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Haines biggest fears are failure and losing

by Mac Claire, www.ABAsite.tk
July 28, 2004 - American Basketball Association (ABA)
Maryland NightHawks


In what I hope is just the first of many interviews with ABA team owners, I had the pleasure of talking with Andrew G. Haines of the Maryland Night Hawks. I hope you enjoy.

Andrew G. Haines has experienced plenty of business success in his young life. Currently, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania native owns a business that runs professional football combines, and he runs his own advertising agency. Until recently this New York Knicks fan also owned a leather business. With all of his success, one may wonder why would he take the risk involved with a professional basketball league that has lacked stability in its first three years of existence?

Mr. Haines had ideas about getting involved back in the league's first season when it was ABA2000, but didn't like the business model. However, since then, there have been improvements. "They (the ABA) revamped the business model," he said from his cell phone somewhere in Washington, DC. When asked again about the risk, he admitted that the ABA has had its "rocky points," but he added that the success of any franchise depends on, "the people that you have in place."

The people he has in place are Leah Haines, VP of Finance, Will Rankin, General Manager and Director of Player Personall, and James "Twiggy" Sanders, a former Harlem Globetrotter who will be the coach of the Night Hawks, along with assistant coach Ed Geth who was a member of the NCAA Champions North Carolina Tar Heels in 1993.

Mr. Haines said that he will be an active owner. "Look, teams fold every year, especially in minor league sports," he offered. A lot of those franchises fail because the owners let someone that is too young or inexperienced run everything.

When asked about the balance between trying to put a good product on the court every night and making a profit, he clearly said that he wants to win. He is not like Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers who never puts a good product on the court, but continues to make a profit each season. "I'm in this for the competition," he said. "Besides, I have this fear of failure and losing."

Some may know that Maryland was not the original destination for the Night Hawks. They were going to play in Hershey, PA in the new Hershey Arena located on the grounds of the amusement park which goes by the same name. "Hershey Arena didn't want competition for the ad dollar."

But why move into the back yard of Abe Polland and the Washington Wizards? Mr. Haines suggested that the NBA franchise is not a factor. "I view them as competition the way I view movies. Our product is different from theirs. We are minor league, so therefore we are more affordable, community friendly, and the whole family can come."

They may have a team there some day though," he stated, revisiting the topic of basketball returning to the town where Wilt Chamberlain and Al Attles combined to score 113 points against the New York Knicks one magical night in 1962. It would have been the perfect location as far as Mr. Haines is concerned. "The arena is twenty minutes away from where I live."

On the subject of expansion, Mr. Haines suggested, "I think for this season, we are fine. My only concern about fast expansion is that someone may fall through the cracks." However he also feels that this group of franchise owners is stable.

One can only hope that the healthy fear of failure and losing that drives Andrew G. Haines to be successful transcends throughout the entire league.

Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.

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