May 15th 1994 Toronto Star

 Get set for the invasion of the Raptors.

The NBA's latest addition, the Toronto Raptors, hits the streets of Metro tomorrow like a pack of hungry dinosaurs, trailing a blizzard of paraphernalia aimed at separating you from you wallet.

You want a T-shirt? According to one executive with ties to the league, more than 100,000 have been printed up since the team and NBA Properties, the league's merchandising arm, decided on the Raptors last week.

About 120,000 baseball caps have been produced. Add to that thousands of shirts, jackets, pins, pennants . . .

Still, team officials are playing coy about the nickname, which was to be unveiled today in a half-hour television show on CTV at 4 p.m. Newspapers including The Star beat them to the punch yesterday, though, after merchandisers let the Raptor out of the bag.

"I've yet to see the exact logo anywhere," said team president John Bitove Jr., seeking some solace amid the leaks that have taken some of the starch out of tomorrow's announcement.

"But the demand has been so high we had to get the stuff done up in time for Monday, so it's been out there for a while. We want to be in the stores from Toronto to London to Tokyo by Monday, and we will. This is a worldwide launch."

NBA officials, including deputy commissioner Russ Granik, will be on hand for today's official launch, but this will above all be a day for the league's astute marketers.

Ten years ago, the NBA limped along at barely $200 million in annual sales of licensed gear. Thanks to a pronounced emphasis on marketing under commissioner David Stern, that number has increased to a projected $2.8 billion - and the pot has become a major bone of contention in NBA players' talks toward a new collective bargaining agreement. The players want a slice, while the owners aren't interested in such a concession.

"All leagues, not only the NBA, have really taken hold of licensing and have been doing an excellent job across the board," said Todd Sloan, editor of Ernst and Young's sports financial newsletter. "They've gotten much smarter in recent years."

The NHL also has moved into marketing in a big way. Although the league does not release over-all figures, its annual retail sales of licensed products stands at $1 billion and three expansion teams - Anaheim, Florida and San Jose - rank 1-2-3 in popularity.

"We're at about a third of the other major leagues, but the sales of our licensed merchandise have risen dramatically - about 500 per cent over the past five years," said league spokesperson Bernadette Mansur.

Sloan predicts a bull market on Raptors paraphernalia through the summer, following on the trend of hot-selling expansion teams.

"The expansion franchises especially over the last couple of years have just exploded not just locally but across the country," he said. Besides that NHL trio, baseball's Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins and the NBA's Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets are in the top five of their respective leagues.

But a survey of sportswear sales people across the country indicates that the Toronto Raptors, at least until they are revealed in all their multicolored and overhyped splendor, are getting mixed reviews. One Vancouver seller reported ho- hum reaction to the name, while east of Toronto it's even less enthusiastic.

"This is exactly the reaction I'm getting in Montreal - pfftt," said a Montreal sales rep of licensed sports products. "They're saying 'big deal, it's Toronto.' You know what Montrealers think of Toronto. For every 10 or 15 T-shirts sold in Toronto, I sell one here in Montreal.

"Even in Ottawa, I call them and haven't been called back. People in the field in Toronto think this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I think the rest of the country has to see the logo first."

Come this afternoon, they will. By Monday, it will be all over the place.