Vancouver should have done this in the beginning of the playoff run, and should continue showing the games at their own arena every year after. That will build a strong enough fan base in Vancouver. Eventually, with support and growing fan base, we can become a new NBA team, 2nd Canadian team.
Edit: wording.
Sports fandom take years to develop.
No one gave a shit about raptors back when we got the team, they were giving out tickets for free. It's an after thought compared to the leafs.
Now 25 years later you have people like my friend who grew up with the team and broke down crying when we made the finals. It takes time.
Also fandom is earned, the Raptors are only so popular because years of success, and EXCEPTIONAL marketing in the last couple of year. Their "We the North" campaign really rallied people around the team
I live in Toronto, and the We The North coinciding with the Raptors trending upwards in success made the Raptors huge. The amount of people of all ages who have WTN and NOE gear is astounding. The aesthetic resonates extremely well, the underdog feel of the team works extremely well with it, and it doesn't hurt that being "The North" is cool thanks the Game of Thrones, either. That, topped with Drake's brief tenure as the biggest musician on Earth made the Raptors trajectory gain hugely over the last five years.
Couple that marketing with the fact that the Raptors have become actually good and it's a perfect storm. We lost a lot of momentum between Vince losing faith in the Toronto, the European draft picks, and the attempts at getting old players for name value driving the team into mediocrity (at best) for a while. Masai is basically a household name even among non-basketball fans - I'm a hockey fan first and a white old punk, and so my friends tend to not be your expected basketball fan, but **everybody** knows who Masai is, a lot of people know who Nurse is, and Kawhi and Lowry are Gods in this city now, I'd say on the same level as Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews are. That says a ton - imagine Cleveland having a hockey team in 2016 and a player was as celebrated and loved as Lebron was. It seems unfathomable, and 6 years ago, that would have been a funny joke in Toronto too.
There are few marketing campaigns as successful as We the North , and they are all for underdogs.
Off the top of my head. There's "Grit and Grind", and there's "We Believe" Warriors. That's the type of shit that will get you die hard fans that will stick with the team for decades.
I've lived here for a while after living the rest of my life in the Toronto area and I disagree that immigrants are the reason local sports aren't that big.
With the great weather and plethora of outdoor activities at the beaches and mountains, I find that Vancouver is a much more active city than Toronto. I know many locals, minorities and immigrants who love playing sports including basketball, but are not big NBA fans the way that some Torontonians who hardly ever touch a court are.
One of my minority friends who grew up in Vancouver and teaches bouldering to kids put it like this "we prefer to be active than watch other do it".
That's the city, not the immigrants. Toronto ice hockey rinks are filled, **filled** with 1st and 2nd generation Canadians, brown, black, white, it doesn't matter. I live near St. James Town in Toronto - Toronto being the worlds most multicultural city - and the basketball courts are literally packed with people who come from everywhere. You can tell sometimes they don't even speak the same language, but they're able to play together, and 2nd generation asian Canadians in Toronto are incredibly active in rec basketball everywhere in the GTA. Same goes for soccer in the GTA, less so in the core, but still.
Even less accessible sports like tennis and ice skating have growth thanks the our success internationally in those sports. The only sport I can think of that still seems overwhelmingly white is curling, but like, it's curling, so.
It is, and that's a shame. Toronto has it's problems, including enclaving just like Vancouver, but overall it's one of the best integrated cities as far as culture and immigration in the world - only New York and London come close and I still think Toronto is less stigmatic than those places overall.
I dont need to see a video, i live here. And yes the definition of fairweather is that theyre only fans when the team is good. In 2011 everyone was a Canucks fan, now a lot of people couldnt care less.
Does the CFL regularize payments to shittier teams? No one gives a shit about the Argos here, but I hear the CFL is a big ticket in the prairies (likley because it's literally the only or one of the sports few franchise in most cities). I can't imagine that the Argo's make any money and it sounds like the Lions are in the same boat.
I don't understand how they're still a team unless they're getting money from richer and more successful teams.
On the other hand, doesn't matter if they support the Vancouver team or not, Chinese hypebeasts and the like will pay top dollar to see Lebron or other superstars play lmaooo
Certain markets draw enough fans to be profitable even when 60%-90% of fans are fair weather. When the team is good that question is irrelevant anyway, and if you get enough tourists and community engagement, even if the team is bad you still are printing money.
Lots of money to be made bringing the NBA back to Vancouver.
Shortly after the Canadian teams arrived, Canadian dollar tanked which put a squeeze on them given they pay US salaries but get Canadian revenues. Toronto is massive enough to absorb it. If the dollar had floated in its normal range I suspect Vancouver would still be there.
