Fan Base...Do We Even Have One?
1.The fans at the raptor games are basically people who buy leaf tickets.
2.Low tv ratings so the games are relegated to tsn2 and sportsnet one.
3.Fans get more hyped for a stupid slice of pizza
4.Ratings drop whenever basketball is being discussed on the radio.
discuss
"the raptors were my fav team growing up"-kevin durant
Vancouver fan base is huge. Don't know much about the one in T.Dot.knickz wrote:
It really bothers me as well as I feel like most of the people in the stands (atleast lower bowl) are pretty much just business men, leaf season ticket owners, and just not real fans. But trust me, there are REAL FANS in Toronto, just can't afford tickets on a regular basis. Similar to what Andrew Bogut did in Milwaukee, I think some of the Raptors should step up and do the same.
What BOgut did was he held tryouts for the craziest fans (they audition for it) and he gets them season tickets.
Do you have any source for 2 or 4?
Personally, without any information to back up my claim, I could make a case that games are on TSN2 and SN1 to draw viewers to those secondary stations.
I am hopeful that if and when the Raptors return to an above .500 team that attendance and fan interest will come back. Winning is the solution.
Last edited by stretch; Sat Mar 31st, 2012 at 03:44 PM. Reason: grammer
I'm not sure about others, but I'm an ex-Leaf, now Raps bonafide FAN.
I can't remember it, but my mother tells me that, as a fetus, I'd push my ears up next to her belly so I could listen to the Leafs on the radio. I grew up playing hockey and bleeding blue and white. I knew all the stats, and would go crazy over things like Vince Damphouse being MVP'd at the all-star game. Those old Norris division playoff rivalries with the Blues and Red Wings still give me shivers.
I think there are two reasons why I began to lose interest in hockey.
1. The perennial losing ways of the Leafs. Leaf fans are chumps, pure and simple. It would take two consecutive Stanley Cups to even revive a white and blue flutter in my heart, such is the absolute, embarrassing crap product that the Leafs have been. They piss on and bitch-slap their fans, and we keep running back for more, doling out huge dineros. Chumps.
2. The game kept getting faster, more hard-hitting. It seemed to me that hockey began to lose it's flow, like there increasingly wasn't enough room to make beautiful, poetry-in-motion, strategic passing plays. No room to ebb and flow and deke around the opposing defence. Heck, nowadays, Gretzky would be out after 4 years with a concussion. (sound familiar?) I always liked the tough aspect of hockey, but it needs to be balanced by rhythm and skill. (like music)
Now, all through the "Vinsanity" years, I wasn't really interested in basketball. To me, it was a black thing. White guys like hockey, black guys like basketball. (I was ignorant, and plain wrong; waaaayyy out of line) However, after drafting Bosh I began to watch games, purely out curiosity. (and boredom) I'm not sure at what point it happened, but slowly I began to understand the game. Defensive strategies, boxing out, man-to-man vs. zone, pick and rolls, positioning for rebounds, timing etc. I began to see that basketball is game with rhythm, strategy, swagger, skill, vision etc. I began to understand the nuances of the game.
Basically, I fell in love with the game, and with the Raps. The 2006-7 season cemented my fanship.
Now, I follow the Raps the way Mexican grandmas follow Telenovelas. With 3 quality starters (JV, draft pic, FA) added to the "core" (or, rather, a "core" added to our current strong supporting cast) we just may be a contender.
One thing I like, CASEY. I like his style, his commitment. He's a good coach.
Is this meant to be ironic?
This might be a joke. There are tons of casual Toronto fans that are just paying attention to other things until Raptors get decent again.
As far for the people attending the games I agree most of them are corporate seats or people there to see the opposing teams in town. I once paid top dollar for some of the best seats at the ACC in a tight game when we had Bosh. A man sitting next to me with his 11 year old daughter, girl told her father she was bored so they left in the middle of the 2nd quarter. Leaf fans at the games are worse tho..
Was going to ask the same thing. The Raptors generally have some of the best TV ratings in the League.
“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde
I understand your frustration. Here's my rebuttal to your points.
1. People who usually buy Raptors tickets in the lower bowl are usually the ones that are on the aiting list to buy Leaf tickets. If you have Leafs season tickets, you're not required to buy Raptors tickets as well. However, companies purchase Raptors tickets in addition to Leafs tickets because the game is indeed entertaining..and nothing beats seeing professional sports live and up close. MLSE/Raptors have also made tickets unaffordable over the past couple of seasons for the casual fan. It's called "dynamic pricing". The Jays do it too, but it's not as blantant as the Raptors or FC. For example, you could gets tickets in the upper bowl to a Raptors game for $12.50 a seat - but that for just select dates. If you wanted to see Boston, the Lakers, the Heat, New York, even Phoenix or Orlando, those 12.50 seats would be much higher. The same seats for the Heat game costs $88.00 and subsequent sections are higher. Make the seats affordable for fans, then you'll see more fans, especially since Leafs tickets are for the most part, unaffordable and highly unattainable.
