Hoops

The Canberra Hawks / Cannons?

"As a Canberra basketball fan, I don't see the upside to this for us, the Hawks or Wollongong."

Ditto. No sense of being any part of it for Canberra people. They're treated as token fans. Plus it looks like being a mediocre team, so not a drawcard either. And Wollongong fans get their investment watered-down as well. Reeks of desperation to me.

This is a great move for the Hawks as there is interest in Canberra. Hawks have to try something new to attract supporters and sponsors. There is money in Canberra, but not enough to sustain a full time NBL franchise

Canberra also has a big enough stadium, AIS Arena can hold 4.5k people, lets fill that first before making comments about needing bigger stadiums. It's four games over the course of the season, if it works then the Hawks tap into a profitable market. Canberra has also embraced the GWS Giants, so there is no reason why the Hawks in Canberra wouldn't work. I travel from Canberra to Wollongong to watch the 36ers play, but there is no f(&king way I'd go to Sydney.

Wollongong to Sydney by car is around 90 minutes, Canberra is only an extra hour travelling and an easier drive along the Highway than having to deal with the headaches of Sydney traffic.

Wollongong people also travel, one of the biggest crowds the Canberra Raiders get is against St George with a decent percentage of supporters travelling from the Gong.

Tassie is close than ever now.

My first thought is yeah Canberra should host the pre-season blitz as that's a fun tournament and we get to see what interest is there.

Secondly and maybe I'm wrong but in the season after next we are expecting two more teams in the NBL and hopefully that means 4 more home games per season, if a struggling club wants to make it that way for a club then thats their choice but their fans won't be spending up big if they feel mistreated.

I'm much happier to hear Hawks going to Canberra rather than the Hawthorn/Tasmania bullshit of a few weeks ago

Living in Perth I laugh how everyone here claims how big AFL is yet can't even sell out a 60k stadium ever even for the derby which going by how the locals act is like the biggest thing ever. Clearly not.

How do you lose money on a 33,000 crowd? LOL

How would selling a home game in the NBL work? When Freo bought a home game off the Suns because the Commonwealth Games were on and the Suns had to give up their home ground, Freo lost a ton of cash to host their game. They also only drew 33,000 at the brand new Optus Stadium as members had to buy their seats for this game as it wasnt included in tbeir membership. But thid is the AFL where money flows a lot easier and costs can be absorbed better.

If for example the Wildcats bought a home game off Illawarra, then you'd expect Wildcats members would have to buy their seat for that game as it wouldnt be included in the membership. If that was to happen, I'd doubt they would get anywhwre close to the normal crowds they get as their stadium is usually filled with members and members might want to save their cash and not go.

Then what happens with sponsorship signage - will Perth Arena be branded with Hawks sponsors? I would doubt that but then whats in it for Hawks sponsors who lose exposure with one less game.

Does all revenue that the Cats raised go back to the Hawks? Yes the Cats are wealthy, but I doubt they would be interested in spending such a large amount of cash and the work behind it to make it viable.

Two Words: Canberra Giants

Bit of a back track now from the original article I posted.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/basketball/illawarra-hawks-confirm-nbl-s-push-into-canberra-20180510-p4zeku.html

Pre season games only now. Perhaps once the story got out. MC has done a backflip already?

Brisbane Bullets played Melbourne United on the Gold Coast this year. What size was the crowd? Smaller than Bullets games in Brisvegas I recall.

Brisvegas to Gold Coast is an easy drive in about an hour down a 4 lane highway. Trains every half hour etc etc.

Illawarra/ Wollongong to Canberra is a couple of hours or more driving. From Wollongong you need to hike up the mountain via Macquarie Pass. Great pie shop on the way, but not an easy drive. From the Shoalhaven you’ve got 2 significant climbs up Cambewarra and Barengarry mountains using an historic single lane bridge (or dodging ADF cars on trunk road 92)These roads are great for cycle training, but not easy drives to a “home game”. Public transport would be a bus/train ride to Fyshwick. As a result Canberra and the Illawarra/ Wollongong are really worlds apart.

I agree... no no no no NO...

Completely agree with ME and AD... If you want to take games elsewhere, do it in the pre-season... Taking a game away from the already small supporter base to give it to somewhere else, even if they (rightly) charge less for a season membership, will only have a negative result... The Hawks fanbase already have a chip on their shoulder about having less money than the big city teams to spend on players, you seriously want to give their fans less games per season!? No...