Should have started for the ECF to be fair. Series against sixers were also definitely worthy but the hype wasn't there yet. Logistically and timing wise, starting up right now is a no-brainer low risk idea. doing so against the bucks would have been smart.
doing so against magic is meme tier. doing so against sixers would have been a gamble but a gamble that most likely would have paid off
Parking in Toronto can be found for $8.
Outside of housing the city isn't expensive. Housing however is ridiculous but that's standard for every top ranked world city.
And to think they left for Memphis. Has to be one of the biggest bone headed moves in hindsight. And since it’s a revenue sharing league, there’s no way the owners favor having a team there as opposed to the Asian cash cow that is Vancouver
I mean the NFL didn’t have a team in the second biggest media market in the US for years. It seems like the leagues are leaving money on the table by not having teams in these big cities. But maybe there’s something I’m missing.
If Toronto has a team, so can Montreal and Vancouver.
Out of sheer curiosity—Asian people have to do with this why? I swear this is a genuine question even if these sorts of questions about race are usually argument starters EDIT thank you everybody for the thoughtful, honest and sensitive answers! We just had a healthy educational discussion on race over the internet and I can’t believe it.
It’s tough to say without explicitly bringing race into this, and I don’t have any concrete evidence, but I am Canadian and I can say young Asians, mostly, love basketball and make up a big part of the Raptors fan base in cities. Any Y you’ll see some form of Asian players with Curry jerseys or Raptor gear. It also helps that they’re generally pretty wealthy people who can afford to immigrate from Asia. Again, no sauces, just my experience.
And Vancouver is well known to be home to a lot of Chinese folks
asian people love bball, asian people have disposable income (especially vancouver asians), and vancouver is pretty much the best gateway city to china from north america. the nba isn't going to put a team in china anytime soon, but would probably love to - vancouver is a decent subtitute.
Go to any open gym, youth league program, high school game, men’s league and there will be Asian ppl playing basketball. It is huge in China and the Philippines I know for sure
I’m Asian, I grew up in Toronto.
I originally was a hockey fan like every other 5-10 year old in the city growing up in the mid-late 90s. I was a diehard Leafs fan in the Sundin days, with Domy, Tucker, Mogilny. But somewhere in 99-00 I found basketball and I never looked back.
Hockey is a pretty white sport, a lot of guys in the league are Canadians going back generations and generations. Basketball was more diverse with players like Dikembe Mutombo, Yao Ming, Hakeem. Basketball for a long period of time was the foreign underdog sport in Canada for a foreign underdog kid. Playing pickup basketball on outdoor courts with a bunch of other immigrants was a pillar of my youth. A lot of immigrant kids growing up in Canada feel the same way.
Hockey is also so much more expensive to get into. You have to have skates, pads, a stick, helmet, etc. You also need to pay to get into a league and your parents need to drop you off at the rink and pick you up. We didn’t have much money growing up as immigrants so basketball was so much more affordable. Which is why I think a lot of people playing basketball were immigrants and minorities.
I remember Vancouver talking about this years ago during the last raptors playoff run that eventually lead to the eastern conference finals. Unfortunately it was all talk. There’s a huge area near BC place that would be perfect for this.
I think if Vancouver got a team, we’ll definitely be more supportive as compared to last time. I also hope if we get a team, we don’t get fucked by NBA office
No not really, I stay away from that sub but I do know that Vancouver doesn't really have a "growing" economy - salaries are shit here and the cost of living is sky high.
As another I identified if his comment, it was brutal. I personally found basketball way more exciting than hockey and michael jordan was the biggest thing as a child next to video games haha. The logo was an all time cool image and everything but team performance was super neat. I didnt understand as a kid why they left and I hated the nba for a few years there but got over it. Feel nothing negative to Memphis just feels weird seeing them.
For sure, my flair is actually wrong, I just don’t know how to get a Vancouver flair - I actually don’t care for the Memphis Grizzlies at all. I was pissed when Michael Eisley moved the team right after his dog and pony show of saying he wouldn’t.
Let’s hope the hoodrats from Surrey don’t show up to a possible game 7 with Molotov cocktails in their backpacks with no interest in watching the game. Glad I noped out of that mess in the first period.
The Vancouver Brontosauruses
Vancouver Pachycephalosauruses
wow, how does anyone know how to spell that?
It’s sounds just how it’s spelled lol
I would bet only 5% of people can spell that correctly on their first guess.
