Apparently a consortium including Craig Hutchison

Hutchy already owns some if Melbourne lol

Of*

The latest newscorp article re Stan did rumour that there are a fair few looking to invest our buy up on NBL teams.

Did Hutch get booed last time he was in Perth and on the big screen in the stadium!!

Not sure this will go down well with the red army

Wait and See I guess.
Cats pulled out of last sale because they weren't happy, so can only assume that any new deal will need to pass the sniff test.

End of a great era, but it comes to all of us eventually, and Dr Jack has had a pretty good innings. 96*.

Hutchy bought a piece of United and then realised through his involvement in the league that the jewel of the NBL are the Wildcats.

His consortium is way more suitable than some of the other parties that made offers, including a not-for-profit organisation with no experience in running a real business, which was thankfully knocked back.

Crocmedia are awful and part of the death of journalism.

This could be the beginning of the end.

What is the first thing that new owners do? Bring in their own people, like the coach.

Dr Bendat was willing to spend to keep the club successful eg. retaining Cotton, willing to make mid-season improvements like Plumlee and Magnay.

Its a rare breed of ownership that is willing to not make money.

Yes, because if one thing has defined Melbourne United it's that they refuse to spend money.

Hutchy on footy classified certainly didn't hose down suggestions nor did he really express how exciting the finals series will be, he commented but you want him to talk about it more as he does own United

Hopefully Hutchy will bring some class into the Wildcats

Accordingly to ABC news it is not a done deal yet.

Stupid question, but are there any protocols in place that prevent an entity owning multiple franchises?

Yes I understand LK already set the scene with ownership of the entire league and United.

However I think one company owning 2 teams crosses a line.

What controls are in place to ensure the integrity of the competition?

You can trust Perth as a standalone entity won't lie down for anyone. However what if Melbourne need Perth to lose to get into the playoffs or get a more favourable playoff opponent? Or vice versa.

If the 2 teams are playing each other, how will we know both teams are doing their level best?

Eddie Groves owned the Bullets and Sixers at the same time so it has happened before.

I wouldn't be so worried about fixing games - penalties would simply too great to take the risk (legal and sporting), but I would be worried about an owner having a preference for one team over the other, and swapping around rosters to reflect it.

If an owner owned Perth and Melbourne (for example), you'd reckon there would be some business sense in ringing a few championships together to build up its popularity, with the thought that the Red Army would hang on and fill stadiums regardless.

For true integrity ownership should be restricted to a single team within a sport/division, just too much potential for trouble, and the look of it brings the league down regardless of other precedents.

Tonight's news clip about the potential Wildcats sale:
Link

Lovebroker's penultimate post is correct. I'd be concern about the motivation behind this bid.
You don't make money from an NBL franchise. Period.

Are they thinking they can somehow leverage this into a bigger presence in WA?
I don't know who else is involved in SEN, but Hutchy has no interest in Perth, so what's his motivation? If he thinks this will get him a seat at the big kids' table, he's severely deluded.

Clearly hutchy has interest in investing in the NBL - he must view it as having potential and being good for his portfolio of sports and entertainment.

I wouldn't be worried about the stake conflict of interest - we saw it with the likes of Eddy Groves, funnel some capital in and someone else make sure things go well

we saw it with the likes of Eddy Groves, funnel some capital in and someone else make sure things go well

JvG 2.0 is the new mutant strain that has latched onto ownership.

I suppose the positive side is that if it is Hutchy, it'll help to continue to grow league exposure.

what's his motivation?

Wa1sh, KMartin and Victor O1adipo may be wealthier than Dr Bendat (I do not know everyone's net wealth) but I don't see a deep level of investment and my initial assumption is that its a new play thing to them.

Grant Ke11ey cops a bit of flak here but he does SOME of the above and deserves credit but also falls short in other areas.

If there will be a statue of Damian Martin and Bryce Cotton one day outside Perth Arena I would hope there is one of Dr Bendat right there as well.

I couldn't post the second part of my post because it was blocked due to content.

The test above confirms that certain names trigger a block so I have had to change letters around.

Pobably because he is a minority shareholder of both clubs.

Probably*

"SEN has been making massive strides in WA for over 12 months. His business partners are Perth-based."

AND?

Still doesn't answer any of my questions
Hutchy doesn't like WA, and the feeling is mutual. So what's his motivation?

"partly owned by some of WA's wealthiest people." Who??
And why are the crawling under the rock with Hutchy?

Why would any of our billionaires want him heading up their investment.

As we have seen with Dr Jack and with LK, you need to be SERIOUSLY wealthy to sustainably back an NBL team. Dr Jack gives away tens of millions every year to the various cause he supports, is mostly a passive investor now, and his wealth still increases.

"Consortiums" worry me, because by definition they're made up of people who can't actually afford to drop what's required.
We've seen what happens with such ownership of other teams. It goes great for a few years (and in the past a few have even bought rings) but then they get tired of bleeding money.

We even saw here, when a well-meaning Vlahov & Longley vastly underestimated what it took to run an NBL club. They had some great and innovative ideas, but ultimately just didn't have the cash to burn.

" Hutchy doesn't like WA"

There is absolutely zero relevance in this statement.

You may live in a WA vs the World mentality but when someone's doing business, that kind of fan tomfoolery is irrelevant.

“ So what's his motivation?”

One assumes investment in a successful basketball club as part of his broader sports and entertainment portfolio where plenty of synergies exist and knowledge/resources can be leveraged.

That’s generally how it works. One sees potential, growth and capability to add value and one attempts to acquire.

"That's generally how it works. One sees potential, growth and capability to add value and one attempts to acquire."

What an unmitigated pile of drivel.

You don't make money from an NBL team. Never have, and never will.

And the corollary to that is that the NBL, and even the wildcats, aren't big enough to make much of a splash. So it's not as though having better access to the wildcats will open doors or SpringBoard their sports network endeavours.

" What an unmitigated pile of drivel."

That's called “ignorance” where you’re criticising something you don’t have basic understanding of.

Simply put, you’re not in a position to understand. So, with that said. If want to come out with brash statements like that, go off and become learned, then come back when you’re a mergers and acquisitions lawyer.

Or go into your little hidey hole.