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September 1, 2010
The Toronto Raptors announced Wednesday their broadcast schedule for the 2010-11 NBA season with all 82 regular season contests being broadcast in High Definition (HD) and televised nationally for a fifth consecutive season. This also marks the ninth straight campaign that the entire regular season schedule will be aired locally.
“We are delighted to continue our association with TSN and to bring Rogers Sportsnet back into our Raptors broadcast family,” said Tom Anselmi, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment executive vice-president and chief operating officer. “Both partners are committed to providing basketball fans across the nation with plenty of exciting NBA action in 2010-11.”
TSN and TSN2 will televise 47 Raptors contests across Canada during the 2010-11 campaign. TSN2 has the season opener against Amar’e Stoudamire and the New York Knicks on October 27 from Air Canada Centre. They will also broadcast the first matchup with Kobe Bryant and the defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers on November 5 from the STAPLES Center. TSN2’s schedule also features the first meeting with rising star Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder on December 3 as well as two contests against Dwyane Wade and his Miami Heat on January 22 and February 16.
TSN’s schedule is highlighted by its opening broadcast of the season November 13 from AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami when the Raptors make their first visit to face the Heat. TSN will be the home for the only Toronto visit from Bryant and the Lakers on December 19 and road games in Boston (January 7), Orlando (January 21) and Phoenix against Steve Nash and the Suns (March 23).
TSN will also carry the conference finals and select playoff games, NBA All-Star Weekend coverage, including the 60th annual All-Star Game on February 20 from STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, and exclusive Canadian coverage of the NBA Finals.
“There has een an incredible amount of buzz surrounding the NBA this off season and we are thrilled to have a fantastic schedule packed with 47 Raptors match-ups and all of the must-see games that fans won’t want to miss,” said Stewart Johnston, President of TSN. “From the NBA’s opening night and the All-Star Game in L.A, to Chris Bosh’s highly anticipated return to Air Canada Centre, Canadians know to turn to TSN and TSN2 for all of the high-flying action.”
Rogers Sportsnet and its new national sports channel Sportsnet One will be the home for 35 Raptors regular season games. It will also air a minimum of 35 NBA US regular season contests and have the broadcast rights to 22 NBA playoff games, as well as feature programming NBA Action and NBA XL.
Sportsnet will be the place to see NBA history March 4 when the Raptors face the New Jersey Nets in the league’s first regular season game played in Europe at The O2 arena in London, England. Other marquee match-ups on the Sportsnet schedule include a November 21 Sunday matinee contest versus the Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics, the Toronto debut of John Wall, the first overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, on December 1 as the Raptors play host to the Washington Wizards, and a road contest against Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls on January 4.
Sportsnet One will air both contests versus Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks (December 28 and February 27), Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets (January 17 and March 1) and Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers (February 13 and March 26). Sportsnet One will also televise the season finale against the Heat on April 13 from Air Canada Centre.
“We are excited about the return of the Raptors and the NBA to Sportsnet,” said Doug Beeforth, President, Rogers Sportsnet. “The Raptors will be a flagship property for our new national sports channel, as will the many other NBA games we will offer Canadian basketball fans.”
For a sixth consecutive season, all 82 Raptors telecasts will be produced by Raptors NBA TV. Veteran play-by-play voice Matt Devlin will call all the action for a third season. He will be joined by Canadian National Team head coach Leo Rautins for broadcasts on Sportsnet and Sportsnet One and “The Coach” Jack Armstrong will lend his expertise as the analyst on TSN and TSN2 telecasts.
The FAN 590 will once again be the radio home for Raptors broadcasts. For a sixth season Paul Jones will handle the play-by-play duties with Eric Smith serving as the analyst.
The complete 2010-11 Raptors basketball television broadcast schedule can be found at the top of this release.