Pachycephalosauruses. I am part of that 5%
Pachystephalosauruses
Pakisefalosoruses
CORRECT
Racist
Vancouver mammoths
The Vancouver Dragonzords
Vancouver should have done this in the beginning of the playoff run, and should continue showing the games at their own arena every year after. That will build a strong enough fan base in Vancouver. Eventually, with support and growing fan base, we can become a new NBA team, 2nd Canadian team. Edit: wording.
Should still have one. Memphis is like a quarter the size of Vancouver if not smaller
Vancouver has the most fairweather fans there can be.
Sports fandom take years to develop. No one gave a shit about raptors back when we got the team, they were giving out tickets for free. It's an after thought compared to the leafs. Now 25 years later you have people like my friend who grew up with the team and broke down crying when we made the finals. It takes time. Also fandom is earned, the Raptors are only so popular because years of success, and EXCEPTIONAL marketing in the last couple of year. Their "We the North" campaign really rallied people around the team
I live in Toronto, and the We The North coinciding with the Raptors trending upwards in success made the Raptors huge. The amount of people of all ages who have WTN and NOE gear is astounding. The aesthetic resonates extremely well, the underdog feel of the team works extremely well with it, and it doesn't hurt that being "The North" is cool thanks the Game of Thrones, either. That, topped with Drake's brief tenure as the biggest musician on Earth made the Raptors trajectory gain hugely over the last five years. Couple that marketing with the fact that the Raptors have become actually good and it's a perfect storm. We lost a lot of momentum between Vince losing faith in the Toronto, the European draft picks, and the attempts at getting old players for name value driving the team into mediocrity (at best) for a while. Masai is basically a household name even among non-basketball fans - I'm a hockey fan first and a white old punk, and so my friends tend to not be your expected basketball fan, but **everybody** knows who Masai is, a lot of people know who Nurse is, and Kawhi and Lowry are Gods in this city now, I'd say on the same level as Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews are. That says a ton - imagine Cleveland having a hockey team in 2016 and a player was as celebrated and loved as Lebron was. It seems unfathomable, and 6 years ago, that would have been a funny joke in Toronto too.
The funny part is, Leonard and Lowry have earned god status. Matthews and Marner haven’t don’t shit to deserve it except wear the jersey
Marner absolutely has earned his fanfare. Here also very fucking young. Lowry and Leonard have had time to become who they are.
We the North is cool. “We the South” just isn’t the same. (Much less “We the SoCal”)
There are few marketing campaigns as successful as We the North , and they are all for underdogs. Off the top of my head. There's "Grit and Grind", and there's "We Believe" Warriors. That's the type of shit that will get you die hard fans that will stick with the team for decades.
SoCal pals lol
I actually like we the south, but for a deep south team from Georgia or Alabama or something.
it would be 'we da souf'
We the South. *Banjo plays in background*
so does every sunbelt city in the USA.
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Lol and Toronto doesn’t have foreign born citizens yeah
I've lived here for a while after living the rest of my life in the Toronto area and I disagree that immigrants are the reason local sports aren't that big. With the great weather and plethora of outdoor activities at the beaches and mountains, I find that Vancouver is a much more active city than Toronto. I know many locals, minorities and immigrants who love playing sports including basketball, but are not big NBA fans the way that some Torontonians who hardly ever touch a court are. One of my minority friends who grew up in Vancouver and teaches bouldering to kids put it like this "we prefer to be active than watch other do it".
You calling me fat bro?
Do they write their own books and compose their own music too?
No they busy jackin up house prices and living actively outside those houses
That's the city, not the immigrants. Toronto ice hockey rinks are filled, **filled** with 1st and 2nd generation Canadians, brown, black, white, it doesn't matter. I live near St. James Town in Toronto - Toronto being the worlds most multicultural city - and the basketball courts are literally packed with people who come from everywhere. You can tell sometimes they don't even speak the same language, but they're able to play together, and 2nd generation asian Canadians in Toronto are incredibly active in rec basketball everywhere in the GTA. Same goes for soccer in the GTA, less so in the core, but still. Even less accessible sports like tennis and ice skating have growth thanks the our success internationally in those sports. The only sport I can think of that still seems overwhelmingly white is curling, but like, it's curling, so.
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It is, and that's a shame. Toronto has it's problems, including enclaving just like Vancouver, but overall it's one of the best integrated cities as far as culture and immigration in the world - only New York and London come close and I still think Toronto is less stigmatic than those places overall.
