TORONTO

The Toronto Raptors could be about to score a new practice venue at Exhibition Place.

Exhibition Place officials revealed Tuesday they and city staff are in negotiations with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment about creating a new practice space for the NBA team.

A public meeting will be held on Aug. 11. The executive committee is expected to consider approving the proposal at its last meeting of the term on Aug. 20. If approved, the issue would then go to city council.

According to the notice issued Tuesday, the Raptors’ practice facility would be located on the north side of Medieval Times on the Exhibition Place grounds. Right now, that area is a parking lot.

MLSE is hopeful that if the negotiations prove fruitful, an official announcement could happen in September.

Tim Leiweke, MLSE’s president and CEO, has made no secret of his desire for a new, state-of-the art practice home for the basketball team. He has hinted talks on the practice facility were connected to negotiations about the BMO Field expansion.

In April, Leiweke told the Toronto Sun that they were close to an agreement with the city on a practice facility that would be “close to the downtown.”

“We want to have it done in time for the 2016 All-Star Game,” he said at the time.

The Raptors’ current practice court and weight room is at the Air Canada Centre.

It is expected that MLSE will work with rapper Drake — the Raptors global ambassador — to turn the third-floor practice facility at the ACC into a nightclub.

Councillor Mike Layton — whose ward includes Exhibition Place — said if the facility happens, he wants to make sure the community benefits are there.

“If the conversation can go to how this can benefit the community as well as the sports team then that’s good,” Layton said.

“We also don’t want to be spending too much in the way of public dollars in a practice facility that probably won’t generate the revenue that something like BMO Field would.”

— With files from Ryan Wolstat