The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The team was founded in 1995 as part of the NBA’s expansion into Canada, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies. Since the 2001–02 season, the Raptors have been the only Canadian-based team in the league. They play their home games at Scotiabank Arena, which they share with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League. The Raptors won their first Eastern Conference title and advanced to their first NBA Finals, where they won theirfirst NBA championship. They have won five Division titles and registered their most successful regular season in 2018.
About Toronto Raptors in brief
The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The team was founded in 1995 as part of the NBA’s expansion into Canada, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies. Since the 2001–02 season, the Raptors have been the only Canadian-based team in the league. They play their home games at Scotiabank Arena, which they share with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League. They will use Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida as its home for the 2020–21 season. The Raptors won their first Eastern Conference title and advanced to their first NBA Finals, where they won theirfirst NBA championship. The NBA organized two exhibition games in 1989 and 1992 with an attendance of over 25,000 people each, both in the newly built SkyDome. On November 1, 1946, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, in what was the first game played in NBA history. However, the Huskies folded after the initial 1946–47 season. Toronto did not host another NBA game until the 1970s, when the Buffalo Braves played a total of 16 regular season games atMaple Leaf Gardens from 1971 to 1975. On September 30, 1993, the NBA Board of Governors awarded the team to a group headed by Toronto businessman John Bitovea for a then-record fee of US$125 million. However an agreement was reached whereby the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation agreed to stop wagering on all games in Ontario on NBA games in exchange for a 44 per cent stake in the franchise.
The Toronto Raptors were awarded the NBA franchise on November 4, 1993 when the board endorsed the PBF’s decision of awarding its 28th franchise to a Toronto-based group. The decision was made by the NBA Governors’ Board of governors on the recommendation of PBF chairman and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. The franchise was formally awarded to the group on November 5, 1993. The first game was played in Toronto against the New Jersey Nets on November 6, 1993; the game was a sell-out; the Raptors went on to win the game by a score of 99-88. The next day, the team was awarded the franchise to the Toronto-headquartered Maple Leaf Garden Ltd. for a fee of $125 million for a total fee of nearly $125million. The group was headed by John Bitovesa and Allan Slighta, who also owned 44% of the Toronto Bank of Nova Scotia, with David Peterson and Phil Granovsky being minority partners being being being minority owners. In 1995, the league awarded the Raptors a 28-year-old franchise to be based in the city. They are currently the only NBA franchise based in Canada, as the Grizzlies relocated from Vancouver to Memphis, Tennessee for the 2001-02 season. They have won five Division titles and registered their most successful regular season in 2018. In the 2019 playoffs, they advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals, winning the Atlantic Division title and reaching the NBA Finals.
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