Here we go again

Maybe give the license to Canberra.
would make the wnbl transition easier also.

Twin City Hawks.

All sponsors pulled out, every one was quitting, walking, the existing owner had nothing left and was asking for a fortune to sell. I'd say job done, bring on the new owners, I’m hearing there is American money involved. It will be interesting to see how the covid 19 plays out now with the world shut down. Campbell was doing ok, yes the WEC does have to fix the roof but other than that it’s as good a venue as Cairns, Adelaide or even Brisbane.

Matt Campbell did help save the NBL, never forget that.

Wow isn't Lovebroker a salty prick.

Those cliches should help.

For a Lovebroker he has a lot of hate. Relax mate, it's just basketball.

First of many to come.

At least LaMelo was great for the brand and bottom line.....oh wait it was a gimmick that didn't work!

LaMelo packed them in every where, hawks were bad but with out him were putrid. He did his job very well. Maybe you should go back to watching nrl where iq is not requisite.

He might have been a gimmick, but he pulled the punters - from both here and abroad. Any sporting league in Australia would welcome a gimmick that provides them with an international audience.

Not sure how it's a failure on the Hawks behalf, he was offered to all clubs and nobody wanted him other than Illawarra. No brainer for them, they aren't flush with funds - like a few clubs - so why not take a free hit on a potential top 5 draft pick. They were never in it so it made logical sense to most.... Lovebroker, put the angry porn on, thrash one out and then maybe some sensibility and rationale might sink in. Then again, maybe not....

If Brooks doesn't go down so early, who knows. Would have hoped Boone was mega cheap but he missed a lot as well. They would have been better doing the Cairns route and getting younger imports invested in improving their stock for their next gig. A few bright signs in a couple of youngsters, but bad decisions by management.
Things don't look good after the world awakens from corona for most clubs, this would be sad.

"Would have hoped Boone was mega cheap but he missed a lot as well." There was the first mistake.

Some clubs can roll with those things easier than others - those with more moola can afford to spend on bringing in another high end import. Brooks wasn't paid at the high end of imports, it only came about because he had the same agent as Melo.

Good to see you ripped the head of your third nut and calmed down Lovey. Seems like this isolation thing isn't for everyone....

Would be a shame to see them go, they're like Cairns, you sort of want to see the underdog get up once in a while. Like a few years ago with Western Bulldogs and Leicester City winning titles.

Campbell is out?

Anonyhawk mentioned Moller. Why would you even suggest that name when if you did your research he's still under contract to the Kings. A prime candidate for the new Tassie franchise I would have thought. He's played 3 seasons there already.

Time to move them to Bendigo

Bendigo will never happen. Try Geelong or Ballarat, oh that will never happen either. Mildura? Newcastle? Canberra? Gold Coast? Nup. None of them will ever occur.

Could get lamelo back, Warriors scouts just called him out for all his many deficiencies lol

If players with contracts are asked to take pay cuts, you would think they will become free agents. Could be a lot more players available.

Moller contract was an option, wasn't it ? He’s a 3/4 more than a straight four. It’s a strange one considering he could not get back in side after injury.

Hawks will be fine now previous owner seems to have been driven out.

harry froling in for Andersen

Illawarra juniors is strong, always had good lot junior talent. It's has more money in the community now but is still more working class. The Wollongong entertainment centre is a reasonable basketball venue with a lot draw backs, no parking, overpriced and poor food ,overpriced venue to rent, though most clubs probably get ripped off . Beautiful beaches in summer time as well for free.

They can put a reasonable side together, not certain why no Naar unless he’s got a better offer elsewhere. He has limitations but offers a bit. I can’t see Moller going there unless Naar there as both Sydney boys high guys. As a nsw supporter I have followed both clubs and thought Moller offered more than Cook last season. You would think Blanchfield would be in the side as well though they might be have to many guards/ threes so let him go and keep the younger players.

Campbell has done well under the circumstances and a bit more back up in the coaching ranks would be useful.

Import Naar
Dech Glover,
Moller Grida
Import S Froling
Ogilvy H Froling

Ball packed them in away from home as a one off but at home people didn't want to watch losing sh*t basketball as the gimmick wears off very quickly.

In the end the Hawks paid overs for Ball and its didn't produce winning or additional revenues so it was a disaster as money/time could have been better spent on a real quality import to help make them at least competitive.

The Ball thing also basically killed the team as he wasn't even training with them and off doing his own thing which didn't help them.

The Hawks are gone and the USA money isn't coming as the world is headed for a major depression due to COVID19

Wait, the club is on the verge of folding again, and people are posting their depth charts for next season? And they're basically the same team as last season that finished last?

Hawks won't existing in the next NBL as even the league running them means the league itself will be stretched too thin.

Most clubs expect a massive reduction in the salary cap and a hard cap for 2 years being put in place at level around the $400-600K mark.

Import / Naar
Dech / Glover / Vasljevic
import / Blanchfield
Import / Moller / Froling
Ogilvy / Salt

Illawarra community don't really support the team, it seems.

They had the biggest drawcard in the league and couldn't make much of it. And yes, Ball was a massive drawcard by every metric (except Illawarra crowds).

If you looked at the top regular season crowd number for just about every stadium it involved Illawarra. So that's actual bums on seats. They got the Facebook Watch deal and they got the social media followers.

"Most clubs expect a massive reduction in the salary cap and a hard cap for 2 years being put in place at level around the $400-600K mark." It was never enforceable previously why will it be now?

NBL season normally goes from October to February. It's possible that crowds will be back by the this time?

