Atlantic Division Owners: Toronto Raptors

Toronto Raptors

Who owns them?
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Limited owns the Raptors. It is a partnership between three entities. The majority owner is the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan which owns 66%. For those of you who aren't familiar with Canada, Toronto is in the province (their version of a state) of Ontario and is the largest city in Canada. 20.5% is owned by Kilmer Sports, Inc. which is part of Kilmer Capital Partners, a Canadian investment fund. The remaining 13.5% is owned by TD Bank, which is a headquartered in Toronto.

Does Ownership own other teams and facilities?
Yes. In addition to the Raptors, Maple Leaf owns three other teams. The NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs; the AHL's Toronto Marlies, the affiliate for the Maple Leafs; and the MLS' Toronto FC.

Maple Leaf does own the Air Canada Centre, home of the Raps and the Leafs. It also hosts the National Lacrosse League's Toronto Rock. They also own several Canadian sports channels such as Raptors NBA TV, Leafs TV, and GolTV Canada.

Do I think that Ownership is doing a good job?
As Canada's only NBA team and also the only non-American NBA team, the Raptors get to have a whole country rooting for them since the Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Tennessee. They averaged around 85% to 90% capacity over the last few seasons after Vince Carter was shipped out of town, but then Chris Bosh began to flourish. Even this year, they're doing alright at the box office with Bosh moving back to the motherland. Tickets are also reasonable (considering that they're in a large city) with upper level full season tickets starting at about $21/seat when converted to US bucks.

The problem with the Raptors however is their lack of a monster season, since the Raps only made the 2nd round of the playoffs once. Also, you have to consider that Canada has some cultural/sports issues that make Toronto a less than ideal NBA city. Most NBA players are Americans, and would not consider Toronto to be a city they'd want to play in, even though Toronto is a nice city that offers almost anything Chicago or New York can.

Now, let's look at Canada. This is not a basketball country. It's a hockey country. This is another issue that can make premier NBA players not want to play in Toronto. Though most NHL teams are in the US, out of 30 teams, you have six in Canada including the Leafs. You also have to note that many NHL teams are made of rosters that are mostly Canadian and Russian, NOT AMERICAN!!! The Maple Leafs' roster is mostly Canadian. The Washington Capitals, the team in the most patriotic and All American city in the US, has a roster with 15 Canadians vs. 6 Americans. Canadians are patriotic for their land too. They want to see their homegrown stars play and you're gonna see that on the ice, not on the court. Then again, why would Americans want to see a team made of mostly foreigners? The NHL has been in the US since 1924 (the league was founded in Canada), which will explain that to a good degree.

Just imagine that if Canadian hockey star Sidney Crosby signs a free agent deal with the Maple Leafs, the Senators or the Habs, he'd be the second coming of Jesus. However if Chris Bosh re-signed with the Raptors last summer, he would only get a fraction of the publicity and love Crosby would for signing with a Canadian NHL team.

I'll say that the ownership is doing a good job, considering all these issues regarding a foreign NBA team.

Fire Colangelo, he has failed!

find a young canadian franchise player, that will most probably be loyal to the raps such as Joel Anthony or Andy Rautins... McGrady, Carter and now Bosh left the raps...

DeMar DeRozan could possibly be the main man we are looking for. I just hope he doesn't get too star strucked and leave Toronto. As I said before, I believe he can lead Toronto back, and maybe bring this so called monster season to Toronto. With Andrea, (whom still needs more improvement especially as a 1st round pick) they need him to focus on his rebounding game as well, he's good but not as incredible as they need a center to be. We need a man with physical toughness to make sure our team isn't the one to bully. Still remember the Bosh incident with Pierce. DeRozan can possibly bring us back to the playoffs, maybe not this season, but he's only going to get better unless a tragic injury.

Ownership does not seem to care about creating a winning team (for the Leafs, Raptors, etc.); rather, they seem more fixated on selling merchandise and tickets for every Canadian franchise they own which is unfortunate. Toronto fans are a dedicated group (maybe a little too dedicated) to their francise and can deal with the mediocrity of their team. I think it's about time someone else takes over ownership cause as long as MLSE remains owners, Raptors and Leafs will suck for a long, long time....

Ginobili! wrote:

I think it's about time someone else takes over ownership cause as long as MLSE remains owners, Raptors and Leafs will suck for a long, long time....

The ownership may exploit the fact that Toronto is the NBA's only non American team as a way to keep getting in money. As with hockey, it's not as easy to exploit because there are a larger number of Canadian teams in the NHL, but one problem I'm seeing with Canadian teams is that no team has seriously been a Stanley Cup contender in recent memory (I know Montreal had a Cinderella run last year to the Conference Finals), and that's their #1 sport.

thewiz06 wrote:

Ginobili! wrote:

I think it's about time someone else takes over ownership cause as long as MLSE remains owners, Raptors and Leafs will suck for a long, long time....

The ownership may exploit the fact that Toronto is the NBA's only non American team as a way to keep getting in money.

That is exactly what they are doing.
Plus, the whole organization appears to have no clue as to how to create a winning franchise in the first staff. I say, fire the whole organization and start from scratch if the Raptors ever wanna bring a championship to Toronto.

I guess what we are doing right now is sord of making a new team... But I want to see a winning team... The last thrill was The VC days. I'm HUNGRY for a breakout season.