National Post (National Edition)
NBA franchise is a pipe dream for Montreal
CITY MORE NOTED FOR ‘EVENTS’ APPEAL THAN SUSTAINABLE BASKETBALL CULTURE
The Duke Blue Devils put a 103-58 whooping on the Mcgill Redmen Sunday before a capacity crowd of 10,098 at Place Bell in Laval.
It was two hours of pure entertainment as Duke’s prize recruits — Canadian R.J. Barrett and Zion Williamson — showed why they will be in the NBA next fall and Mcgill’s Alex Paquin did more than enough to earn the ovation he was accorded after scoring 29 points against his more heralded opponents.
As Mcgill coach Dave De Aveiro addressed the media after the game, there was the inevitable question about whether the enthusiastic support for the game was a sign that an NBA team was in Montreal’s future.
The answer is a Jamais, Nada, Never.
But De Aveiro did leave a crack in the door when he talked about the sold-out crowds at the Bell Centre for the annual NBA exhibition — this year the Raptors are playing the Brooklyn Nets on Oct. 10 — and he correctly noted that there aren’t many cities that can sell out arenas for an NBA exhibition.
But it is wrong to suggest that there is a basketball culture in this city and there is any chance of an NBA franchise on the horizon.
The Duke-mcgill game and the upcoming NBA exhibition game was a reflection of Montreal’s status as an event city. It falls in the same category as Rogers Cup tennis, the Jazz Festival, Just for Laughs and the Blue Jays’ annual spring cash grab at the Big Owe. flat-out no.
It was Mcgill’s fifth game against an NCAA opponent this summer and the first four games were played in relative obscurity on the Mcgill campus. This was a shame because there was some good basketball on display. The Redmen took on Cincinnati and South Dakota State, two teams that played in the NCAA tournament earlier this year.
They also played Vermont, which missed the tournament when it was upset 65-62 by Maryland Baltimore Country in the America East final. UMBC went on to upset top-seeded Virginia in the first round of the NCAA tournament — the first time in history a 16th seed beat a No. 1 seed.
The one thing missing from those games was some star power and the slick marketing around the Place Bell spectacle.
Duke’s three-game tour of Canada was a professionally orchestrated marketing event. The U.S. school used SBX, a top sports marketing firm to arrange for venues, sell tickets and push the Duke brand to the forefront. There were two capacity crowds in a smaller arena in Barrett’s hometown of Mississauga and TSN and RDS piggybacked on the TV coverage provided by ESPN.
Talk of the NBA in Montreal surfaces whenever an NBA team drops in for a quick payday. The first time I heard the idea suggested was in the late 1960s when I had breakfast with Jack Kent Cooke at the Ritz-carlton. He was promoting the idea in advance of an exhibition featuring the Los Angeles Lakers. Fewer than 6,000 fans showed up at the Forum for that game, presumably because they heard that L.A. stars Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain were all sitting out with injuries.
Cooke, who was born in Canada and made his first fortune in Northern Ontario, also owned hockey’s L.A. Kings and famously said that he brought the NHL to Southern California because he was told there were 250,000 Canadians living there only to learn they moved there because they hated hockey.
The lack of a sustained fan base is only one reason why the NBA will never come here. There’s also the economics of ownership and the politics of expansion.
The odds are stacked against the return of Major League Baseball because it would take $1 billion to get the project off the ground.
That’s $500 million for a stadium, a minimum of $400 million to secure a franchise and at least $100 million to meet a bargainbasement payroll which has increased at least 10-fold since the Expos left town.
The situation in the NBA is even less promising. The league has shown a lukewarm interest in expansion and the asking price for a new team is projected at $1 billion. And Montreal would be behind Seattle, Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Mexico City, Louisville and Las Vegas in the line for a franchise.
If you’re a basketball fan, come watch the local universities. Show up at Place Bell on Sept. 13 when Canada plays Brazil in a World Cup qualifier and, if you must, watch the Raptors at the Bell Centre. But don’t waste any time waiting for an NBA franchise in Montreal.
Lorie Kane is one teeoff away from adding another feat to her scroll of accomplishments.
Kane is poised to compete in her record-tying CP Women’s Open. Her 28th appearance in the LPGA event will formally begin Thursday at the Wascana Country Club.
“I think about how fortunate I am that I’ve had the opportunity to do what I do, and I absolutely love what I do,” said the personable Kane, 53, who is a CP Ambassador.
“I’m able to continue to do it because of the support that I get from the fans and Golf Canada and, most importantly, Canadian Pacific — that they think enough of me to wear their brand and to be part of the CP family, which allows me to continue to play golf and promote a great game.
“With the 28 years. I’m quite humbled because I have no idea where the time went. It just seems like yesterday that I was trying to get out on tour and to make it a career. And then to be where I am and to have had the successes I’ve had, it’s very humbling.”
And she is very humble, despite an impressive string of achievements that date back to her LPGA debut in 1996. Since then, the Charlottetown-born Kane has earned nearly $7 million, celebrated four LPGA Tour victories and amassed 99 top-10 finishes.
She became a member of the Order of Canada in 2006 and, 10 years later, was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.
Halls of Fame are generally havens for retired athletes, but Kane’s love of the game endures. As a result, she is about to tie Joanne Carner for the most appearances at the CP Women’s Open.
“I want to tee it up and I want to be successful,” Kane said. “I just don’t want to show up and just play. I still have a very deep competitive drive within myself.
“So while I will wear the banner of moving our game though, who likes to continue to look forward.
“My path is a little different, if you just look at strictly my age (and not starting on the Tour until her early 30s). Other than that, I’m an island girl, I’m a Canadian, and I love golf.
“I pinch myself sometimes, because I knew I wanted to be a professional athlete. Sport is very important to me. My dad told me that God had given me a gift to swing a golf club, but that I had to work at it and to make it better than I found it. That’s what I hope I do.”
And if she can make some more friends along the way — as she undoubtedly will this week — all the better.
“I encourage the people who are in the neighbourhoods that we come to play golf in to come out and watch us,” Kane concluded, “because once you watch us once, you’ll be a fan forever.”