i think an AFL club aligned basketball team is a good idea - whether it be NBL or not - but it is a good.

Basketball has proven to be a good "background" sport for footballers with aerobic capacity, team concepts, elevation and ball skills cultivated.

A lot of netball coaches like their players also playing basketball in the background as they are proven to be stronger at the ball.

I wonder if this was a way to get around United owners still owning the rights to the Melbourne Tigers brand.

Sounds like just an attempt by Cowan to get some more credibility to his bid. I imagine he burned more than a few bridges with the NBL

And I'm not sure Richmond are shining examples of great management?

But good on all concerned fro thinking outside the box

Seems to work well for the Euro teams.
If successful, perhaps it could create more stability for a fledgling club.
Not a Richmond supporter, but would like to see it happen.

Dazz, the NBL has been in talks with Cowan since the Dragons sunk ... but sounds like this bid is being driven by RFC and not him.

True, Richmond has been a basket case (pardon the pun) for a while, however they seem to have their act together in the past few years.

This is an intriguing possibility...

Perhaps a Geelong AFL/NBL team down the highway too, Bear ?

Um, well I have to say that although that would be a great idea in theory and god knows the CATS AFL club down here get so many $$$, they could afford it, I am not sure that they would be willing to participate.

I could be wrong, however the AFL club is seeking $9M or something currently, for another stadium upgrade, which is wonderful and I am sure will be backed up by our football loving council and government.

In the mean time we sadly have a lack of courts and no cooling in our stadiums for the kids who suffer in atrocious conditions with no relief and no obvious movement towards supporting basketball's development!

Maybe they can put that $9M into a new stadium for hoops and build it next to Kardinia Park, share it and we can all be happy, sure why not...

Real Madrid, Barcelona kinda model. Big fan!

Cowan has been pushing a rebirth of The Dragons for a while. Lack of success to me suggests The NBL are asking for some guarantees that he can't give.
Now he is apparently a major mover behind this bid,
and STILL wants to reuse the Dragons brand.

As for comparing Richmond to Real Madrid? ROFL

If The NBL thinks this is a good model, they should talk to Eddee. At least Collingwood have members and money.

Fair enough, but RMB have been around for 80+ years or something. So its hard to say why it was done, or why it worked. Point is that they are an absolute powerhouse in both sports.

If you went looking for a successful team to create an NBL team, I suppose AFL's not a bad place to look.
But is Richmond the best option for a Southern team?

I think bringing back Geelong would be good, but Ford are pulling out of Geelong so they's have to look elsewhere for sponsorship.

Maybe the NBL should bring back the "South Melbourne Bloods"?

The talks with the Tigers both teams have been mooted since Seamus's days. Nothing new at all TBH.

Were the old Saints who won the first couple of NBL titles affiliated with th Football Club ?

I have thought about this for Collingwood or to a lesser extent South Sydney Rabbitohs and how having an affiliated NBL club could help get more $ from sponsors and if spending say $5m on an NBL team and getting that back in added sponsorship (shared with current and new Collingwood/South Sydney sponsors then you'd imagine it would be a great investment and those sponsors keep their name out there for a whole year instead of just Footy season.

Reading this it certainly asks more questions than it answer but it could be a very exciting time.

I know that Nathan Tinkler has a bad reputation but his teams and the model in which he could run with sponsors would make bringing back the Falcons a lot more attractive then somebody starting from scratch.

I'd love to see more affiliation with say the North Queensland Cowboys and the Crocs and to a lesser extent the Taipans.

I've long wondered about Geelong Cats building a multi purpose training facility and having that be shared with a Supercats organization that they also run and with Ford ending the longest sponsorship deal in the world (I think it's been since 1923) having the ability to show sponsors all year round could be just the bargaining chip needed to keep them in the upper echelon of the AFL and with their winning mentality, passing that onto an NBL team could only be beneficial for the NBL and their fans

You raise a point there about cross code competing. If Geelong, Richmond or Collingwood did it in Melbourne, they could compete against an NRL affiliated team from up north.
Could have the Collinwood Magpies NBL vs the Brisbane Broncos NBL.