Home Game: Toronto Loves Basketball

Home Game: Toronto Loves Basketball chronicled the love story between a city and a sport. Even before the Toronto Raptors and the rallying cry “We the North”, basketball in Toronto was deeply rooted in the evolving social and cultural conditions of the city and its people. From the Canadian invention of basketball to the early women’s game in 1895, to the first professional game played by the Toronto Huskies in 1946, and the recent creation of the Toronto Tempo WNBA team, these milestones charted the development of the sport in Toronto.

The exhibition, along with a series of profiles on fellow Torontonians, explored how the relationship between basketball and Toronto was unlike any other in the world.

Home Game App: The Museum of Toronto partnered with Dr. Sarah Bay-Cheng, Prof. Angela Norwood, and her students in the Design Lab at York University to develop an app that brought basketball history to life through augmented reality.

Through the app, visitors could custom design their own basketball jersey and view contemporary and historical game-related objects — including the first Toronto Huskies game ticket and the Scarborough Shooting Stars trophy.

In addition to the app entry portal at Harbourfront Centre, three off-site activations were connected via the Home Game app, allowing fans to learn more about Toronto’s basketball history and share their own basketball memories through the AR experience. These included:
– Pan Am Centre
– York University, Vari Hall
– Regent Park Community Centre