staff in New Orleans last year for the NBA all-star weekend, and New York City this year, has helped us with the many logistical considerations you face when bringing one of the biggest events in sports to a new venue, and in this case, to a different country for the first time." Wolstat noted MLSE also "threw a rollicking party at a Park Avenue spot, complete with Bruno Mars collaborator Mark Ronson acting as DJ" and Raptors President of Basketball Operations & GM Masai Ujiri "sharing a toast" with MLSE Chair Larry Tanenbaum. There also were "Drake-themed giveaways -- a machine was on site dispensing shirts embroidered with the global ambassador’s OVO logo and Toronto 2016 decals" (TORONTO SUN, 2/17).

ICY RELATIONS: In Toronto, Damien Cox wrote MLSE's "ambitious hockey rebuild" of the Maple Leafs "may or may not work." But it "definitely will crash and burn if it lacks the total support and commitment of ownership to the final objective." Cox: "Nothing is guaranteed here, folks, neither the final results of the rebuild, nor the patience of Bell/Rogers to see this difficult project through to its conclusion." Most "viewed the acquisition of the hockey club by the two communication giants as largely a content play, and one can only wonder how patient they will choose to be if the content loses popularity." It is the Leafs who will "define their competitive legacy, and right now it appears at least two years of solid losing lie ahead on top of this dispiriting campaign." Cox: "Do they have the stomach for it? Nobody really knows." For now, Leafs President Brendan Shanahan "at least gets to start the process" (TORONTO STAR, 2/14).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2015/02/18/Franchises/Raptors.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2015/02/18/Franchises/Raptors.aspx

CLOSE