Sydney teams have done it in the past and they've played to small crowds from memory that actively cheered against them... Any old Cannons fans are gonna cheer and support a Hawks team? No... It might have been long enough that there could be a lot of new young fans that don't have that Cannons loyalty, but their parents, if basketball fans, would have a history?

I understand that a team needs to consider their options but taking games away from their fanbase isn't the way to do it as they just basically give themselves another Away game and potentially takes away the momentum from any home games success and support... They need to focus on getting more value for money for their fans at their home games...

@ Baller#3 can I ask where you're based? Just because different locations are both "regional" doesn't mean that they can work together and share a team... Crocs and Taipans fans especially...

@ Steve - this can never happen... The Shire is still Sydney and Hobbits really don't even like counting Menai or Engadine as part of the Shire, let alone anything from The Gong and the same would be the case from the southern cousins I would fully expect...

Did he just say wicked? O_o

I think this is the model more regional teams should follow. Would make teams more viable to have a larger supporter base split between two cities.

They are in no position to be picky right now, so anything that may help in any way should be welcome. However, there should be a longer term strategy that should be engaged sooner rather than later. More action, less talk.

Canberra's distance is significant enough that it will become a stumbling block once a certain treshold is reached. Southern Sydney on the other hand is much more viable. There has been several floated ideas about a second Sydney team for a while and the focus has been the western region.

The Kings no doubt will jealously guard their boundaries, but for the league, a viable Hawks franchise is important. Sydney is certainly a large enough city that can afford to share its southern market. No doubt there will be objections from Illawara locals about incorporating their snotty upmarket neighbours but the franchise survivability should supersede such sentiment.

Some form of regional rebranding would be required. South Sydney-Illawara Hawks perhaps? Once the regional connotation is set, marketing into as far north as Menai or Sutherland Shire may rejuvenate attendance & membership. Finding alternate venue slightly further north may become a future objective. Its something to consider & may not alienate existing members as much as other alternatives.

"Perth Wildcats forward Jesse Wagstaff rose through the ranks in Canberra and hopes it is his side that meet the Hawks should the NBL return to the capital.

'It would be wicked.'"

Did he just say wicked? O_o

"Launceston and Burnie"

You mean Launceston and Devonport?

I think this is the model more regional teams should follow. Would make teams more viable to have a larger supporter base split between two cities.

Wollongong/canberra - Southern NSw
Hobart/launceston - Tasmania
Cairns/townsville - North QLD

Obviously teams would train out of one location. Only games would be split.

Just makes sense for regional teams to run with a model similar to this in some cases.

Round 17 results will be published later today.


ROUND 18
Ox v BJF
Isaac v clarky
alexkrad v hendo8888
Pure Silk v Flinders80

FREE AGENTS
F ADEKPONYA, Matthew
F ANTHONY, Benny
F BALCOMBE, Jarrod
C/F BALLINGER, Adam
G BEAGLEY, Alex
G BLOXHAM, Josh
G BRUCE, Aaron
F/G CARTER, Zac
G CASSIR, Robert
F/G COMINO, James
G CROSSWELL, Nathan
G DALY, Tom
G DELANEY, Zac
F FOTU, Isaac
G GEORGE, Deba
G GLOVER, Showron
F GRUBER, David
F/G GYNES, Alex
F/G HENRY, Leon
C/F HINDER, Russell
F HIRE, Greg
G HUSSEY, Jackson
C ITI, Martin
F JACKSON, Daniel
F JAMIESON, Luke
C/F KERRY, Tanner
C LANG, Tim
G LYCETT, Matthew
G McDONALD, Shane
G MITCHELL, James
G NILSSON, Karl
G NORTON, Mitch
F ODIGIE, Owen
G PHILP, Mitch
G PREWSTER, Dion
F/G PURSER, Ben
F RATZSCH, Kevin
G SCOTT, Damien
C/F TRUEMAN, Jeremiah
G TUDEHOPE, Keegan
C VANDERJAGT, Greg
C/F VIGOR, Michael
F WARBOUT, Jan
G WEEKS, Jarrad
G WILCHER, Joshua
G WILLIAMS, Kerry
F/G WILLIAMSON, Drew
G WRIGHT, Tom