Arena Group Looking To Bring NBL Canada Franchise To Markham City
Everybody wants a peice of NBL Canada. Everybody wants a piece of Canadian Basketball.
GTA Sports and Entertainment (GTASE) has entered into talks with the National Basketball League of Canada to explore bringing a team to Markham.
The team would play out of the 20,000-seat GTA Centre, slated to be completed in late 2014, in a 10,000 seat bowl, with the upper deck closed off.
GTASE chairman and CEO Graeme Roustan has insisted all along that the facility won’t be built only to attract an NHL team down the line.
“I am partial to basketball and want it in the building,” Roustan told the Sun.
“Everybody thinks this is all about hockey. It isn’t.”
Continued Roustan, who recently stepped down as chairman of Bauer Performance Sports, Ltd: “Our building is a multi-purpose building designed for events from 3,000 people to 20,000 people, so this fits perfectly into the overall strategy.
“At the end of the day, what people are going to see is that this facility is really a multi-purpose venue that will have a lot of sports, a lot of events, a lot of cultural things in it.”
Roustan knows hockey inside-out due to business background and also knows that basketball is growing in the GTA at a far quicker pace.
“The growth of basketball is incredible. The fact of the matter, hockey is growing in the single-digit numbers every year, whereas basketball is in the double-digit numbers. It’s important when you’re building a facility of this kind to have the vision of five years down the road and 10 years down the road and to be able to program the facility in such a way that you take advantage of what’s coming,” he said.
“The NBL Canada has a very, very exciting product so the demand is there and the opportunity for the citizens of Markham to have a Markham-branded professional basketball team I think is extremely exciting for the community.”
Roustan recognizes that hoops fans can simply go to the ACC to check out the Raptors, but says this is a different product at a different price-point.
“I’m not anticipating anyone who is an NBA fan to stop going to see NBA games to go to an NBL Canada game,” he said.
"Markham is recognized as Canada's high tech capital and the most ethnically diverse community in Canada, making it an ideal location for this facility," said Roustan.
Everybody wants a peice of NBL Canada. Everybody wants a piece of Canadian Basketball.
GTA Sports and Entertainment (GTASE) has entered into talks with the National Basketball League of Canada to explore bringing a team to Markham.
The team would play out of the 20,000-seat GTA Centre, slated to be completed in late 2014, in a 10,000 seat bowl, with the upper deck closed off.
GTASE chairman and CEO Graeme Roustan has insisted all along that the facility won’t be built only to attract an NHL team down the line.
“I am partial to basketball and want it in the building,” Roustan told the Sun.
“Everybody thinks this is all about hockey. It isn’t.”
Continued Roustan, who recently stepped down as chairman of Bauer Performance Sports, Ltd: “Our building is a multi-purpose building designed for events from 3,000 people to 20,000 people, so this fits perfectly into the overall strategy.
“At the end of the day, what people are going to see is that this facility is really a multi-purpose venue that will have a lot of sports, a lot of events, a lot of cultural things in it.”
Roustan knows hockey inside-out due to business background and also knows that basketball is growing in the GTA at a far quicker pace.
“The growth of basketball is incredible. The fact of the matter, hockey is growing in the single-digit numbers every year, whereas basketball is in the double-digit numbers. It’s important when you’re building a facility of this kind to have the vision of five years down the road and 10 years down the road and to be able to program the facility in such a way that you take advantage of what’s coming,” he said.
“The NBL Canada has a very, very exciting product so the demand is there and the opportunity for the citizens of Markham to have a Markham-branded professional basketball team I think is extremely exciting for the community.”
Roustan recognizes that hoops fans can simply go to the ACC to check out the Raptors, but says this is a different product at a different price-point.
“I’m not anticipating anyone who is an NBA fan to stop going to see NBA games to go to an NBL Canada game,” he said.
"Markham is recognized as Canada's high tech capital and the most ethnically diverse community in Canada, making it an ideal location for this facility," said Roustan.
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