Patrick and Pardo were also involved in another professional project which resembled the hockey league, namely the European Professional Basketball League (EPBL) which was created in 1975. That league was mostly owned and operated by American investors. Les Patrick was general manager in the Brussels-based Belgium Lions while Carlos Pardo was co-owner of the Iberia Superstars, based in Barcelona. Pardo had also been involved in roller skating and was the director of the Barcelona Sports Pavilion where the 1951 World and European Roller Skating Championships had been held. The other teams in the EPBL were the Munich Eagles (based in Munich but playing in several other West German towns as well), the Geneva-based Swiss Alpines and the Israel Sabras, playing in Tel Aviv.

London Lions had played in the 1974 edition of the Tournoi du Salon de l'Auto in Geneva but in 1975 it was a basket tournament organised by the EPBL. Held in the Patinoire des Vernets, the Swiss hosts beat the Eagles 110-91 in the final while Belgium took third place after downing the Sabras 118-97.

A meeting about the European ice hockey league was held in London on 13 July 1974. The representatives included IIHF President Ahearne (chairman of the meeting), Lions' representatives Ziegler and Besch plus Göran Stubb from Helsinki. From the Netherlands came IIHF members F. Schweers, H. Hartekaas, H. van der Heijden and Mulhall; from Belgium J. Hanrez, J. Crombags and L. Patrick. Sweden were represented by IIHF member P.O. Wester and L. Norman from AIK Stockholm. Present were also Britons A.F. Weeks, W. McEwen and Wembley Arena manager J. Evans while R. Tratschin, Switzerland, had sent apologies for absence. The meeting mainly resulted in a press release two days later announcing the postponement of the European League until September 1975.
It was also finally reported that the London Lions would be absent from arenas during 1974-75 but returning for the start of the new European league in September 1975. Doug Barkley was back in Norfolk as general manager and coach of the Virginia Wings. By his side he had Al Coates as assistant general manager and it really seems as they were prepared to bring back the Lions since as many as 15 of them played with Virginia in 1974-75:

Mellor (73 games), Watts (70 games), Simpson (69 games), McCann, (65 games), Polonich (60 games), Jakubo (52 games), Shaw (41 games), Johnson (34 games), McCutcheon (30 games), Richardson (30 games), Pyatt (14 games), McKenzie (13 games), Clancy (9 games), Anderson (4 games) and Korney (2 games).

Three ex-Lions were found among the Top Ten in 1974-75 AHL statistics. With 31 goals, Mike Jakubo was the 10th best scorer in the AHL while Rick McCann (with 48 assists) came in 6th in the assist statistics and Dennis Polonich finished 9th in the penalty statistics with 194 minutes in the bin.

Meanwhile, two former Lions - Swedes Holmqvist and Lundström - played for their National team in the 1974-75 Izvestia Trophy. However, that national team league did nothing to prevent European players to become professionals. In 1972-73, the only European player who turned pro in the NHL was Thommie Bergman. In 1973-74, Börje Salming, Inge Hammarström, Tord Lundström, Ulf Sterner and Leif Holmqvist were added. As it were, the 1974-75 season saw the first large scale exodus when seven Swedes (twins Christer and Thommy Abrahamsson, Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg, Lars-Erik Sjöberg, Curt Larsson, Per-Arne Alexandersson), two Finns (Heikki Riihiranta and Veli-Pekka Ketola) and two deflected Czechs (Vaclav Nedomansky and Richard Farda) became pros, all joining the WHA except Alexandersson who were aiming for the NHL but ended up in the CHL. Why try to establish an American-styled professional ice hockey league and all that goes with it in Europe when everything already existed in North America?

And the Izvestia Trophy - won by Czechoslovakia - was no success among spectators and media so that format was dropped after only one season. It was not until the 1990s and the formation of the Euro Hockey Tour that a league with the four major European hockey nations found its final format. It usually consists of four separate tournaments, each played over a weekend - with the familiar format of Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays - and after the four tournaments have finished, the teams are seeded according to their respective combined point total from all four tournaments.

