By Peter D. Walker

Sunday Raptors Basketball may become a new Canadian sports tradition which will expand interest in the game of hoops from coast-to-coast.

The Toronto home opener on November 4th vs. the new and improved Boston Celtics is the perfect game to launch this new era in Raptors broadcasting.

                                

In an announcement that flew under the radar because of last week’s blockbuster Kevin Garnett trade, CBC Sports announced it acquired the rights to broadcast up to 10 Toronto Raptors regular season home games nationally in the coming season, the first in a three-year deal.

This is great for Raptor fans who were short changed last year with a lack of Raptors games on free television. It is expected the number of games on subscription-only RaptorsTV will be reduced from 24 to 14 games next season. Raptor fans can only hope these numbers are scaled back even further in subsequent years of the deal.

CBC and the Toronto Raptors have agreed to broadcast as many as 20 regular season games in each of the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons.

This agreement provides a boost for MLSE’s efforts to make the Raptors, Canada’s basketball team. With an all Sunday schedule, the games will be pumped into 11 million homes on a free view basis. Raptor basketball will receive a heightened national profile through Saturday night promos on Hockey Night in Canada.

The Sunday line-up looks strong with potential matches against Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Houston, New York, Portland and Denver.

Potential New Raptor Broadcast Teams

An interesting by-product may be that basketball fans could see new broadcasters behind the microphones. While MLSE wants the play-by-play and color handled by Chuck Swirsky, Jack Armstrong and Leo Rautins, the CBC is pushing for a broadcasting team of their choosing.

“We’re thrilled to welcome the Raptors to CBC. They’re an exciting team on the rise,” said Scott Moore, executive director of CBC Sports. “We’ll air games played on Sundays, which when combined with Saturday’s ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ delivers our viewers a lineup second to none.”

Tom Anselmi, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment said, “Just as Saturday night is Hockey Night in Canada, we look forward to making Sunday afternoons Raptors Day in Canada.”

That is good news indeed for the Toronto Raptors and their growing fan base across Canada.