We are thrilled to announce that Simon & Schuster Canada’s Jim Gifford has acquired world rights to NBA broadcaster Eric Smith and Ghent University professor Andrew Bricker’s WE THE RAPTORS. The nonfiction book is described as a one-of-a-kind celebration of the Toronto Raptors’ fan-favourite players and iconic moments that have defined the first three decades of the franchise’s history. Publication is expected for October 2025. The deal was arranged by Evan Brown and Carolyn Forde at Transatlantic Agency.
Eric Smith has spent more than 25 seasons working Toronto Raptors broadcasts on Sportsnet 590 The FAN, including nine as the radio play-by-play voice and nine in the analyst’s role. He has served as host of the pre, half and postgame shows since 1997. Smith can often be seen on TV as a host or analyst for Sportsnet’s pre and post game coverage. He has been a sideline reporter and halftime host for Sportsnet’s Raptors broadcasts. Smith also covers the NBA as a host, reporter, analyst and columnist for Sportsnet TV, Sportsnet 590 The FAN, and Sportsnet.ca. During the NBA season he co-hosts the daily radio show “Smith and Jones.”
In addition to his NBA work, Smith has been the TV play-by-play voice for numerous Canada Basketball games, and he covers a number of sports for the Sportsnet family. He served as one of the television play-by-play voices for the last seven National Bank Opens (Rogers Cup – WTA), has filled in as host of “Blue Jays Central,” Sportsnet’s official Blue Jays pregame show, and hosted “Blue Jays Xpress” on Sportsnet 360. He has also worked for the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Consortium serving as the television voice for men’s boxing at the 2012 Olympic Games (London, England) and on-air at NBA TV Canada, contributing to past and present shows such as “Double Dribble” and “Full Court Press.”
Smith, who was inducted into the Burlington, Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in May 2022, has appeared on NBA TV’s “Insiders” and on CNN, written columns for NBA.com, and regularly guests on radio and TV shows throughout Canada and the United States. He resides in the Greater Toronto Area with his wife and son.
Andrew Bricker is a widely published author and a professor of literary studies at Ghent University in Belgium. He has written for The Globe and Mail and is a frequent contributor to The Literary Review of Canada. His first book, Libel and Lampoon, was published by Oxford University Press in 2022. Bricker received his BA and MA from the University of Toronto and his PhD from Stanford University. He has taught at Stanford, McGill University, the University of British Columbia, and Fordham University. He is currently a Senior Fellow in the Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography at the University of Virginia.
Congratulations Eric and Andrew!