Bruce Norris' dream of a World Final also came true in a way but thanks to the WHA. Despite having eight Scandinavians in the line-up, the Winnipeg Jets (AVCO Cup champions in 1976) represented Canada in the Izvestia Tournament that December while the Quebec Nordiques (champions in 1977) did the same in December 1977.
A club team representing their country was exactly what the London Lions had wanted to do in the 1974-75 Izvestia Trophy.
The team representing Canada in the 1978 Izvestia Tournament was a selection billed the NHL Future Stars. That team actually reminded a bit of the London Lions with similar kind of players, i.e.minor leaguers dreaming of the NHL, and just like the Lions they had a Swedish goalie who had already made it in the World Championships and now wanted to turn pro. In this case his name was Göran Högosta and he had been the hero of the 1977 World Championships when Sweden managed to beat the Soviets twice. On their way to Moscow the Future Stars beat a Stockholm selection (with players from AIK, Djurgården, Hammarby and Huddinge) 8-2 at Johanneshov Ice Stadium on 14 December.

As early as in January 1974, Bruce A Norris said "If there's no league, there's no need for the Lions", and when the European league finally folded in the summer of 1975, so did the Virginia Wings. Eleven of the 1974-75 Virginians - including ex-Lions McCann, McCutcheon, Korney, Watts and Richardson - suited up for the New Haven Nighthawks (AHL affiliate of the Minnesota North Stars) in 1975-76, but that was the last time at least five ex-London Lions played together. A handful of the ex-Lions returned to Europe later in their careers. Tom Mellor played in Sweden (in Frölunda 1975-76) and so did Brian Watts (in Björklöven 1976-77) while Brian McCutcheon and Nelson Pyatt went to Austria (McCutcheon in EC Graz 1979-80, Pyatt in Wiener EV 1982-83). Pyatt also played two seasons in Germany (for ERB Selb 1980-82).

It took 20-25 years or more for other teams in the NHL to get involved with teams in Europe in ways that at least in part resembled the collaboration between the Detroit Red Wings and the London Lions. During two seasons in the mid-90s, Pittsburgh Penguins president Howard Baldwin also owned 50% of CSKA Moscow (a.k.a. Central Red Army) which were struggling after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The aim was to provide CSKA with Western sponsorship and much-needed capital, as well as providing the Pittsburgh club with easier access to Russian players. A developmental team named the Russian Penguins competed in the 1993-94 IHL season, playing one game against each of the 13 IHL teams, finishing with a record of two wins, nine losses, and two overtime losses.

The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), which owns 50% of the Los Angeles Kings, bought Eisbären Berlin (once the East German team Dynamo Berlin) in 1999. The same year, AEG started the Munich Barons, which became the Hamburg Freezers in 2002 before folding in 2016. AEG also owns 12% of Swedish Djurgården.
In 2011, the Toronto Maple Leafs formed a partnership with German team Adler Mannheim with a common prospect camp doubling as a foreign exchange program where the teams could send players and coaches back and forth during the off-season.
There were even examples where clubs in one part of Europe were setting up teams in another part, like the Newcastle Jesters which in the 2000-01 season were more or less a farm team of Jokerit in Finland, having the same owner (Harri Harkimo) and a similar logo (since the word Jokerit means Jesters).

London have had ice hockey teams named Lions for a long time and the latest version are the Lee Valley Lions, founded in 1984 following the opening of the 1000-seated Lee Valley Ice Centre at Lea Bridge Road in Leyton, East London. There's even a direct connection with the London Lions since Czech player Jaroslav Lycka, who did two seasons with Lee Valley 1987-89, played with the Prague All Stars against London Lions in November 1973.
The name London Lions even re-surfaced in the early 1990s as one of the select teams in the under-14 tournament Bill Glennie Trophy, organised by Londoner Lewis Stripp at various rinks in and around London. Bill Glennie was a Canadian who had played in the UK in the 40s and 50s.