Fans going to Raptors games this season won’t just notice changes with the club, which added one of the best players in the NBA in a blockbuster trade.

There’s been a number of changes off the court as well. And we’re not just talking the venue name change over the summer to Scotiabank Arena (from Air Canada Centre).

The team no longer accepts PDF tickets at the door. You can only get in with a ticket on the Raptors mobile app, or tickets printed on cardboard stock given to season seat holders.

It’s a move intended to make counterfeiting tickets nearly impossible, MLSE chief commercial officer Dave Hopkinson said back in the spring when it was first announced.

Another change is to the all-female Dance Pak cheerleading squad, which has been replaced by the coed Northside Crew — 11 of the 25 members are male.

And when the Raptors make a dozen or more three-pointers at a home or away game, fans in Ontario with the McDonald’s app can get a free serving of medium French fries the next day.

But the most noticeable change could very well be a new twist to the very popular tradition of a free pizza slice for ticket-holders when the Raptors score 100 points or more.

Now, fans need to have the Raptors app, and buy a slice from Pizza Pizza before you get one free slice of cheese or pepperoni the day after the club hits the century mark in a home win.

Some fans who bellow out “PIZZA” when the team is a basket away from 100 points, and then cheer deliriously when they reach it, aren’t happy. Everybody likes free, even if it’s just for cheap slice of ‘za. And you’d have to pay for a slice first before you get a free one.

Others like the change because you no longer need a ticket to the game, so it opens up the promotion to more people.

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This promotion has always been head-scratching in its popularity — once again, the slice of pizza is just a few bucks. Some Raptors fans cringe hearing the pizza chant, thinking it’s undignified.

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It’s evolved over the years — in a previous incarnation, a free Pizza Pizza slice was available to ticket-holders whenever the Raptors reached 100 points regardless of whether they won.

Even with the team down by 20 points in the dying moments, there’d be a huge cheer in the stands when the Raptors hit the century mark. That provoked some good-natured derision by then-Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy in 2012 after a one-sided win over Toronto.

He didn’t understand why there was a huge ovation from Raptors fans in the dying seconds until reporters told him in the post-game scrum.

“Really? We got a standing ovation for a slice? They told me they got a free pizza. A slice? A slice you have to sit in your seat and clap. You can’t stand up on a slice. That’s bad etiquette,” Van Gundy said.

The promotion was changed the next year.

Correction-Oct: 22-This article has been updated to reflect the fact that the McDonald’s fries promotion is available after both home and away games.

Patrick Ho is a rewrite editor working on the Star’s digital desk in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @patrick_ho_007

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