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Old Posted Nov 6, 2013, 7:52 PM
craneSpotter's Avatar
craneSpotter craneSpotter is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Greater Victoria
Posts: 3,083
Quote:
Originally Posted by Migs View Post
One can also argue that the NBA in Toronto is a collosal failure with their miniscule tv ratings.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nathan View Post
In which case, it's tough to really know how well the Raptors are doing since there is always an artificial floor of support underneath.
Boys, take the blinders off THE point of a professional sports franchise is to generate revenue and make the owners money, right? They aren't for fun or charity So to put success in that context, I'll compare the Raptors to the CFL because you are from Sask an that is the 'pro' league represented there

The CFL, as a league, generates 120-150 million a year in revenues. Profits for the teams vary greatly, but according to TSN in 2012 75% of the teams were in the 'black'. The Riders, one of the more 'successful' CFL teams, made a $1.1 million profit on revenues of $34.4 million for the 2012 season. That would put them in about 72nd place in the NCAA, with similar financials to the Southern Methodist Mustangs

The Raptors on the other hand made a profit of $18.8 million on revenues of $121 million for their last season. In 2011 they had a $25.3 million profit on revenues of $138 million. In fact the Raptors have been very profitable in all but the 2006 season!

So little support? The Raptors, it could be argued, generate as much revenue and are more profitable than the entire CFL. It doesn't matter if 757k people watch the Riders play the Bombers on CBC and only 300k (in Canada) watch the Raptors play the Bobcats Each NBA viewer is much more 'valuable' to advertisers. For the record, the Raptors are currently ranked #7 in the NBA for attendance...

In fact it could also be argued that the Raptors are more 'successful', at least some years, than Canada's small market NHL teams (Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa & Winnipeg). Toronto is THE Canadian pro sports powerhouse - just look at the numbers for the Leafs & Jays as well - no CFL team could ever dream of making this list - but a Toronto NFL one probably would



Click the link for a report by the Conference Board of Canada - on big league sports in Canada.

http://www.conferenceboard.ca/report...riefing-1.aspx

Last edited by craneSpotter; Nov 6, 2013 at 8:18 PM.
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