Slam dunk for Raptors new training facility at Exhibition Place

Rumours had swirled lately about Leiweke leaving his post and about certain Raptors not wanting to play in Toronto.

Speaking to the committee, he denied either of these rumours were true, though Leiweke did admit practicing at MLSE’s Air Canada Centre was difficult, since the team had to work around events there.

The new facility, at the southwest corner of the city’s Exhibition Place, will be as good as any in the NBA and part of a team run to the championship, he said.

"This will prove to the league and the players in the league that this is an organization committed to winning."

It’s only right, he said, that MLSE builds the centre, turns it over to the city, signs a 20-year lease with a 10-year option, and also pays for maintenance, upkeep and improvements.

"We will do it on our dime," said Leiweke, adding MLSE expects to have the site plan finished later this month.

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• Dec 31, 1969
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The centre will be available for community use or amateur basketball 64 per cent of the time, and MLSE will give the city an additional $1 million to build other basketball facilities, plus another $1 million to maintain them.

Temporary parking for the centre will be on a nearby softball field, which will be turned into a green space after permanent parking is built.

Parkdale-High Park Councillor Gord Perks, nearby residents and existing Exhibition Place tenants had objected to a loss of parking Exhibition Place said it would guarantee.

After negotiations with MLSE and Trinity-Spadina Councillor Adam Layton, Perks said, MLSE agreed to pay $1 million to convert the diamond back to green space, as well as contribute $200,000 for a traffic study around Exhibition Place and $1.8 million for a new parking structure on the grounds.

Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly, who pronounced the facility "first class," said he hoped to get the province – trying to re-develop its neighbouring Ontario Place jointly with the city as an "exciting entertainment nexus" for the city – to contribute to the traffic study.

Time for facility use by Basketball Canada and Basketball Ontario will be paid mostly on a cost-recovery basis, the committee was told, with time for use under the city system at city rates.

Mayor Rob Ford said that means players from Rexdale, Malvern or other disadvantaged areas of the city will have to pay $162 per hour.

"There’s no possible way these people can afford it," said the mayor, promising to move a motion at next week’s city council meeting to "help some of these groups out," especially youth living in Toronto Community Housing.

Basketball is taking off in Toronto, said the mayor, noting that Anthony Bennett in 2013 and Andrew Wiggins in 2014, both Toronto-born, were the NBA’s number one draft picks.

"There are many more Mr. Bennetts and Mr. Wigginses out there, and we have to get them exposed to what we’re building at Exhibition Place," said Ford.

The city hasn’t done enough to promote basketball – "a Canadian invention, contrary to what they say in Boston" – and should establish an affordable city-wide basketball program, said Scarborough Centre Councillor Michael Thompson.