Anonymous
Years ago
Stratford: I don't mind losing money for a while
Some quotes from a slightly old ABC article (February 2018), but some positive quotes there from the Hawks owner.
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Mr Stratford said his passion for the team had helped offset the financial struggles that had always plagued the Illawarra Hawks.
The club has always been one of the poorest in the national competition, and it has struggled for consistent large crowds for the past decade.
"We have definitely been losing money on the investment, but you accept that in some business decisions, and some you win and some you lose," he said.
"It's a business first and I'm starting to get a good passion for the Hawks, and I've recently purchased a property down there to be closer to the team so I can stay after games at functions and meet members.
"I don't mind losing money, but you can't keep losing money forever."
Mr Stratford and Mr Spenceley are using the announcement to encourage Illawarra residents to attend Hawks games.
"We'll look at ways to bring more crowds to the game and get more corporate dollars down there," Mr Stratford said.
"We like the way [NBL owner] Larry [Kestelman] is taking the game and if we hang in there, it will go in the right direction, but for us to hang in there we need the crowds.
"There are 200,000 people in the Illawarra and there should be no reason why we can't get 4,500 people there at the games."
