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Toronto Raptors mulling later game times due to construction chaos — report

Neate Sager

#WeTheNorth and #WeNotThereYet became synonymous last season for Toronto Raptors fan.

While the Raptors, for a change, were giving fans a reason to want to be in their seat before the tip-off at Air Canada Centre, that was easier said than done. Toronto's endless traffic congestion, exacerbated by construction and maintenance on the much-maligned Gardiner Expressway, caused significant delays for fans. Patches of empty seats were clearly visible on television.

From the looks of it, the Raptors are planning to account for this by shifting start times for weeknight home games to 7:30 p.m.. Canada's NBA team has tipped off at 7 since it was an expansion team playing at Skydome.

Here's Eric Smith, on the Sportsnet FAN 590 on Wednesday morning:

I would say last year you definitely started to notice a little bit of difference. Whether that was traffic-related or not — I think the Gardiner stuff didn't even start until the post-season was beginning — but you've seen more of an impact on things with the 7 o'clock start time. I could be sitting beside Paul Jones and look up and say, 'I wonder what the crowd's going to be like' and by halftime it's jammed. So I think there is an impact. There's so much going on in the city, construction-wise and everything else, it's probably not a bad idea to test it. (FAN 590)

Canada's NBA team has traditionally also had 1 p.m. starts for Sunday games, with the occasional 6 p.m. tip. Smith noted more Sunday games — not all, it's important to note — could start at the later time.

It's often presumed the Sunday matinees give the Raptors an advantage since they should, as Smith put, "be catching opponents who have enjoyed your city on Saturday night or have flown in from the West Coast." Historically, the impact on the Raptors' home record has been negligible.

The Gardiner lane closures have certainly also affected Toronto Blue Jays attendance. The Raptors have the flexibility to start later since, in the NBA, there is a reasonable assurance that a game will be completed in about 2½ hours. A 2½-hour game is a rarity these days in Major League Baseball.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.