During the next
couple of months we will see whether the game takes another step forward and moves
up in most played and most watched sports in this country.
I am not kidding myself when I
say most played and watched. Basketball will never out pace soccer as the most
played or hockey as the most watched. All I am asking for is growth.
The stage has been set. The
Toronto Raptors are coming off a banner yet surprising season. Winning the
Atlantic Division, coming a final shot short at making the second round of the
playoffs, and bringing together the collective nation of fans not only in Toronto
but in Canada.
Outgoing head of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Tim
Leiweke, was forced to bring out the campaigns of 'The Northern Uprising' and
'We The North' a season early. The National Basketball Association is bringing
its’ all-star game to Toronto. A new practice facility is being built and
players actually want to play for the Raptors, see Kyle Lowry and Lou Williams.
The franchise is on track and they might have the best general manager in the
association with Masai Ujiri.
The climate in Canada is ripe for
sport to take that next leap. Two first overall picks in a row in Anthony
Bennett and Andrew Wiggins with many others drafted and signed to training camp
contracts. The National Basketball League continues on with a shoestring
budget.
High school programs are getting bigger and more professional trying to
compete with Canadian AAU teams. Those teams are churning out talent while
beating most programs from the south.
They are even attracting players from
other countries with the Orangeville’s Athlete Institute Basketball Academy bringing
in potential stud Thon Maker.
Of course American high schools and universities
are littered with Canadian ballers. Carleton University and the University of
Ottawa compete with and beat some of the top programs from the NCAA.
Easily seen on most streets is
the money spent by teens and twenty year olds on hats, uniforms, shorts and
kicks. The game has now become the in sport with kids from all walks of life
and yes has even become water cooler talk.
So what will it take for
basketball to fully be ingrained in the fabric of Canadian culture. Most would
say winning but it isn't as simple as that. It will take two factors to make
that happen: money and the media.
The money is obvious as most
believe that if you pump dollars into the system the basketball infrastructure
will only get better and hence so will the players. More money equals better
gyms, better coaching, better training and the list goes on. But is there money
out there in Canada to go around?
Of course there is. Spend more money, more
people play the game and the more it becomes ingrained in society.
We have some of the biggest
conglomerates in the West controlling everything from television to mining. All
of our hockey teams are owned by Canadians. There is lots of money to go
around. Rogers and Bell, two of the largest telecommunication (they do more)
companies in the world have money to spare.
The both own MLSE who lost out on a
bid to buy the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills. So why not put that
money into basketball? How many Canadian companies run some of the largest
mining corporations in the world? Too many to count. So why can’t these
companies and their rich board member give money to high school, university or
college programs or to spend on adverts for the Raptors?
The money is there to spend. If
Rogers can build a state of the art facility for hockey coverage why can’t Bell
to do same for basketball? WuTang said it best: Cash Rules Everything Around
Me.
But my biggest complaint about the
state of basketball in Canada is pointed at the media. Like I stated earlier,
this is a make or break couple of months for the game.
Why hasn’t the media
capitalized on this? Rogers bought the entire, almost, hockey package leaving
Bell and its’ sports channel, TSN, with scraps. Why hasn’t Bell bough the
entire basketball package? Why hasn’t Bell spent money on a new production
studio and brought in some of the best basketball minds and scribes to put the
game on everyone’s doorstep and mind.
Canada is a hotbed of basketball talent.
The Raptors were the only team in Toronto to make the playoffs but nothing has
changed.
Basketball coverage in television,
radio, newspaper and the inter webs still trails hockey, baseball, football and
in some circles soccer in the amount of dollars spent. The sports media in
Canada is what drives what the public wants to see and hear.
The more you talk
about a sport, you more you cover it, the more you make stars and villains the
more people want to hear and watch. There is a huge population of people who
want to talk, read and watch basketball 24/7. But the Canadian media has missed
the boat.
The FIBA World Cup just finished
in Spain. Canada did not qualify but most believe the team is ready to make a
move in the next Olympics and future tournaments to come. Did any Canadian
sports outlets television or otherwise send a journalist over?
Only my
colleague and friend from HoopsLounge.com Marc Griffin covered the event. He
covered it with a Canadian angle. He made a name for himself and for his
website. The teams and ballers will remember Marc and his questions the next
time they see him.
And how did he get there. He had
to get his own media passes secured. He had to pay his way and then set up a
Kickstarter project to cover the rest of his costs. He and his team of Phil
Boileau and Mota Elb are working hard for the game. Their love of basketball
shows in everything they do. I wish others in more powerful media spots would
do the same.
Maybe it will take a team like
TheBenchGuys.com to do the same. I am ready to do it. There are others like me
and my team who want to do it. But we all do it for the love of the sports. The
big media outlets get paid but don’t take advantage of their standing and
access to put the game of basketball on the forefront.
That will be my goal with
TheBenchGuys.com. Basketball all the time, every time, from everywhere with an
unbiased opinion. You may not like but then you have every right to let me
know. We want to create a community that discusses all things basketball
because contrary to the opinion of the bigwigs in the media that is exactly
what people want.
Shahab Khan
@SchoolboyShebe
