NBL would consider Geelong team

If Geelong wants an NBL team in the future, it needs to get serious according to Larry Kestelman, and must have a venue capable of hosting at least 7,000 people.

“I think Geelong as a city deserves to have a venue .... what they have today is pretty average,” he told attendees at a Future Geelong event via the Geelong Advertiser.

“If it’s co-designed with us, I think it would be something very special.

“I don’t necessarily think that the venue needs to be in central Geelong, it can be a little bit outside of Geelong and capture a lot of that corridor through the west.”

The Mayor of Geelong, Stretch Kontelj, agrees and says an elite indoor stadium should be a priority.

“The project is a critical ingredient to raising Greater Geelong’s profile as a major events city,” Kontelj said.

Demand for more facilities in the region is at an all-time high, with more kids playing basketball than ever before.

“What (the Geelong Cats) does in the winter I think we can do in the summer,” Kestelman added.

“I do believe if the right venue was there we would seriously consider a licence. We want to have a discussion with all the authorities as to how we can help contribute … and start a project of seriously assessing how that can happen.

"We’d like to work together with government, council, potentially even the Geelong footy club and find the right solution for where it should be.”