I can't say much about points 2 and 4, however, you have to realize that you're in a country where hockey is king and will alway be king. With the tight playoff races in the NHL, the masses are interested in what's going on. Whenever when the Raptors are indeed winning, they get a lot and - and I mean A LOT of coverage. The NBA playoffs will get high ratings as well. But make no mistake, the Raptors do have a fan base - and they're die-hards. A prime example of this would be the fair number of Raptors message boards out there (with RR being the best).
3. I don't see anything wrong with fans cheering for pizza. It's a small incentive for fans who attend the games - especially with the season we're going through right now, why not cheer for pizza? Personally, I don't redeem my stubbs for pizza - I keep all of my ticket stubbs, but i know when I take certain family members and friends to games, they cheer for pizza and will gladly trade their old ticket for a slice of pizza. The Leafs and FC don't have a promotion like that, but I do know the Jays do that - 7 strikeouts and you get a slice of 'za. Heck, they count it down with every strikeout.
Point is, the Raptors do have a vey good fanbase. The proof is in the attendance. For a team that's been to the playoffs in 5 of 17 seasons, and have only won 1 playoff series, the true testament is that fans still come out to the games.
we got a huge fan base.... its just some locals still feel the need to call themselves Knick fans..then try & make it seem like T.O doesnt have fans... i say they need to wake up.
How many other teams with records like ours draw any were near as many fans to games... Not many... if any....
id also have to disagree with the idea that the games are filled with leafs fans on waiting lists.. I know of quite a few hard core hockey fans that wouldnt go to Raps games if U paid them... its not there sport of choice...
i think youll find the majority of the fans at games are actually fans of the Raps & the others are just fans of the GAME itself & have no team loyalties
Last edited by DoNDaDDa; Sat Mar 31st, 2012 at 11:28 AM.
Great post Mango.
Covered everything I would have said if I had the energy to type it. Haha
“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde
I think there are. When the raps are winning and in the playoffs we have the best fanbase in the entire league. Fuck miami or the knicks, the entire ACC is white and red you cant top that. But i agree there are a lot of fair weather fans, they only cheer when we are winning and afterwards they say we suck.
Stupid Jeremy Lin hey?
ya ikr
Can you support #1, 2 and 4 with some sort of data? Anything?
As far as I've seen in terms of gate numbers the Raptors even do alright in the worst of seasons.
2011-12 - 17th in attendance
2010-11 - 19th in attendance
2009-10 - 14th in attendance
2008-09 - 10th in attendance
2007-08 - 9th in attendance
As you can see there is a direct correlation between winning and fan support, as should be expected. Why buy a shitty product?
My prediction for next season is that they're back in the top half of the league in gate numbers. I think it's a safe bet given that by then Colangelo will finally be marketing a decent product again.
Good discussion here. Yes, people do show up... and it looks like the ACC is at least half full all the time, but most of the people in the attendance are not true fans. I bet half of them do not even know the rules of the game... I mean basic rules; It kind of bothers me that there is no fighting atmosphere in the stadium. Here is what Alan Anderson said about this issue three days ago:
"Anderson was nonplussed; he’d been in places where they might throw heated coins at a home team that lost by 16 points."
Source:
http://www.thestar.com/sports/basket...oronto-raptors
I've also been to places like that in Europe before coming to Canada... the feeling of being part of ten thousand crazy fans cheering non stop is something special; I wish we had the same in Toronto.
All speculation. I'll speculate that you get a mixed bag at any game in any league in any sport in North America.
This isn't Europe. Riot teams don't get called into any sport in NA in general. The rumble at the palace is business as usual in Europe but it was a big scandal in North America.
Go to any Toronto FC games? I was at one where so many fans were tossing rolled paper that it was like a snowstorm. No riots, of course, but still a much different atmosphere -- even from the 'casual' fans.
I think if you were to go to a New Jersey game, or Washington, or Charlotte, or Sacremento etc. (teams we are 'competing' with) you would find a much sorrier situation in terms of fan presense.
Add in all the fans the Raptors have in Europe, and the 'illegal' live feeds that are used to watch games, and I'd bet the Raptors are right at the Top in terms of Fan Following.
“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde
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