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Raptors Cut Over 10,000 From Roster
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Angry Over Being Cut from "OneTeam", Thousands of Former Raptors Rush the ACC Gates
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Coach O'Neill takes 7 hours to read off names
October 31st, 2003
The Toronto Raptors announced massive cuts to their roster this morning in an unprecedented move in NBA history. While the exact number ofpeople has not been determined it is believed that at least 10,000 people have been cut. The 2003/2004 version of the Raptors will just include the actual players, coaches, trainers, and management instead of including ticket sellers, ushers, food vendors and season-ticket holders who were all part of last year's OneTeam promotion.
The Raptors issued this statement to the press:
"With heavy hearts we announce that we've cut all the fans and Air Canada Centre workers from OneTeam but let's face it -- when we added them to the team last year we became a bunch of losers. No wonder the Leafs haven't won a Stanley Cup in 35 years."
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This morning's announcement was actually just a formality as the planning for this drastic lay-off has been months in the making. Over the summer the team moved away from the OneTeam concept and starting promoting the Renew campaign. As well, many of those who were a part of the OneTeam promotion, those featured on the season tickets, were not called back for more photo shoots.
Fans first received an inkling of the team's intentions at last Sunday's open practice. The team went through with actually practicing while the calls from the stands demanding a dunk competition or at least a scrimmage went unheeded. Still there were lingering doubts in the mind of management until opening night on Wednesday. After the Raptors defeated the Eastern Conference Champion New Jersey Nets it was realized that the team could win with just the players and not all the dead-weight fans.
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Barbara Hall, Mayoral Candidate:
Former OneTeam Member
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| While the Raptors were used to cutting two or three people at a time as they had done earlier this week when George Williams, Ken "Not Magic" Johnson, and Stanley Roberts were all released, never before had they dealt with a lay off this large. Fortunately, the team could turn to their brand new corporate partner the BMO Financial Group for guidance. BMO reportedly loaned the services of their Accounting and Human Resources teams to assist the Raptors in determining which cuts were most cost-effective and would deliver the greatest profit per dollar spent. |
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Sucio Sanchez, Breakdancer:
Former OneTeam Member
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A BMO spokesperson was also quick to point out that if you throw out a few bones some people might actually be happy to leave. Thus the plan was made to pick up a bunch of cheap fringe players and bring in a new coach in order to soften the blow that the fans would not consider themselves one of Vince Carter's teammates. That plan was enacted to perfection, as many of the fans didn't even realize they had been cut. They still shelled out thousands of dollars for tickets. But opening night did not sell-out entirely so perhaps some fans could see through the corporate smog. The Raptors hope they can again use BMO's expertise in order to thwart any attempts at the creation of a Fans Union. |
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Peter Mansbridge, Newscaster:
Former OneTeam Member
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| Raptor fans will remain on waivers for the next 48 hours. The Atlanta Hawks have indicated that they might have some interest but have yet to figure out the logistics of flying thousands and thousands of people down to each home game. In another transactional note the Raptors did not cut Karen, the cute usher from section 310. She has been placed on IR as Raptor GM Glen Grunwald sees "a lot of potential" and hopes to "have her in an exciting position in the future." |
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