![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_1786-1.jpeg\")
Alon Kremer, Matan Adelson and Gal Mekel – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cI met Gal when he was playing with the Dallas Mavericks and they were in Los Angeles,\u201d Adelson began as he introduced Mekel. \u201cWe rekindled our friendship when I came to Israel and it was clear that early on that he resonated with my vision and had insightful ideas as to how to achieve my goals which instilled great confidence in me that he would bring tremendous value to this team. Gal has proven to be a great asset to the basketball world and he was one of the few people who encouraged me to take this journey and not to back down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlon returns to Israel and brings with him a wealth of sports management experience gained during his tenure at the NFL,\u201d Adelson continued. \u201cAlon spearheaded key initiatives and projects in ticketing, fan engagements and sponsorships supporting all 32 NFL teams. He demonstrated commitment to success within a diverse and dynamic sports ecosystem. Alon\u2019s expertise and driving innovation optimizing club performance makes him a perfect fit to springboard Hapoel\u2019s growth and navigate Hapoel\u2019s future. I\u2019m confident that under Alon\u2019s guidance our club will soar to new heights, embracing innovation and redefining success in many ways that will ignite the spirit of our fans and of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mekel, who not only played in the NBA, had a lengthy and fruitful career domestically as well as in Europe having won numerous personal and team awards and will bring many years of his on court experience to Hapoel Jerusalem, a team that he ironically never had the chance to play for.
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_1773.jpeg\")
Matan Edelson and Gal Mekel – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cI\u2019m very honored and excited about this moment and it\u2019s a privilege to join Hapoel Jerusalem a club that has a huge fan base and has a great tradition. I\u2019m very happy that I will be able to work with Matan and these amazing people in the organization,\u201d Mekel began.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really love the fact that a team like Hapoel Jerusalem is in a positon where the sky\u2019s the limit with an arena, fans and a tradition, the base is very good. What speaks to me most is the fact that I had been in the NBA and many top level European teams and now I have a chance to move to a club that is also first class organization. There were times that I was almost part of the club but it was a situation where they approached me and I didn\u2019t want or I wanted to be a part of the team and it just couldn\u2019t happen. I\u2019m happy that the circle is now closed and maybe it was just meant to be in this role and not as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kremer grew up in Israel and was a basketball fan from day one. After serving in the Israeli Navy, the Haifa native attended the Technion and then Harvard Business School where he earned an MBA in Business Administration, Management and Operations. At the NFL, Kremer was a key resource in finding solutions to be able to have fans in the stadiums during COVID-19 pandemic while also helping teams with attendance issues afterwards.
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_1781.jpeg\")
Alon Kremer – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cI\u2019m deeply grateful that Matan has entrusted me with this role and we share the same passion and vision to turn Hapoel into the best club in Europe. I am confident that we will lead Hapoel to a new and exciting era,\u201d Kremer stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learnt from the top sports minds and I knew that the day would come where I would return to Israel and come back to help take the sports in this country to the next level. Here I am today at Hapoel Jerusalem. We have a chance to turn the club into a huge winning team on and off of the court. The goal is to fill the arena with fans and I know full well as a basketball fan how important the experience is. I want to improve the fan experience along with bringing more advertisers and sponsors. I will work strategically to reach our goals and help have the club make a huge impact in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerusalem will be playing in the Basketball Champions League for at least one more season after having reached the final this past year but came up just short to Bonn. While the Euroleague is the goal for many basketball clubs and that is certainly one that the owner would like to reach, Adelson had mentioned in his opening press conference a couple of months that the club had an exclusive negotiating period to bring the Final Four to the capital city in the spring of 2024. However, while conversations with the BCL CEO Patrick Comninos continues there is still no deal in place.
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_1777.jpeg\")
Gal Mekel – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nMekel expanded a bit on Jerusalem potentially playing in continent\u2019s top competition, the Euroleague, \u201cAs someone who has been part of the game for years, that question has been around the club for many years and there are many things that aren\u2019t reliant upon us. The Euroleague is a big league with a lot of politics that take place off of the court, but we will do the best. Of course, the Euroleague is the goal but this year is going to be a transition season as there are many new people here at the club.\u201d <\/p>\n
One of the other goals that is at the forefront of the franchise is how Hapoel Jerusalem can become a household name not only in Israel with top of the level facilities, youth department and academy, but worldwide. The potential has been there for years and this is something that is now on the tips of the tongues of both Mekel and Kremer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no question that Hapoel Jerusalem can become a worldwide brand,\u201d Mekel stated. \u201cBut this is going to be a long journey and it won\u2019t be something that will occur very quickly. We want to take this journey together and take the club to the next level. We don\u2019t have to look at others, but to be the best that we can be and as Matan said that we will try to reach the highest of heights that we can. We want to really build a plan to develop players and build a state of the art training facility that has never been seen in the country. We want to make sure that every player should feel that Hapoel is a special club.\u201d
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_1782.jpeg\")
Alon Kremer – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nKremer who also wants to take advantage of technology that exists to help the club added, \u201cMy time in the US was to learn from the best, whether it was in the business or sports world. I\u2019m going to try to find that bridge between the two. I understand the mentality here and the way we have to think outside of the box. I want to take sports in the country to the highest of levels. We want to do this right but also the right way. I have a plan as to where we want to go this year, in three years and in five years which is to turn Hapoel Jerusalem into the best sports club in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adelson has promised Kremer the necessary resources to succeed and said clearly that he spoke about that at length with the new CEO and that the club will be looking to hire people for additional roles as well as to expand the management and business team.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs someone who grew up on basketball, Jerusalem was a team that we looked up to. I\u2019m still new to the market and I don\u2019t yet know what it\u2019s strengths and weaknesses are, but the first thing is to listen and learn about those in the market. I want to take the good things and improve what we have but this is a process, however, there is no question that the team that represents this city has to be important.\u201d
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_1787.jpeg\")
Matan Adelson – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nWhile winning games is definitely a goal, Adelson doesn\u2019t want that to be the be all and end all as to how the club will measure success, \u201cI don\u2019t think there is a straight forward answer to that question. I think that we strive to see success every day and success doesn\u2019t need to be a championship, there are a lot of small successes that lead to a big success. In terms of timeline, every day you can see success, every month you can see success, obviously every season we want to win titles, that is what we strive for.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I don\u2019t think that there is a clear framework for every season we want to look back and see if we had a successful season or not. I don\u2019t think we won\u2019t have that exercise every season. We\u2019re focused on being the best team we can be internally, and we are not trying to compare ourselves to others. We\u2019ll define success for ourselves, but it won\u2019t come in one form and it won\u2019t come in one set of timelines. It\u2019s really going to be an ongoing, continuous measurement.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hapoel Jerusalem continued to make its mark on Israeli basketball as new owner Matan Adelson added a pair of critical people to the club\u2019s staff. Former Israeli star Gal Mekel joined the team as a basketball consultant and minority shareholder while Alon Kremer takes over as the Chief Executive Officer after a decade in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":93540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5776,24,96],"class_list":["post-93548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-land-hoops","tag-alon-kremer","tag-gal-mekel","tag-hapoel-jerusalem","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n