Peak Sports Announces Deal with Toronto Raptors

Chinese sports apparel company Peak Sports has announced a partnership with Canadian NBA team the Toronto Raptors.

The four-season deal marks the first time a Chinese company has sponsored a professional Canadian sports team.

Peak Sports is growing rapidly and the partnership with the Toronto Raptors is part of the company’s international marketing strategy, said Peak Sports’ Chairman, Xu Jingnan.

Xu said Peak is hoping to introduce and establish their brand in Canada with the help of the Toronto Raptors.

“Internationalization has always been the main focus in the development of Peak Sports,” he said. “This partnership with the Toronto Raptors will help accelerate Peak’s business here in Canada and bring our product to Canadian consumers.”

Listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2009, Peak Sports produces and manufactures goods in a variety of sports. But basketball is its main focus and the company has established strategic partnerships with a number of high profile NBA teams including the Houston Rockets and the Miami Heat

“NBA is definitely number one in the basketball world. They produce many heroes every year,” Xu said. “This partnership with the Toronto Raptors will help Peak show Canadian basketball fans who Peak is, and who its products represent.”

David Hopkinson, Senior Vice President of Business Partnerships at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Raptors, said it’s a mutually beneficial deal that would provide an opportunity for both sides to share information and learn from each other.

“Basketball is the number one sport in China, with well-established roots here in Canada, and this is an opportunity I think for us to really do something that bridges the gap between two cultures around the common love for basketball,” said Hopkinson.

Company’s branding will be displayed all over the Air Canada Centre where Raptors home games are played.

Peak’s merchandise will also be available to Canadian consumers at the Raptors Team shop at the Air Canada Centre.

To mark the announcement of the partnership, Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, one of Peak’s featured endorsees, ran a basketball clinic and that helped nearly 30 Chinese youths.

Peak Sports was established in 1989, and now has more than 6,000 stores in China.{jcomments on}