Raptor owners rubbing their hands with glee?

For all of the understandable grumbling from Canada’s pulp and paper industry about the soaring Canadian dollar, just think about the dancing that is going on behind closed doors at the HQ of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

If the Raptors’ salaries are around US$55 million, the 2007/08 NBA salary cap level, then what a bonus the Canadian loonie is to the bottom line at MLSE. Back in May, when the player budgets were being set, the CDN$ was around US$0.94. If it hangs around US$1.03 for the entire season, should we expect that Richard Peddie et al will be pocketing $5 million in incremental profit?

Not to topple the apple cart of capitalism, but does that mean we won’t see another ticket price bump next season if things on the currency front hang in there?

Turn your minds back to 1995. The CDN$ was around US$0.70 and the price of a Silver bowl ticket was around $90. One can assume John I. Bitove and Allan Slaight weren’t losing money back then, either. Today the Dollar is 50% higher (making player and senior Admin salaries much cheaper), and the tickets are up more than 140% to $220 (using 2.5% inflation, they would have risen to just $121). $100 bucks extra for a new stadium?

Perhaps federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will sit down with Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo for dinner at Sotto Sotto and put the arm on him, once he’s succeeded in his efforts to get Canadian retailers to slash the prices of books, magazines and clothing.

MRM