Calling the Toronto basketball franchise the Raptors always felt too gimmicky. A ploy to sell tons of merchandise early on, with no foresight into how it would look years later, when the Jurassic Park movies had been mostly forgotten.

Good news, then, for all who shared that view. New Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Ltd. president/CEO Tim Leiweke publicly stated on a conference call Tuesday that a complete re-brand of the struggling franchise could be in order down the line.

“I look at the Blue Jays and I have a great respect for them and the fact that all of Canada follows the Blue Jays — it’s not the same with the Raptors and I get that. We are Toronto’s team, but I think we have to learn how to be Canada’s team,” Leiweke said.

“We’re in the early stages. I will acknowledge we absolutely have had conversations about the colour and the makeup of our brand or uniform and image. To me, we should be all about the Canadian flag and Canada. There have been some specific conversations with the NBA about that.”

Leiweke reiterated that the club wants to land the 2016 NBA all-star weekend for its 20th anniversary.

“Clearly, the 2016 all-star game is a flag in the sand that we planted with the NBA. It is a must-have in my opinion and it will be the centrepiece of how we re-brand this. The change will be this: Toronto is not bidding on the 2016 all-star game. Canada is, and that’s where we begin the change and if we can win it, that moment will be what we lead to as to a re-branding and re-focus on behalf of this organization,” he said.

“We want to win the hearts and souls of Toronto first and we haven’t, so I understand we have work to do there. But we have an ambition to ultimately be Canada’s team and I clearly understand today that is an ambition and a goal we have not lived up to.”

Bryan Colangelo will be asked to help on that front.

Under Colangelo, the team held training camps across the country and sold out exhibition games in Canadian locales.

But Leiweke wants things to be taken further, so that the Raptors don’t just create a buzz elsewhere once or twice a year, but become a supported presence continuously.

Colangelo created a strong partnership between MLSE and Canada Basketball (he sits on that organization’s board) that he believes can be bolstered further.

“There are great synergies to exploit between the two. The growth of the game in Canada has taken atmospheric leaps with the advent of the Raptors brand several years ago and it’s just now starting to come into focus.”

Colangelo said he’s been around long enough to both soak up and be involved in the business of constructing teams, but also in putting together “businesses around those teams.”

If the Raptors want him to get to work on a practice facility and make the franchise Canada’s team, well, he says he now has the time to commit to that.

And if he takes the lead in getting the practice facility revamped or a new one built, that’s good, too.

“If there’s now a renewed commitment to move forward and put the best amenities in place in this recruiting battle that we engage in, I’m pretty good at looking at opportunities, I’m pretty good at projects. And if that happens to be one of the projects I embrace, I’m going to go at it with all my effort and make it the best damn practice facility in the league,” he said.

Leiweke added that the Raptors want to recruit the best players to town and to convince them to stick around, so building top-notch facilities is a part of that.

The NBA is filled with those who love visiting Toronto. The trick will be doing whatever possible to help convince them to stick around long-term.

It’s not impossible — both Vince Carter and Chris Bosh signed extensions and the new collective bargaining agreement makes it more difficult for stars to leave — but every little bit helps.

“We are going to change the way people think about our organization and the first place to do that is change the way we think about our organization,” Leiweke maintained.

They got rid of the giant dinosaur and purple pinstripe look once to attract players. A further re-brand might come in handy too as the franchise looks to finally grow up into a reputable, relevant and respectable NBA outfit.