You really don't think there has been a shift towards the Raptors in popularity? It wouldn't be surprising if within the next 10 years they are firmly entrenched at #2 in this city, and within the next 20 years they will giving the Leafs a good run for their money.
No I don't. In fact giving the Leafs a run for their money is laughable. Especially when the Leafs appear to be headed for their best decade is many decades.
You should already see a shift in TV numbers if this was the case. The Raps get National attention when they go deep in the playoffs. But that's just bandwagon jumping. There's been little impact to the game to game numbers which shows how unpopular the sport and team are. They have a good core of fans that will pack the SBA every game, but the popularity is not close to the other sports I mentioned.
People have been saying since the Vince Carter era that the young demos and non whites were going to cause a shift in popularity. Say you were 10 years old when Vince came to town and made you a basketball fan. You would be 30 now, likely have your own home, maybe a small family. You have a Raps team that has been an Eastern contender now for half a decade. You would think this would be prime viewing for you. But the TV numbers don't support any shift from baseball or hockey to basketball. The league that has grown in that time period in this market is the NFL.
So now people are making the same claims with this era of Raps teams that the "kids" and minorities are going to cause a shift because they are secretly watching games on their 7 inch phones instead of their parents 70 inch TV. Even though no metrics indicate this behaviour is happening. In 20 years baseball and hockey will still be the main sports in this market.
The only way that changes is if we get an NFL team. Then I could see that team ousting the Jays as #2. Leafs nobody is touching in our lives.