Raptors increased valuation should lead to new facility

The Raptors are worth more than they ever have, according to Forbes, a respected business magazine. It’s time for the team’s owners to give serious thought to a new building.

Forbes magazine has released their 2018 version of NBA franchise valuations. The most valuable team, assessed at $3.4 billion, is the New York Knicks. Their owner, James Dolan, should write a book, and I’ll offer him a title at no charge: “Failing Upwards – how every bad move I’ve made increased my net worth”. The Toronto Raptors check in at a valuation of $ 1.4 billion, which ranks them twelfth, just behind the San Antonio Spurs and ahead of the Sacramento Kings.

What’s particularly interesting is the fact each team’s revenue numbers are included. The Raptors’ revenue was $ 250 million, which is a middle-of-the-pack number. [N.B.: All of these figures, both value and revenue, are notoriously difficult to verify. I’m assuming Forbes has done the best it could, and better than most.]

For fans of the Raptors, the financial health of the entity and its parent, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment [MLSE], is important. The last teams to relocate in the NBA were the Oklahoma City Thunder (from Seattle) and the Memphis Grizzlies (from Vancouver). The Sonics left Seattle because of a dispute over a new building to house the team, while the Grizzlies weren’t drawing sufficient fans on our Left Coast.

An NBA owner can bail on a city if he’s not satisfied with his return on investment. I don’t think there’s even a remote chance of the Raptors pulling up stakes. I’m more interested in seeing the team further embedded, and the best way to bring that about is a new building.

How does a new building help the Raptors?

Yours Truly has seen more than enough variants of the lazy trope “…the Raptors are not a free-agent destination of choice…”. Despite the fact Toronto has signed plenty of free agents, from Hakeem Olajuwon to DeMarre Carroll, the nonsense persists and has become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What are players looking for in free agency? There’s no absolute answer for that question, as the 21-year-old Kyle Lowry’s response would likely be quite different than today’s KLow. He’s 31, married and has two small children – priorities change. But let’s assume a lot of boxes have to be checked, once the money is settled:

• a team on the rise
• a GM who knows his stuff
• a respected coach
• no dysfunction in the dressing room (players know, or can find out)
• a desirable city (check out LeBron James on Los Angeles hosting the All-Star game)
• great fans
• a rocking building

We’re good for all of that, save one.

Toronto’s Air Canada Centre [ACC] has been the home of the Raptors (and Maple Leafs, and other sports teams and concerts) since February 1999. During this period the building has proven to be a drawing card, with the result that the immediate neighbourhood is now awash with condominiums, restaurants, offices – and Maple Leaf Square, a.k.a. Jurassic Park. Without doubt, the placement of a giant screen to offer a free view of the game inside was a brilliant stroke, and has had a huge impact on the growth of the Raptors’ profile worldwide.

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With the success of the Raptors at the box office, the ACC is strained to the limit. The NBA has mandated security protocols, which makes entering the building a tiresome hassle. Since metal-detecting booths were retrofitted into the entrances, lineups have grown slow and lengthy outside the building. If the weather isn’t favourable (winter in Toronto, folks – it can get nasty), there’s no relief. People pile out onto the skinny sidewalks which once were adequate but aren’t anymore.

The sand in the hourglass is running out

That the net of it, Rapture Nation – the Raptors’ home was constructed under duress, in order to beat a hasty exit from playing in the Rogers Centre (formerly Skydome), an impossible venue for basketball. MLSE added a big screen outside, created a meeting place, and now must reconsider how best to get fans into a facility demanding pre-game routines similar to boarding an international flight. You can’t backfill forever.

MLSE has to consider the creation of a new building to house its glittering sports teams. I can’t speak for the Maple Leafs, but I will for our beloved hoopsters. The Raptors won’t become a free-agent destination of choice playing in the ACC.

The next big step

OK, there’s only one Madison Square Garden. But MLSE, which is hip-deep in equity, could borrow the funds needed for a new Leafs-Raptors home in about five minutes. What wouldn’t take a few minutes would be finding an appropriate location in Toronto’s ever-more-crowded downtown core, buying it, getting the needed approvals from the city, designing and building MLSE Centre (not very catchy I know). They need to start tomorrow, because this mega-project would take seven years.

P.S.  Despite the location being perfect, the ACC can’t simply be knocked down and replaced with a shiny new edition. It incorporates elements of a heritage building, the old Canada Post facility.