Three weeks to cut a deal for a Melbourne team: How Craig Hutchison expanded his sporting empire
Ten months ago, Sports Entertainment Group’s CEO Craig Hutchison was in London trying to put together a bid for a netball licence on the fly.
The media mogul and broadcaster was not only looking to add to his sporting empire at a time when his company was mired in debt, but at a time when Australian netball was in crisis. Collingwood, run by one of the country’s biggest football clubs, had collapsed, Super Netball was losing money and the sport was locked in a bitter pay dispute with its players.
The Mavericks huddle at last month’s Team Girls Cup in Sydney.Credit: Getty Images
And yet for Hutchison, buying a netball team made sense. The new club, which replaced the Magpies in the Super Netball league, could be marketed through SEG’s existing media platforms. The national sales team could sell sponsorships – he says there are 12, so far – while the team would deliver more broadcast content for the 24/7 SEN radio network and podcast channels.
“Of all the things that we’ve put ourselves into, it feels on the very lower end of that [risk], like I’m probably a bit naive,” Hutchison told this masthead.
“We look at it and see nothing but possibility and positivity. We often wonder why we get asked so much about the why [a netball team], or the risk.”
On Sunday, the Melbourne Mavericks will take to the court for the first time against cross-town rivals Melbourne Vixens, eight months after Hutchison finalised his bid for the licence after consulting a business contact in Ireland.
“It was just wild, that two, three weeks trying to make the deal happen,” said Hutchison.
“In a perfect world, you have 18 months to two years to build a sporting team – the way the Tasmanian AFL are doing it is better, [that] is the right way – the impractical way is to fill a void and run quickly.”
The players will take the court in pale blue dresses emblazoned with sponsorship logos, determined to succeed where Collingwood couldn’t.
Defender Olivia Lewis, recruited from the Vixens, said the risk in leaving an established club for a new one had played on her mind.
Tayla Fraser of the Mavericks.Credit: Getty
“I think it crossed everyone’s mind, you know, especially given such a short timeframe that the club kind of had to build from nothing essentially,” said Lewis.
“That was definitely a risk that played out but I think that the job that they did in presenting the plan and their vision for the club gave me a lot of reassurance.”
Part of this, said Lewis, was the success of WNBL team Bendigo Spirit, which Hutchison’s company acquired the licence for in 2022, three months before their first game. SEG also own the Perth Wildcats in the NBL and NZNBL teams Otago Nuggets and Southern Hoiho.
“They [the Spirit] went from like 70 members to nearly 1000 members in the first season, the way that they were able to grow a club from nothing in a shorter period of time … It was reassuring to know they weren’t just taking on a netball team just ’cause [but] they’re putting a lot into it and they were going to invest a lot.
“Knowing that was super important before signing on ... It definitely reassured me and made me feel like, ‘Yep, it’s not going to be a Collingwood 2.0.’ ”
Hutchison did not elaborate on SEG’s financial position other than to state his view that a partnership with netball would be mutually beneficial. In February, this masthead reported that the group had two months to pay down $7 million to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia after agreeing to an extension of its debt facility. This followed a move to raise funds through the sale of shares in its sporting teams business.
Netball Australia, meantime, is under new leadership following the departure of chief executive Kelly Ryan and various board members, with Stacey West stepping up as interim CEO.
Hutchison said netballers were “great marketers and all quite independent thinkers” who could sell the sport.
“We want people to be able to see themselves on the floor,” he said. “We’re trying to appeal to a different part of the market ... and the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.
“We think Netball Australia and netball in general have got huge upside and as kind of investors in the sport, we see that as part of the opportunity. How do we help grow it?
“And yeah, sure, we want to try and benefit from it along the way as a club and as a business, but we want to put in first and grow and develop more interest and appeal and be part of the journey.”
Mavericks captain Amy Parmenter, a tough wing defence who joined from the Giants, said she wanted to step outside her comfort zone, “and I can tell you, I’m doing that every day at the moment”. They are coached by Tracey Neville, the architect of England’s 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medal and a former assistant coach with Adelaide Thunderbirds who won last year’s Super Netball title.
“When does an opportunity come where you get to write the blueprint for a new franchise,” Neville, the sister of English soccer greats Gary and Phil Neville, told the ABC when she made the call to join the then-unnamed Mavericks. “It’s an opportunity for players, staff and even myself to create a legacy, create history for a club that’s just on the start of its journey and that’s so exciting.”
Tracey Neville, head coach of the Mavericks (left).Credit: Getty Images
The Mavericks have already faced adversity before their first game, after players Lauren Moore and Sasha Glasgow were injured in the pre-season.
Moore was ruled out for the season after rupturing her ACL, while Glasgow fractured a leg in a pre-season match. Replacing them are South African national squad member, Rolene Streutker and former Collingwood shooter Shimona Jok.
Lewis echoed Parmenter’s analogy at the Mavericks’ launch: “It’s like we’re building a plane and trying to take it off and people are shooting missiles at us.”
The Mavericks, with the backing of Hutchison, are determined to do things differently.
“We haven’t been encumbered by history. So we’ve been able to build quite a modern, progressive 2024 women and sport team,” he said.
Lewis added they want to create an experience at their games where “you don’t have to be a netball nuffie to go and enjoy a game”.
“They want to kind of, not mirror, but take inspiration from the NBL product and game-day experience, that makes it a really exciting, fun, entertaining [atmosphere] … It’s just a really exciting and fresh way to look at netball ... there’s a lot of untapped potential,” said Lewis.
The Mavericks’ first game is against the Vixens on Sunday, April 14 at John Cain Arena.
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