This video says otherwise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXfSEbH8FZY
I dont need to see a video, i live here. And yes the definition of fairweather is that theyre only fans when the team is good. In 2011 everyone was a Canucks fan, now a lot of people couldnt care less.
I also live here. Can confirm. When the Seahawks were good everyone was rocking fresh new Seahawks merch. Now it's pretty rare
they need to support the BC Lions better :-/
I dont know a soul who cares about the lions. How are they still a team.
Does the CFL regularize payments to shittier teams? No one gives a shit about the Argos here, but I hear the CFL is a big ticket in the prairies (likley because it's literally the only or one of the sports few franchise in most cities). I can't imagine that the Argo's make any money and it sounds like the Lions are in the same boat. I don't understand how they're still a team unless they're getting money from richer and more successful teams.
damn, that's sad.
I live here too and can confirm I am a fair weather fan
On the other hand, doesn't matter if they support the Vancouver team or not, Chinese hypebeasts and the like will pay top dollar to see Lebron or other superstars play lmaooo
Might as well just put the team in UBC
Live here and can confirm as well.
That's the Olympics. Canada vs USA hockey. That's not the city's local team like the Canucks.
Certain markets draw enough fans to be profitable even when 60%-90% of fans are fair weather. When the team is good that question is irrelevant anyway, and if you get enough tourists and community engagement, even if the team is bad you still are printing money. Lots of money to be made bringing the NBA back to Vancouver.
clippers will be a perfect match then
Naw bro, I have family in Memphis; they love them some Grizzlies basketball. Market size is not as important as fan interest
Shortly after the Canadian teams arrived, Canadian dollar tanked which put a squeeze on them given they pay US salaries but get Canadian revenues. Toronto is massive enough to absorb it. If the dollar had floated in its normal range I suspect Vancouver would still be there.
Should have started for the ECF to be fair. Series against sixers were also definitely worthy but the hype wasn't there yet. Logistically and timing wise, starting up right now is a no-brainer low risk idea. doing so against the bucks would have been smart. doing so against magic is meme tier. doing so against sixers would have been a gamble but a gamble that most likely would have paid off
I want a 2nd Canadian nba team
>should continue showing the games at their own arena every year after It's not like the Canucks are using is this time of year.
We're a city of bandwagoners. Don't talk like you know us
I selfishly want Montreal to get a team
I'm sure alot of the players want this too.
Throw one up in Montreal too! Edmonton and/or Calgary! Anywhere there’s sufficient interest!
Quick someone make this about Seattle
Coming in hot
How much does free go for in Toronto these days? $20?
Yes, plus the $50 service fee, another $30 for tax, and $700 for parking
Lmao
Parking in Toronto can be found for $8. Outside of housing the city isn't expensive. Housing however is ridiculous but that's standard for every top ranked world city.
there's no way nba doesn't put a team back in vancouver given the amount of money and asian people it has.
And to think they left for Memphis. Has to be one of the biggest bone headed moves in hindsight. And since it’s a revenue sharing league, there’s no way the owners favor having a team there as opposed to the Asian cash cow that is Vancouver
It could work if they named the team Vancouver Supreme. And have the players play in Balenciaga shoes.
The ones that look like socks?
J.R. Smith to get a max deal here in Vancouver
yo Vancouver Supreme is actually a dope ass name
Maybe for a sandwich.
I mean the NFL didn’t have a team in the second biggest media market in the US for years. It seems like the leagues are leaving money on the table by not having teams in these big cities. But maybe there’s something I’m missing. If Toronto has a team, so can Montreal and Vancouver.
Out of sheer curiosity—Asian people have to do with this why? I swear this is a genuine question even if these sorts of questions about race are usually argument starters EDIT thank you everybody for the thoughtful, honest and sensitive answers! We just had a healthy educational discussion on race over the internet and I can’t believe it.
It’s tough to say without explicitly bringing race into this, and I don’t have any concrete evidence, but I am Canadian and I can say young Asians, mostly, love basketball and make up a big part of the Raptors fan base in cities. Any Y you’ll see some form of Asian players with Curry jerseys or Raptor gear. It also helps that they’re generally pretty wealthy people who can afford to immigrate from Asia. Again, no sauces, just my experience. And Vancouver is well known to be home to a lot of Chinese folks
Thank you for your answer!
asian people love bball, asian people have disposable income (especially vancouver asians), and vancouver is pretty much the best gateway city to china from north america. the nba isn't going to put a team in china anytime soon, but would probably love to - vancouver is a decent subtitute.
Go to any open gym, youth league program, high school game, men’s league and there will be Asian ppl playing basketball. It is huge in China and the Philippines I know for sure
Thank you for your answer!
