If Raptors had their own NBDL team, where would you want to see it placed?

[imanshumpert]

Despite my obvious bias, I would have to say Montreal would be a great choice. It's a big market, has proven to be a good draw for sports/basketball, and is close to Toronto to facilitate quick call-ups.

Montreal would definitely make the most sense.

There was a HUGE draw for the Knicks vs. Raptors preseason game in Montreal last year. I think a d-league team would do well.

[Kuh]

I'm kinda liking the idea of Rochester.
-They have the perfect arena for a hopefully successful minor league team (capacity about 13,000+). Wouldn't expect sellouts, but even half-filling that arena is pretty good.
-They are a minor league sports city, so no major league competition in the market.
-And their current minor league team, a PBL team (used to be in ABA), has reached the finals in every year since forming in 2006, so interest in the sport could be high right now.

You make a good case for Rochester. I agree.

[ABRealRaptorFan]

I think Halifax needs something to get behind. I fricken hope the CFL goes there soon. That city needs something other than the Moose

[knowledgep]

buffalo

[grindhouse]

scarborugh or brampton

[Roarque]

D League Team Location

The team should be located east of Toronto preferably on the coast. The time zones are important when calling up a player on short notice - you want them travelling west when that happens.

Vancouver would be perfect for me but I shouldn't be greedy.

[OldSkoolCool]

Honestly it doesn't matter, as long as we have one that we can control in terms of coaching similar plays so if we do call up a player they will know our offensive plays well.

Also I would love to use the D-League to grow European prospects. Build a winning D-League team for those European prospects to go into (winning breeds winning type program)

[white men can't jump]

Honestly it doesn't matter, as long as we have one that we can control in terms of coaching similar plays so if we do call up a player they will know our offensive plays well.

Also I would love to use the D-League to grow European prospects. Build a winning D-League team for those European prospects to go into (winning breeds winning type program)

If they're drafted prospects they might be ok with that, but for the most part, Euros will not want to leave Europe early. They make way more money over there compared to d-league. This is one of the major challenges for the d-league.

[octothorp]

I think Matt's entirely right about the Visa/Passport issues making a Canadian D-League team unlikely. But the other aspect of it is that with the current structure of the NBA/NBDL, there's little reason for fans of an NBA team to follow their affiliated D-league team because most times there's only 1 or 2 guys - at best - on the d-league team who have rights held by the NBA team. Why should I care about a team that has 15 guys that could be signed by any NBA team at a moment's notice, just because my team has the right to put its guys there from time-to-time? An Ontario-located team featuring 15 guys the average fan has never heard of, plus about 8 games of Dwight Buycks, isn't enough to make Raptors fans care about that franchise enough to turn on the TV, let alone actually buy a ticket.

Open up the number of players a team can have rights to... give them an additional 8 roster slots to use at the NBDL level in addition to the 15 spots on the NBA roster, make it easy for teams to move players between the two leagues (actually it's already pretty easy I think... easier than between NHL and AHL... just don't make it harder than it currently is), and people will start following the D-League much more closely.

[Hassan]

we should develop our players in the NBL Canada

[GoldenBaller]

But can a D-League team survive in a Canadian city? This is the big question. Canadians really in general just care about one sport, and that sport overlaps with basketball's season. And then there are logistics issues. Can they get good enough venues by D-League standards? What about travel? It's already a minor hassle for NBA and teams travel in luxury...this isn't the case for DL.

Having it just south of the border makes a lot of sense to me. For visas, for travel (both within league and if called up), for venue/attendance (and thus likely for revenues)...

I think it would be better in Canada.

Put yourself in American shoes if it were in the US. Do I really want to watch Toronto's D-League team?

Raptor fans aren't quite as worldwide as Blue Jay fans. So putting it in another country to me seems like a poor option. If it were in Hamilton or somewhere else in Ontario or Halifax, heck, even Vancouver there'd be so many Raptor fans pouring in because they can never make it to a Toronto game because It's so far away. It'd be a cheap, convenient way for Raptor fans to get a piece of their team close by. So that's why I think more people would go to it in Canada.

There are probably a bunch of reasons why NOT to put it in Canada like the ones you mentioned, but there will always be pros and cons.

[white men can't jump]

I think it would be better in Canada.

Put yourself in American shoes if it were in the US. Do I really want to watch Toronto's D-League team?

Raptor fans aren't quite as worldwide as Blue Jay fans. So putting it in another country to me seems like a poor option. If it were in Hamilton or somewhere else in Ontario or Halifax, heck, even Vancouver there'd be so many Raptor fans pouring in because they can never make it to a Toronto game because It's so far away. It'd be a cheap, convenient way for Raptor fans to get a piece of their team close by. So that's why I think more people would go to it in Canada.

There are probably a bunch of reasons why NOT to put it in Canada like the ones you mentioned, but there will always be pros and cons.

I find several flaws in this. Put yourself in American shoes, do you really want to play minor league basketball in Canada in front of 500 fans, having to get a visa, and go through customs every time you cross the border?

And Raptors fans are very worldwide. No one cares about the Jays outside of Canada. Baseball is not a global sport. And fans in the US are not very likely to care about the Jays, at least as much they are not likely to care about the Raptors. Seems to me you're really focusing on Canada-wide...and then sport popularity is far more important than team popularity. I'd love to see demographics on how many fans there are in each city for the Raptors in Canada. You still have to remember it's minor league. IF some cities can't sell out minor league hockey, including if they are affiliates of NHL teams, how the heck are they supposed to sell out D-League basketball? And if they can sell out minor hockey, what is left in the sports sphere for the minor league basketball club? It's not really a piece of their team. That's like selling someone white salmon. Nobody is going to be crazy enough to think it's anything close to the product they want. Casual fans won't care that much, and that's what you need, to build up a profile in a market where casual sports fans will develop interest in a minor league team. That's why the best choices are American cities where there's basically no chance of getting an NBA team, but where there might be a healthy interest in the sport.

I see far more pros to having it in the US.