The AP's Jon Krawczynski noted the NBA has "scheduled four preseason games in Canada this year, the largest slate of games in the short four-year history" of the league's Canada Series, which is "aimed at growing the game in a hockey-mad country." T'Wolves F Andrew Wiggins, a Toronto native, is "playing a headlining role in the festivities." NBA Canada VP & Managing Dir Dan MacKenzie said, "This is just a big year for the NBA in Canada." TV viewership of NBA games in Canada is up 54% since the '12-13 season, including 76% on TSN. The league has "seen its sponsorship agreements with Canadian businesses expand robustly with six new marketing partnerships over the last year and a half." MacKenzie attributed the growth of the game’s popularity "in part to Wiggins, but also to the influx of immigrants from China, the Philippines and India, where basketball is very popular" (AP, 10/2).
BORDER CROSSING: In Boston, Fluto Shinzawa reported one of the featured speakers when the NHL BOG convened in N.Y. last Tuesday, CIBC World Markets Managing Dir & Chief Economist Avery Shenfeld, "showed the level of concern the game’s bosses have regarding the league’s financial future." Shenfeld in his presentation "addressed the board’s skepticism regarding the Canadian exchange rate," but "even he could not provide a dependable forecast on how the rate will track." The Canadian dollar is currently worth 76 cents (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/4).
THE WRIGHT STUFF: Former NFLer Steve Wright, a 56-year-old who played 13 years of pro football, said of player safety, "I love the game. I'm also concerned. ... They say all this stuff -- concussions, knee injuries -- are just part of the game. They don't have to be." He added, "Look at the [Steelers QB] Ben Roethlisberger injury the other day. Here is an $8-million quarterback who gets taken down on a fairly routine play and, because he isn't wearing a proper knee brace, gets hurt. Wouldn't you think these owners, with all they have invested, would demand changes to protect their investments? But they don't. They say it is part of the game" (L.A. TIMES, 10/3).
