I wrote this to Pete Babcock

[Guest]

Dear Mr.Babcock

Has the Hawks considered getting a new marketing

team?Lee Douglas or whatever his name is clearly

does a poor job of marketing the team.The Marketing

team needs to take a page from Mr.Blank the owner

of the Atlanta Falcons.

Phillips arena needs to be a fun place to be...The

high ticket prices are too high and the Hawks need

to start reaching out to a younger group.

Just a few suggestions as it pains me(and I'm sure

the players)to see attendance dwindell to 6,374.The

team has never been known for selling out games, but

we have to atleast figure out how to get the fans

we lost in the Smith/Mutombo era.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I doubt it will do much good,but we need a new marketing

team.

[chillzatl]

This team is marketed just fine as it is. The only thing that's going to help them get more fans is winning and playing exciting basketball. There are hawks billboards all around Atlanta. I see and hear Hawks commercials constantly. they are being marketed as well as you can market an up and coming team.

Say what you want about arthur Blank. But had the falcons came out and gotten crushed in their first few games, they wouldn't be selling out either. Winning, or at least playing exciting ball, does that. So unless Mike Vick suits up in a Hawks uni, the Phil will be empty until we get some more wins and make a name for ourselves.

[Guest]

What about the rest of GA?Living out here in west

GA you can't find Hawks stuff ANYWHERE.There is

more to GA than just the city.

[chillzatl]

but seriously. I see Hawks stuff all over and I travel all week long. It's going to take winning and playing good ball. Once they do that consistantly, the fans will come.

[Diesel]

We had winning and good basketball when we had Nique.

We were a constant playoff team when we had Lenny.

On both occassions, the fans never got behind the Hawks. Atlanta is a fickle city with a lot of transplants. However, other sports have gotten fans to come out by good marketing.

The Tomahawk Chop

2 Legit to quit

The Dirty Bird.

All great gimmicks... But even before that, there was pride. The owners or coaches showed pride. The Hawks don't have that. AOL can't invest the time into the Hawks like Cuban does the Mavericks. They Hawks just need new ownership that puts the team and the city first. Then come the gimmicks. Then weather we win or not, we will have the fans.

[chillzatl]

[censored] that was the only time in Hawks history that they've had good fan support. Because they were exciting to watch. We didn't have many fans in the Lenny era becuase their style of baskeball was boring for the average person to watch. That's why I said exciting.

Mike Vick is exciting to watch. That combined with wins = sellouts. If they were a losing, scrub team, they might still sell lots of tickets on Vicks name alone. But they wouldn't be selling out. If this team shows it can win and play an exciting game of ball, consistantly, the fans will come out.

[MoonKnight]

[Diesel]

I remember going to games and picking my seat when we had Nique. Right before Fratello left.

I remember the lowly Weiss yrs.

As far as boring under Lenny, what about his first yr with Nique? That was far from boring. Probably the best team we have ever had.... Then Indy comes in and they have more fans in the OMNI than we do for playoff games.

[PoppaFritz]

Maybe that's why the Hawks made the playoff guarantee, they knew that if the Hawks don't make the playoffs they won't have to pay back very much since there are only 5 people with season tickets. That sounds like brillant marketing to me.

[Guest]

If it was somebody elses team I'd be laughing

at that comment.