OREANDA-NEWS. BMO Financial Group and the National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced a multiyear partnership that will make BMO the Official Bank of NBA Canada. The agreement is the league's first partnership with a Canadian bank and will also make BMO an official partner of the Jr. NBA program in Canada.

Jr. NBA is an introductory basketball program that will provide thousands of boys and girls in 125 communities across Canada with health, fitness, and basketball instruction. The program is expected to launch in the fall of 2015, following NBA Canada's successful pilot Jr. NBA program in 50 Canadian communities in 2014.

The partnership will include BMO activation around NBA All-Star 2016 in Toronto, the first NBA All-Star to be held outside of the United States.

"As the official bank of the Toronto Raptors in Canada and through local partnerships with the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks, this agreement further builds on BMO's commitment to fostering the sport of basketball," said BMO Financial Group Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Strategy Joanna Rotenberg. "Basketball has established itself as one of the most popular participation sports among Canadian youth, and the future of the game in communities across Canada is even brighter."

"With the popularity of basketball at an all-time high in Canada and NBA All-Star 2016 coming to Toronto, this is the perfect time to partner with a leader like BMO," said NBA Canada Managing Director Dan MacKenzie. "In addition to aligning with our games and events, BMO will work with us to inspire Canadian youth around the country to live a healthy and fit lifestyle through our Jr. NBA program."

To develop basketball in Canada further, BMO will serve as an associate partner of the NBA Canada Series. The NBA Canada Series is a slate of preseason games played across Canada that celebrates basketball with live NBA action, interactive fan events and community outreach programs. The NBA Canada Series games held in Montreal were the most attended NBA exhibition games in the world the past three years, and the 2014 NBA Canada Series games in Vancouver and Montreal were both sellouts.

The NBA, founded in 1946, is a professional sports league and global business that features 30 teams in the United States and Canada. During the 2014-15 regular season, more than 300 games will be broadcast nationally in Canada on TSN, TSN 2, Rogers Sportsnet, Rogers Sportsnet One and NBA TV Canada. The NBA has 19 marketing partners in Canada with adidas, Air Miles, Bell, BMO Financial Group, Coca-Cola, Cisco, Diageo, EA, Footlocker, Gatorade, Kia, Kumho, Nike, Samsung, SAP, Spalding, State Farm, Take Two Interactive and Unilever. Through NBA Cares, the league and its teams and players have donated more than \$242 million to charity, completed more than 3 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 915 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play. NBA All-Star 2016 will be held at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, the first time that NBA All-Star will be held outside of the United States. There were a record 12 Canadians on opening night rosters for the 2014-15 season, more than any country outside the United States.