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Last season still bottom of the table, now a play-off candidate in sixth place: Bundesliga basketball team Hamburg Towers got off to a strong start to the season despite the 75: 95 home defeat on Sunday against the Niners Chemnitz.
According to managing director and sports director Marvin Willoughby, this is only the beginning of the Towers dream.
“Our plan is to become a basketball stronghold for Germany in the next few years,” reveals the 42-year-old.
“We have potential.
We want a bigger arena, we want to create the infrastructure and meet the economic requirements. "
Preparations are in progress in the background.
The district sports center is to be completed by the end of 2022 for just under 18 million euros.
Not only the office of the Bundesliga club will move there.
The sports facilities - from the Dreifeldhalle to the fitness studio - are primarily intended to optimize the work of youngsters.
The Towers have already proven that they can train young, talented players.
The 19-year-old playmaker Justus Hollatz comes from his own offspring and was nominated for the first time for the provisional squad of the national team in November.
In Ismet Akpinar (Bahcesehir Basketbol / Turkey) and Louis Olinde (Alba Berlin) there are two other German national players who come from the youth department of the Towers, but now play for another club.
Willoughby would like to further expand the youth work: "The next step would be a boarding school to accommodate top young players here."
"We are the coolest and coolest team in Hamburg"
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Another wish of the “towers” would be a larger venue.
The current sports hall in Wilhelmsburg only offers 3200 spectators and was sold out for two years until the season break in March.
There are great hopes for the planned Elbdome.
Willoughby's co-managing director Jan Fischer says: “For us, the Elbdome, with around 9,000 seats, is the ideal arena to meet the demand and enable even more Hamburgers to experience basketball live.” The hall project could be completed by 2024.
Estimated cost: around 150 million euros.
More spectators at the home games would ensure higher sales - and thus probably also for sporting success.
"The additional income would be the basis for us to get to the next level economically within the BBL and to take part in the European competition," reveals Fischer.
As of today, the Towers cannot keep up financially with top clubs like Bayern Munich or Alba Berlin.
According to matching media reports, the Hanseatic budget last season was five million euros and was reduced to 3.5 million euros in the course of the corona crisis in the current season.
According to Fischer, you are financially "probably in the lower third of the Bundesliga".
However, this is set to change.
Tomislav Karajica, the main shareholder of Hamburg Towers, dares to make a bold forecast: "In ten years the trophy cabinet will be reasonably full, and we are still the coolest and coolest team in Hamburg." The game awaits on Tuesday (8.30pm / Magentasport) at table leaders MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, however, a high away hurdle on Hamburg.