What if the Raptors launched a “Canada Series” for the regular season

[anf30000]

The time do it might be now to take advantage of high canadian patriotism. The games could be early or late season so it's not too cold. Yea or nea?

[Kingsway_fan]

No.

[Indeed]

I guess for a single game in different location, but the city needs to have enough people to buy the ticket.
On the expense side, are you also bringing your dancer, floor (Raptors logo), etc. around? That is also a bunch of expense there if they don't have the infrastructure.

[anf30000]

I guess for a single game in different location, but the city needs to have enough people to buy the ticket.
On the expense side, are you also bringing your dancer, floor (Raptors logo), etc. around? That is also a bunch of expense there if they don't have the infrastructure.

Yea transitioning the Canada Series from preseason to regular-season games would require a significant financial commitment, the potential returns in fan engagement and revenue could justify the investment.

[WaltFrazier]

It would certainly make Trump sit up and take notice

[anf30000]

It would certainly make Trump sit up and take notice

Hey maybe Masai runs for PM one day and says: “Canada’s Team. Coast to Coast. While certain people were building walls… we built bridges.” lol Seriously though it would be a good opportunity to continue to weave the raptors into the Canadian ethos and build off of what hockey did this year with the 4 nations faceoff.

[YogurtProducer]

Toronto fans would lose their mind, rest of the country would support it. They already kind of do this in pre-season, but would be interesting for the regular season.

Would be more interesting if all NBA teams played 1 or 2 neutral site games each year. I am sure there are a # of cities that would sell our 1 or 2 games in their city each year.

[Zeno]

I think it could be a pretty good idea if it was coordinated with the road schedule to reduce travel. But I do n’t know how much Toronto fans want to give up home dates when they are good which is hopefully soon.

[WaltFrazier]

I think it could be a pretty good idea if it was coordinated with the road schedule to reduce travel. But I do n’t know how much Toronto fans want to give up home dates when they are good which is hopefully soon.

That's the question, would a regular season game in Vancouver say, make money compared to the lost home game. When you factor in the floor, travel costs for the table crew and other support staff who do home games, etc.

[Zeno]

I think it could be a pretty good idea if it was coordinated with the road schedule to reduce travel. But I do n’t know how much Toronto fans want to give up home dates when they are good which is hopefully soon.

That's the question, would a regular season game in Vancouver say, make money compared to the lost home game. When you factor in the floor, travel costs for the table crew and other support staff who do home games, etc.

I think it would only be done as an investment in further building the fanbase nationally. It is not like we’re struggling to sell tickets. In the end it would probably suck for the players because they’d basically be away from home longer and the local fans because we’d need to stay up until 10:30 for some home games to start.

[anf30000]

I think it could be a pretty good idea if it was coordinated with the road schedule to reduce travel. But I do n’t know how much Toronto fans want to give up home dates when they are good which is hopefully soon.

That's the question, would a regular season game in Vancouver say, make money compared to the lost home game. When you factor in the floor, travel costs for the table crew and other support staff who do home games, etc.

I think it would only be done as an investment in further building the fanbase nationally. It is not like we’re struggling to sell tickets. In the end it would probably suck for the players because they’d basically be away from home longer and the local fans because we’d need to stay up until 10:30 for some home games to start.

I think we'd be really just taking advantage of the Raptors’ biggest competitive advantage — they’re the only NBA team with an entire country to market to.

Most teams fight over their metro area. We’ve got coast to coast — millions of potential lifelong fans in cities that don’t even get a taste of regular season action.

The Canada Series wouldn’t just be about ticket sales. It’s about activating the Raptors' full national reach — something no other franchise in the NBA even can do.

[wegotthabeet]

Always pushed this idea. 2-4 games in different Canadian cities would be great for fans outside GTA/province.

[ahollz]

Americans would hate playing for the Raptors even more. Longer roadtrips for no reason.

[DreamTeam09]

What extra cost would occur outside of a regular away game? I'm sure you can find a cheerleading squad in Vancouver n MTL n wherever you wanna go.
I understand the flooring, but that's not some big logistical/money hurdle

[ontnut]

What extra cost would occur outside of a regular away game? I'm sure you can find a cheerleading squad in Vancouver n MTL n wherever you wanna go.
I understand the flooring, but that's not some big logistical/money hurdle

Lawyers. Always the lawyers.

You'd have to negotiate and draw up all sorts of agreements and contracts for TV, revenue, radio, merchandise, what the city is responsible for, what the team is responsible for, insurance etc. Given the revenue for a game is maybe around $2mil, and the profit much smaller, would that be enough to justify even the lawyer costs alone? I guess some of the stuff can be templated/standardized for each subsequent city, but it's no small amount just for a few games.

Who's responsible for hiring/transporting all the support staff for the arena? Security, cleaners, concessions, ushers etc.

Advertisers are a question mark, maybe theyd jump at the opportunity to market to a new city, or maybe they disappear because Winnipeg doesn't have a quarter of the Toronto market.

There's a lot of things to consider, nevermind actually paying to have all this get CBA'd.

It could be a smart long term play to develop Canada basketball, but short term I don't see how it isn't an immediate financial loss.

[Boardbreaker]

Take away the road game in Memphis and play it in Vancouver