Despite the club reporting an improved financial position for the 2019/20 season, the team still lost almost $100,000.

- They have been losing money since 2016.

What does that mean? That the owner hasn't been putting capital in to reconcile losses?

Because they certainly weren’t making profit prior to 2016.

If the 36ers have made a profit in the last 20 odd years I’ll be shocked. Losing money is the standard nature of NBL clubs and the only way they survive is by rich owners pumping money in

Why do people talk about professional sporting clubs and say "they were losing money" as if that's some kind of great point?

Do some research. Most professional sporting clubs in this country are losing money.

eg: Of 9 Sydney based NRL clubs, 3 made a profit last year, 5 made a loss and one didn't disclose their result

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-moneyball-the-dire-financial-state-of-sydney-clubs-revealed-20200320-p54c71.html

That's not the problem with Hawks fans the problem is they don't even go when their team is winning, their crowds were still appalling in the 2016-17 season they went to the Grand Final.

"Despite being gifted the biggest drawcard last season they still managed to make a loss."

Almost as if building your team around an 18 year old who's not ready to win isn't the way to engage local fans despite all the social hype. Weird.

Campbell should be seen as a miracle worker for producing a result like that.

Campbell was the one who led the campaign to save the club in 2009. Talk about a loyal club servant.

Losing $100,000 on a season is an amazing result for an NBL team, even more so for a team that has had terrible crowd numbers for years no matter what their results. Campbell should be seen as a miracle worker for producing a result like that.

Now imagine if the the locals actually supported the team.

Wasn't there meant to be some sort of security funds that each club had to put up as to avoid this scenario and ensure they can pay their creditors?

What happened to that?

What was Illawarra's average crowd size last season? 3k? It seems pretty easy to take pot-shots at an organisation without knowledge of the details, expecting a winning team on a shoestring budget, all while the community did not sufficiently support the club's financial position.

Sydney Kings owner? haha

Lovebroker will be gutted when they survive...with Campbell in charge. He'll go on a twitter rage for the ages.

I made a mistake in the opening post, happy to own it.

I did not lay any blame on the trash supporters, which makes it look like I lay is all on the management.

The supporters must share a lot of the blame for this scenario they find themselves, they talk the talk when they say I want to keep the Hawks, but go MIA when its time to do the walk.

There seems to be some defending the Hawks management, which I can understand to an extent.

But the Hawks consistently get assistance in the form of equalisation payments which lifts them up to the Salary Floor, and then Lamelo Ball.

Even with this help they refuse to help themselves, a) by not replacing Brooks b) when forced replacing them with Hobson and Preston.

This is also NOT the first time this organisation has gone under VA, they did it before and wanted to not honour entitlements, Gordie left after that citing the Hawks' actions were no longer in line with the values he and the Hawks previously shared.

https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2015/06/22/4259417.htm

You made a pretty poor post bro

C'mon Lovebroker & other Hawk dumpers,

1) Campbell did amazing work to work with a reclusive, reluctant owner & still almost break even.

2) Owner wouldn't part with $$$$ to replace Brooks & without insurance on Brooks, he would've gone even broker!

3) Then the NBL basically forced the club to take those two numpties... at the expense of developing the younger brigade

4) Those Monday games were tough for fams with kids & fans in general. IT was a disastrous & disgraceful, inequitable draw from the get go

5) Every gave it to Flinny, but would any other coach in the league have been able to do better with the cards they were dealt?

6) The new ownership group has the perfect mix & WILL be 1000 times better than the predecessors.

The Hawks will bounce back better! : )

Don't really get all the hate for the Hawks. Sure, they're not your multi-million dollar glamour team. And, yes, they are going through a sh!tstorm at the moment. But, hello: Sydney? Brisbane? Melbourne? Yeah, they're back in now but they went out with crowd pools of 1,000,000+ people and capital city venues. The Hawks have 300,000? spread a long way down the coast. So, if your criteria is that a team should be kicked out completely and forever, get rid of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. But if an new owner can found who is willing to put money in and clear the debts, then the Hawks do still "deserve" their place in the league, along with everyone else.

If a new owner cannot be found (or if the NBL doesn't torpedo any deal?) then so be it. The Hawks go the way of the Cannons, Falcons, Supercats, Devils, Sydney, West Sydney, all the Melbournes (Giants, Spectres, Saints, Tigers), Bearcats ect ect.

Fans like me will be disappointed. (And please don't lump me (and people I know) in with "fans" who never showed up. They are not fans. We went to every home game (and some away) and have done for years. Through thick and thin, Through good draws and bad. Through club ownership, private ownership, community ownership, private ownership.

And dumping on Matt Campbell's efforts? As others have pointed out, he was a driving force to keep the Hawks in last time. And the Hawks then proceeded to make finals and a Grand Final. Their on-court performance this year was ordinary. Losing Brooks hurt. The replacement process hurt. Lamelo pulling the pin hurt. But I had a look at the record books. In every year, at least one team has finished last. In the last few years, the Hawks have made the finals more than some other teams. If on-court success is the sole determinant, next season let's all watch Perth play ... Perth ...

Other things:

the Coach. You can't sugarcoat it. Matt Flynn showed himself as a former player who couldn't seem to make the jump to coach. Look at Scott Fisher and Andrew Gaze as other examples. Maybe his niche is as an assistant coach. That "stunt" with the whiteboard and laptops going through the imports, after Brooks got hurt, was ordinary. It was probably meant with the best of intentions but came across as amateurish. And didn't result in any outcomes. Until Preston/Hobson.