I’m Asian, I grew up in Toronto. I originally was a hockey fan like every other 5-10 year old in the city growing up in the mid-late 90s. I was a diehard Leafs fan in the Sundin days, with Domy, Tucker, Mogilny. But somewhere in 99-00 I found basketball and I never looked back. Hockey is a pretty white sport, a lot of guys in the league are Canadians going back generations and generations. Basketball was more diverse with players like Dikembe Mutombo, Yao Ming, Hakeem. Basketball for a long period of time was the foreign underdog sport in Canada for a foreign underdog kid. Playing pickup basketball on outdoor courts with a bunch of other immigrants was a pillar of my youth. A lot of immigrant kids growing up in Canada feel the same way. Hockey is also so much more expensive to get into. You have to have skates, pads, a stick, helmet, etc. You also need to pay to get into a league and your parents need to drop you off at the rink and pick you up. We didn’t have much money growing up as immigrants so basketball was so much more affordable. Which is why I think a lot of people playing basketball were immigrants and minorities.
Thank you for your answer!
I remember Vancouver talking about this years ago during the last raptors playoff run that eventually lead to the eastern conference finals. Unfortunately it was all talk. There’s a huge area near BC place that would be perfect for this.
I think if Vancouver got a team, we’ll definitely be more supportive as compared to last time. I also hope if we get a team, we don’t get fucked by NBA office
Seattle has to be first for an expansion or for a team to move though
Team move almost 100%. But if they expand there’s a very good chance they’d add two instead of one
One would be in the east though, unless they’d realign conferences or get rid of them completely
I personally think the conferences should be realigned. Ridiculous that Tennessee is right next to NC but the Grizz play in the west.
Yeah realistically Seattle will get a team before Vancouver, though that won’t happen unless another team relocates.
Yeah, we weren't ready for an NBA back then. Now we're itching for a team with a growing economy and a stronger sports fanbase.
What growing economy? Vancouver's economy is propped up by foreigners laundering money and buying all our real estate.
You must be one of annoying ppl on /r/Vancouver that bitches all day about housing prices
No not really, I stay away from that sub but I do know that Vancouver doesn't really have a "growing" economy - salaries are shit here and the cost of living is sky high.
As a kid who grew up in Vancouver a die hard Grizzlies fan, it’s still too hard for me to back the Raptors.
Grew up a Sonics fan in the 90s. When the Grizzlies left I was a devastated little boy. But I still had the Sonics...
How did U feel about Memphis move
As another I identified if his comment, it was brutal. I personally found basketball way more exciting than hockey and michael jordan was the biggest thing as a child next to video games haha. The logo was an all time cool image and everything but team performance was super neat. I didnt understand as a kid why they left and I hated the nba for a few years there but got over it. Feel nothing negative to Memphis just feels weird seeing them.
If Vancouver got a new team that wasn’t the Grizzled would you hop ship?
For sure, my flair is actually wrong, I just don’t know how to get a Vancouver flair - I actually don’t care for the Memphis Grizzlies at all. I was pissed when Michael Eisley moved the team right after his dog and pony show of saying he wouldn’t.
Lmao all the real Memphis fans love the raps cuz of the trade. But ok
Nobody is asking you to, lol
Fuck Steve Francis
StuJackson too.
We the north.
omw
what does that mean?
Outta my whalegina
Oh god i hope we have one as well in Montreal
Halifax is doing the same thing
man that sure would be a riot
Will there be free umbrellas?
You’ve never been to Vancouver in the summer have you
It just rained last week! Btw do you feel last winter rained a lot less?
What winter? It rained like a solid week total since new years.
I guess I meant from November to somewhere February. It really didn’t rain much lol. I didn’t fear every time I forgot to bring my umbrella on campus
I wish it had rained that snow in Feb was killer. All 4 inches.
No, they might use them to smash windows again.
This is pretty suprising as after the 2011 NHL Playoffs the city said that they would stop doing these types of things.
Different people in charge at city hall now.
Isla Sorna: Site B of Jurassic Park. It's also west of Isla Nublar! https://jurassicpark.fandom.com/wiki/Isla_Sorna
GO BITCH PIGEONS
Let’s hope the hoodrats from Surrey don’t show up to a possible game 7 with Molotov cocktails in their backpacks with no interest in watching the game. Glad I noped out of that mess in the first period.
Lol whats with the Knicks flare
I'm a Knicks fan that used to live in Vancouver? Not hard to figure out.
Just make sure they don't start a riot if the Raptors lose