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).
