Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Canada's first WNBA team is about to take to the court The Current

Transcript

Canada's first WNBA team is about to take to the court The Current · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is the current podcast.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: We're ready for you, Tempo. We've been ready for a
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: long time. Thank you so much for bringing basketball to
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: our city. I wish you all success this year. Hi, Kiki,
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Let's go Tempo. We're rooting for you. We cannot wait
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: to party with you. If you need us up, let
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: me know. I have a good freethrow. Welcome to Toronto,
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Kicky Rice, Let's go Tempo.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: It is an exciting day to be a basketball fan
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: in this country. Tonight, the Toronto Tempo makes history, kicking
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: off their inaugural season, Canada's first ever WNBA team, facing
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: off against the Washington Mystics in Toronto. Savannah Hamilton is
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: a freelance sports journalist covering the WNBA, host of the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: women's sports podcast Cinderella Stories. Savannah, good morning, Good morning.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Are you ready for tonight?
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Oh? I'm absolutely pumped. I mean I could barely even
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: sleep last night. I got a kid like the night
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: before Christmas.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Basically, tell me what it's taken for the team to
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: get to this moment. It's been a sprint to build
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: something from nothing, right, Yeah, Oh.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: My gosh, it has taken so much for you know,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: so many people in the organization, and even even before
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: the Toronto Tempo even was officially announced, just to like
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: garner interest in understanding like the real market potential and
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: the work that NBA Canada has done to like get
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: the preseason games going across the nation from Toronto to
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Edmonton's to Vancouver. Lad year it got fully and then
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: and more importantly, it took a lot of belief belief
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: that I believe in women's sports that it can be
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: a sustainable product in this country.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Was that belief always there? Do you think I think
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: it was?
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: I think it truly truly was. I just think that
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: there's been a lot of barriers and a lot of naysayers,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: if you will, against women's sports, people who didn't want
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: to put the time or investment or see it as
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: a viable products, which didn't really make sense to me
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: because I remember, you know, having being in university having
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: a quote unquote class discussion about if THEA was a
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: bad product or if it was marketed poorly, and that
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: was literally a conversation that was led by you know,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: a professor in the class. And I took journalism and
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: I always said that no, you guys, it didn't have
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: the chance to succeed, at least in Canada at the
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: time because it was never even on TV. So how
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: could an audience know how to resonate with a product
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: that they've never seen before. So put it on TV
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: first and foremost, and then we can even talk about
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: the marketing element afterwards. And guess what after about a
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: couple of years later, maybe like twenty twenty, I started
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: seeing it more and more and more on TV. It
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: started getting picked up, and then there was, like I said,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: lots of change makers, you know, even myself. I decided
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: to pitch a show on NBATV Canada Switch Inside the WNBA.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: For four seasons it ran to talk about what this
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: product look like and also just champion who these women
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: even are? And so you got to gain the interest
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: and and so there's the belief grew with time for sure.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: One of those great stories and one of those women
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: that will be playing for the Tempo is Keia Nurse
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: coming home to play in Toronto. You know her because
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: you used to play with her, right, yes.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Actually, so we grew up playing against each other. We
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: saw each other many times in the Ontario basketball circles
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: between high school and Rep basketball. So I've seen I've
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: had a front row seats you see her development and
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: success and it's been awesome.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: What does it mean for her to be on this
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: team as it starts, it's it's journey in the w
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: n B. A.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it means a lot to her. I know that.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: You know, I've spoken to her, you know, through the
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: media scrums and media Day, and she said that wasn't
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: necessarily a given process either. Like you know, I think
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: a lot of people, you know, they hear her name
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: and they think, like one percent women the face of
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: women's basketball in Canada. And she'll be the first one
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: to tell you that she stands on the backs of
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: many many many or let's just say the shoulders are
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: of many, many giants in Canada. But yeah, she said
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: it wasn't necessarily to be in this position. But she's
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: really grateful to help usher in a historic chapter for Canada.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: This is a team based in Toronto. But to your point,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: they played exhibition games right across the country. Is your
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: sense that the nation is watching this?
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Oh? They better be took it took a lot to
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: get here and look good. Like the best news ever
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: was the fact that all forty four games are going
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: to be streamed or sorry, broadcasted on TSN. And that's
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: huge because that's the national network, right. So, and I
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: know Leah McNabb from WBA Canada offices and WNBA offices
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: in the States, she did her best to get that
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: deal and it took a while, but they got it
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: on national television and so that it's going to be
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: accessible to all Canadians.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: What would you say, finally, in that if you were
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: able to go back to that class that you were
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: in where the viability of women's sports and the w
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: NBA was being questioned, what would you say in that
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: class now, given the fact that this team is going
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: to hit the court tonight and that fans are already
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, you walk the streets to Toronto and people are
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: already wearing gear shouting at the Toronto Tip. But what
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: you say in that class.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Now, I say, well, well, you know what, like, especially
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: to the professor that was actually leading that conversation too
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: and didn't seem to have the belief in women's sports,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: I would say, you just wait to see that.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: It's here now and that this is a real viable entity.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, And your favorite male athlete, he watches women's sports,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: and if you truly love the game of basketball, especially
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: you watch the w NBA.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Enjoy tonight.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Savanna Hamilton, freelance sports journalist covering the w NBA and
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the host of the women's sports podcast Cinderella Stories. The
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Toronto Tempo play their first official game in the WNBA tonight,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: kicking off the season against the Washington Mystics. This has
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: been the Current podcast. You can hear our show Monday
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: to Friday on CBC Radio One at eight thirty am
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: at all time zones. So you can also listen online
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: at CBC dot ca, slash the Current, or on the
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: name is Mac Gallaway. Thanks for listening.