The venue. It sucks. The Hawks (and fans that do go) are screwed by them. It's not the Hawks fault that there was a leaky roof. Gladys can spend $100s of $1000000s on Sydney venues, but not a few shekels to revamp the WEC. And that wouldn't change how the venue is managed. It might've even resulted in cost increases to recoup the "investment". And their "coffee" is pricey warm frothy dishwater. (However, WEC is in a good location, near the beach and a restaurant precinct, so not all bad)

Imports: touched on above. Brooks was starting to show what he could do, then got injured. The replacement process was ordinary, to say the least. You can blame the budget, but the Hawks have unearthed some pretty good imports over the years. This wasn't handled well. Knowing what we now know about the financial situation, perhaps the provider of the finance was interfering more than he should have and he hamstrung the coaching staff? I don't know. But it didn't look good and didn't end well.

The "fans". I don't know why so-called fans don't go. I'm not one of them. People I know are like me and have gone for years, some driving up from Shoalhaven and Kiama, and down from teh Highlands. So, it's down to people who live in Wollongong who don't go. You can blame the draw with the Monday night games (and many have) but the NBA draw big crowds through the week. Our footie codes can draw people mid-week (but they do have a bigger presence in our social fabric) and even their mid-week crowds are not as big as weekend crowds.

Media: the local media is pretty good. They get good coverage in teh local rag and on the local TV station. Former news presenter, Geoff Phillips, was a long term fan and they used to have some basketball people at the Mercury. So, we can't blame that for the "fans".

2c.

Every NBL team loses money every season except for Perth and occasionally Cairns.

The NBL would be poorer without the Hawks.

Pity they couldn't just keep that young core together and develop. I understand the Ball experiment - just a big distraction and they could have perhaps just gone all in behind Brooks and another shooter.

Hawks only lost $100k last season? So better than all teams not called Perth and people are still dumping on Campbell.

Local media down here was reporting recently that the WEC had lost it's licence to hold events with crowds over 1,000 due to multiple issues

If the Hawks survive they should go back to the Snakepit. NBL players would love the beer showers from the bar haha

I don't think Perth even really make profits these days? Perhaps breakeven?

Cairns are known to be a well run community club, but one would imagine they are in the precarious situation of spending roughly what their revenue is to ensure they can compete as best possible but not go broke. If they get the balancing act wrong, or something unpredictable affects them (like Corona), that could pretty quickly put them in trouble, hence the aim to get private ownership - allow them to spend more and take bigger hits.

Illawarra, perpetual $$$ loser, crappy stadium deal/infrastructure. The fact they've lasted this long is a testament. Almost every club has died or struggled. 36ers have had multiple of these close deaths.

36ers, definitely losing money. GK is plowing money in but there needs to be a leveling asap. The Ent Centre is intended to deliver that: higher crowds, better sponsorship. Don't expect 36ers to be in a "decent" financial position. Last year, they sort of were, this year unlikely!

I don't think Perth even really make profits these days? Perhaps breakeven?

36ers, definitely losing money. GK is plowing money in but there needs to be a leveling asap. The Ent Centre is intended to deliver that: higher crowds, better sponsorship. Don't expect 36ers to be in a "decent" financial position. Last year, they sort of were, this year unlikely!

above higher crowds at a higher rental cost to the Dome. No net gain financially but it does look better and is more convenient

They make profits they just understandably like to play it down

I thought Perth have stated that more recently they're around that break even mark if they make the Grand Final?

I don't think they're making the $1mil profit that occurred a few years ago.

They make profits they just understandably like to play it down in the media but it did get out that a year or two ago they made $1 million profit for that season.

The league is completely different now.

Way to miss the point.

Way to miss the point.

Not that because they simply aren't making million dollar profit.

I didn't miss it it was just poorly thought out.

Look I despise the hawks like most people with an average IQ but we do need them.
Its like the avengers without Hawkeye. Every other team is formidable in there own way and then theirs a dude in goggles that has a bow and arrow. But we all love how he tries and we make out like he helps the group but yeah nah...
I dont want to live in a world where you cant watch your team destroy a home side whilst dodging water from a leaking roof and a regular camera cross to an inbred wearing a stackhat with spikes glued on it... Please for those that are average we need an Illawara hawks in our lives to understand how far we have come since evolution.

The only teams to make more grand final appearances than Illawarra since 2010 are Perth and New Zealand.

And it's not correct

Anyone have access to this article?

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/6754485/ball-bid-for-hawks-ownership-in-jeopardy-as-nbl-changes-heart/

I also don't buy the idea that Perth are losing money or barely breaking even, outside of a rare season in recent years.

If the Hawks weren't a foundation team, I wonder if they'd already have slipped away.

What was their timeline after losing Lisch and Penney? When did they have that import who killed pre-season and then bailed?

That's a terrible factoid.

And it's not correct.

140k / 14 = 10k average not 11k

That's assuming that number is across regular season home games only and not finals as well

In any event, Perth not making $1mil profit each year doesn't mean they aren’t doing well especially given context of sporting clubs generally and NBL. I’m sure they decent financially.

Sydney have also done well to improve their crowds. Wouldn’t be surprised if they spent a fair bit though

I recall Perth saying their breakeven is very high, so they have to have big crowds just the breakeven.

They were able to do earn that $1m in the James Ennis year because the Sal cap was low (compared to today) AND they were getting great attendances, probably due to Ennis and they were winning.

Since then I can imagine that $1m surplus has been eaten up by a soft cap of $1.2 plus Cotton and Kay money plus any Luxury taxes.

I also don't buy the idea that Perth are losing money or barely breaking even, outside of a rare season in recent years.

the Sal cap was low (compared to today) AND they were getting great attendances