Can't see to many clubs being able to afford three imports, if salary cap does come in how do clubs like Melbourne get under it when they got McCarron, Prather, Illi, Lucual already on their books. There is 1.5 million there already, Perth also be in trouble, Cotton, Kay on big bucks.

Man those 4 players would be lucky to be on $1mill collectively. $1.5mill is laughable and if they are on that then that shows you how much of a joke the NBL 'soft cap' is.

Just curious what's the price for an adult ticket at home games for other venues.
Also what is the price on a beer?

Hawks tickets cost around $28-30 and a beer costs $8.80 from memory. Correct me if I’m wrong.

I honestly think it comes down to price of things. Also have a small stadium of around 4000.

If LK or new ownership bought the stadium or land to build a new stadium and made prices a lot cheaper you’d easily sell out and membership would be better than it was this season.

"If LK or new ownership bought the stadium or land to build a new stadium and made prices a lot cheaper you'd easily sell out and membership would be better than it was this season." You can't be serious. It's Townsville revisited. Once was a good product and ran into the ground. Time to say bye.

I hope Hawks can work something out because there only club who started in 1979 which is amazing.

Otherwise if they can't work on reasonable prices for fans and their fans not attending then they should relocate to a bigger market like another Perth team or even Canberra if they have proper market.

Maybe Canberra-Illawarra Hawks.

Canberra team would be in same boat in a couple of years. What city would be a viable long term answer? Why not another Adelaide team while we're at it. A lot of fans disillusioned with Sixers, they can play at the Arena, kids free to boost the crowds. Sponsorship would be tough, but Sixers have been used to being the only team in town and are pathetic in marketing, social media etc.

Is this the same Canberra that last played in the SEABL and didn't win a game? Canberra basketball is arguably worse that the Illawarra region.

LoveBroker - Yeah I want LK to build the Hawks a new stadium but that's not what I said.

It's the reality for rural teams, the exact same thing is how a Tassie team is going to work. Haven't checked for a while but from what was said LK is trying to buy the Derwent to make it cheap for the Tassie team. As mentioned before WEC is way too expensive no fans want to spend that much to watch their team play, especially when their owner and management bring in shit players and have been too scared to sack the avg local players.

New ownership will do the club a world of good with the new times the NBL is in. I don't see why those are saying get rid of the Hawks. As much as I hate teams I don't want to see them gone. Why do you want to see an 8 team comp again when 10 teams is right there to be grabbed at?

I 100% agree with you, Hawks need to stay.

NBL can not go back to 8 teams. Hawks need to stay but if they can work out a better sponsorship for their stadium, things may work then.

But if it came to relocating I think another Perth team makes more sense because Wildcats have been dominating league the last 10 years. They have nearly 12,000 or more fans attending their matches. If the Hawks could even have half of the red army as a new team, financially they do much better.

But I'll rather keep Hawks and Perth team could be 11th team maybe one day, NBL needs to work with 12 teams if possible.

It's tassie, Wellington, Canberra,
Geelong,Newcastle, Gold Coast

NBL should put another Perth team instead of South East Melbourne Phoenix. Red army always attends their games, if there was another team I think some of members would switch. Because if I was Perth member I would want the luxury to move seats then be Jampacked with 13,000 people. Even if new team had 3,000 members that would better then what Phoenix could get weekly.

Phoenix usually only have 2,000 people attending their games.
I think bringing in another Melbourne team was 1 to 2 years early.
It has definitely affected Melbourne United's attendance with many empty seats.

In one way it’s good because we have the luxury to move around. Red army would be jealous we Melbournians have more space.

Moller might have a point to prove after being so good till injury only to be replaced by Cooks who's father is assistant at Illawarra. Lot kings long time fans not happy how that played out as Moller very popular and has game and the win loss ratio was much better with Moller playing. Cooks must have been paid big coin to join kings.

"It's the reality for rural teams, the exact same thing is how a Tassie team is going to work. Haven't checked for a while but from what was said LK is trying to buy the Derwent to make it cheap for the Tassie team." Which he didn't do. The Tassie Government owns the DEC now.
Illawarra on the verge of folding, Cairns and I hear today Adelaide are in doo doo. The first 2 are defininitely on the brink of being gone and there certainly has been talk about Adelaides finances for a long time now.

DJ Newbill will be in demand if there is an NBL next year so don't think the hawks can pay him what he'll command elsehwere.

Funny how The kings owner wanted to buy the Hawks franchise yet the NBL or should I say LK said no.

The NBL wants them to have new ownership yet rejects a genuine bid sounds like LK is full of s--t.

Paywall article. Worth a read if you can get it. (From The Herald Sun).

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/basketball/nbl-lamelo-ball-expresses-interest-in-illawarra-hawks-ownership/news-story/839e1bb11551d7543cb1a152d9f714ea

As to the post above, you are talking shit man.
"In an interview prior to the 2019-2020 NBL season, he was asked why he doesn't own Illawarra as a proud south coast boy, to which he replied: "Well, firstly, it’s an easy answer in the sense that no one asked me."

LK just wants a strong competitive competition, which he has certainly achieved so far. He does not care where they come from as long as they are viable.
Smith did not want to buy hawks just 25% share. It's probably smart not let him have it as if he starts to struggle financially it’s two sides that are in trouble.
The world of sport has changed in the last few months so no one really knows what is going to happen.
I believe that the Ball consortium are interested in buying a share of the new ownership group.

"I believe that the Ball consortium are interested in buying a share of the new ownership group." yep it's in the article above.

Anyone got the Ball takeover article?