TORONTO - There's a new hip face of the franchise, a new look in the works, and in 2016 they'll host basketball's biggest party.

The Toronto Raptors officially announced Monday that they'll host the 2016 NBA all-star game and unveiled homegrown rap star Drake as their new "global ambassador." They also confirmed they'll have a new look and new colours — but not a new name — for the 2015-'16 season.

It's all in an effort to turn around Canada's floundering basketball franchise, and what Tim Leiweke, the president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., called the beginning of a "new age" for the Raptors.

Now the team has to do its part to live up to the hype.

"Anything you do, for me, it's all based on winning," said Raptors president and general manager Masai Ujiri. "This is all great and beautiful for the city, but at the end of the day, my responsibility, and my team's responsibility is to put that basketball team on the floor that is going to try and win out there.

"It's going to take time and patience, but we're taking on the challenge, and we love it. The people, the organization, the fans I think deserve it in Toronto."

Drake, who grew up a Raptors fan and calls some of the league's biggest stars his close friends, said he approached the team about getting involved.

"I want to bring the excitement into this building, I want a team that people are dying to come see, I want the tickets to be extremely hard to get, I want to bring that aggression, I want to bring that energy," said Drake. "And obviously I want it to be a top team in the NBA, if not the top team."

A crowd of several hundred people — including reporters representing sports, entertainment and news, plus MLSE employees — squeezed into the atrium at the Air Canada Centre for the announcement, which kicked off one of the most festive Toronto Raptors media days in the team's history.

Drake — who looked sharp wearing the lone electric blue suit among a stage full of black-clad MLSE officials and politicians, including Mayor Rob Ford — joked he would "have to go to Harry Rosen and get some more neutral suits because the vibrant blues aren't going to cut it."

Leiweke scheduled the announcement to coincide with the opening of camp, he said, to set a tone for the franchise. He called the day a "turning point" for the team.

"I think what you're seeing is the remaking of a franchise, the remaking of what people think about us, the remaking of the demand in the marketplace for us," Leiweke said. "I think there's a reason that we led the NBA in new ticket sales the last few weeks, there's now a buzz about this organization."

Leiweke stressed the all-star game isn't the final destination, that winning a championship is.

But a team that hasn't made the playoffs since 2008 has a long way to go. The Raptors went 34-48 last season, spending most of it digging out of a horrific 4-19 hole.