This is the new Hawks ownership trying to find a fast fix to a decades old problem.
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The new NBL membership drive - dangling the carrot of returning the Illawarra name in front of fans if they hit a set target - is hoping to make up for time and goodwill lost, because of the breathtakingly arrogant NBL decision to take it away in the first place.
And it is a reflection of the lack of understanding those at NBL headquarters have of what makes the Hawks and sport in this region tick.
Dumping the name resulted in losing Multi Civil and Rail as a major sponsor, as well as other corporate backers like burger bar His Boy Elroy and the Illawarra Aboriginal Medical Service.
The number 4379 just hangs there, between now and presumably January when the NBL season tips off.
Sign up, or miss out on having the name back.
"Commercial blackmail" Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery called it on Friday.
Even if the punters vote with their wallets and hit the magic number - made up of the 43 seasons the Hawks have played and 79, the year the only remaining foundation club started - there are other intangibles.
There's also the need for "significant support from the local business community" which turned its back on the club just months ago.
Then there's the issue of the rise in ticket prices, which has raised the ire of many dedicated fans.
And at the end of it all, if the response fails to satisfy the new owners and the NBL, it will instead be your fault, our fault, as a region.
Of course, the sycophantic members of the media, both locally and elsewhere, will nobly push the cause along, wary not to bite the hand that might feed them.
It was only recently the Mercury's 'Put It Back' campaign was accused of just "trying to sell newspapers", despite the obvious community backlash and the anxiety about the Hawks eventually being relocated to Canberra, Newcastle or western Sydney.
The Illawarra Hawks' struggle to survive financially has been long standing, from the early Snakepit days, to the 'Save The Hawks' campaign, to the two rounds of voluntary administration to clean up the more recent mess.
But one thing is very clear, dumping the Illawarra name did not help to change that, especially when the Canberra solution collapsed.
To labour a point this column has made many times, the new owners were not the only viable bid on the table, unlike in the Arun Jagatramka, James Spenceley or Simon Stratford eras.
But they were the only bid willing to toe the NBL line and dump the Illawarra name.
So here we are.
The new owners have invested in on-court assets, but the onus is also on them to ensure the club's viable future.
It's our team and our town, but it's not just up to the fans.
