The first final and the NBA champion title for the Canadian team Toronto Raptors has generated great economic benefits for the Canadian city and a select group of companies but also losers.
The Raptors, the most “Spanish” team in the NBA thanks to the presence of Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Sergio Scariolo, won the NBA championship on June 13 by defeating the Golden State in the sixth game of the series Warriors.
It was the first time since the team was created 24 years ago that the Raptors have reached the NBA Finals and the first time in history that a non-American team has won the professional basketball league title.
The victory against the Warriors was the culmination of a playoff in which the Raptors successively defeated the Orlando Magic, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Milwaukee Bucks. And as the Toronto team got through each of the series, the interest in the Raptors in the city and the rest of the country multiplied.
When the Raptors and Warriors played their sixth and final game, 8 million people in Canada sat in front of the television to witness the historic match, making it the most-watched TV show of 2019 and the most-watched NBA game ever. in Canada.
And 56% of the country’s population, some 20.5 million people, watched all or part of the NBA Finals.
These numbers are music to the ears of the owners of the Raptors who are divided equally between the two largest telecommunications companies in the country, Rogers and Bell.
For both companies, the income provided by their television channels, especially sports channels, is basic, so any increase in the number of viewers automatically translates into an increase in their income.
Also, the value of your investment has increased overnight. In February, Forbes magazine valued the Raptors at $ 1.4 billion with annual revenue of $ 250 million, the NBA’s twelfth team. For next season, Forbes will revise those numbers up.
Beyond television, payment processing firm Moneris has noted that spending on bars and restaurants in Canada soared 375% during Game 5 between the Raptors and Warriors compared to Game 5 of the NBA Finals in 2018.
In Toronto, the increase was 865%, making the Canadian city sector one of the big winners of the Raptors’ success.
Another winner is being the NBA merchandise store. One day after the Raptors’ victory in Game 6, their sales increased by 80% over 2016 and 100% over 2018.
Perhaps one of the businesses that has benefited the most from the Raptors is Scotiabank. In 2017, the financial institution closed a deal to place its name on the stadium of the Raptors, which is also of the city’s professional ice hockey team, the Maple Leafs, for 20 years.
Scotiabank paid a staggering 800 million Canadian dollars (600 million US dollars), something many considered excessive.
The deal was later expanded so that its subsidiary Tangerine became the official bank of the Raptors.
The Raptors’ presence in the finals meant a 50% increase in traffic on Tangerine’s website and a 20% increase in the number of people who became customers of the bank.
In fact, when this NBA season began, only 6% of Raptors fans were aware of the Tangerine brand. Now that figure has reached 50%.
The other side of the coin is another Canadian financial institution, BMO. For five years, BMO was the sponsor of the Raptors but just lost the association with the team at the time they made history.
To make matters worse, BMO is now the sponsor of the Milwaukee Bucks, the team defeated by the Raptors in the NBA Eastern Conference finals.
Another company can boast of betting on the winning horse at the right time. The insurer Sun Life Financial in 2017 signed an agreement with the Raptors to place their logo on the players’ jerseys.
According to the company, the presence of the Raptors in the playoffs and the NBA Finals has meant that the number of people who now know the brand has multiplied by three, not only in North America but in other important markets for the company, such as China and the Philippines. EFE