Atlanta Hawks: ASG says Hawks not for sale
AJC wise guy Jeff Schultz weighed in on the latest report about the Atlanta Spirit Group’s supposed desire to sell the Hawks. The New York Post says ASG is looking to sell Philips Arena and the Hawks as a package deal and wants to unload the Thrashers separately.
Judging by the sports radio chatter this morning and blog comments in the past, Hawks fans would love it if ASG sold the team. But each time these stories flare up, ASG owners (when they’ve addressed the rumors) have consistently denied an interest in selling the team and insist they only want to take on investors. Micheal Gearon Jr. and Bruce Levenson released a statement today:
“As has been shared publicly for more than a year, we are interested in finding minority investors and have engaged a firm to assist us in that effort. We have no plans to move either team, and remain committed to the Hawks, the Thrashers, Philips Arena and the city of Atlanta.”
That’s not exactly a firm “We don’t want to sell the team,” though Gearon also e-mailed WSB-TV’s Zach Klein and said: “I have no interest in selling.”
It seems fans who want ASG to sell are dreaming of a deep-pocketed owner swooping in to spend big money on the franchise and provide one, clear voice for the direction of the team. But the chances of that happening are slim even if ASG is willing to part with the team because, think about it, apparently ASG is having trouble even finding proverbial minority investors.
It’s not an easy sell. The new owner(s) would have to continue to take short-term losses while believing there’s a chance to make money in the near future, an iffy proposition in the Atlanta market. Also, there just don’t seem to be many rich people running around looking to buy franchises nowadays. As the Post story notes, the Nets got “lucky” to sell the team to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov after an 18-month search–and that’s a team in the New York market that eventually play in Brooklyn.
So whether ASG is looking to take on investors or, as the Post says, sell the whole dang thing, first they need to find investors or buyers. Good luck with that.
MC
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297 comments Add your comment
ryan
June 18th, 2010
4:21 pm
Atlanta needs a owner who spend money someone who has guts what is that saying to make money you have to spend money these owners are gutless and are afraid of secuss.
doc
June 18th, 2010
4:23 pm
ray
“This ownership group came in here and messed things up from the start. They have branded themselves as petty, cheap, and a million other things, and they couldn’t keep it out of the spotlight. That practically kills all kinds of marketing.”
yes ray, well documented in the press through court proceedings, wanted bottom dollar team and got a 13 game winner in the process. amen brother ben.
Clyde
June 18th, 2010
4:23 pm
Midtown Mike SMH
Big Ray
June 18th, 2010
4:24 pm
jroc ,
May not have a choice if Joe leaves. It’s not rebuilding, but it is more than just tweaking. Who then do we build the offense around? Larry Drew talks about an offense that has five guys on the attack, but even playing in his new system is gonna have its bugs.
Have to switch gears without JJ, like it or not.
jroc
June 18th, 2010
4:33 pm
Big Ray
Every system has its bugs just look at all 7 of the games between LA and Boston how the coaches made different ajustments and messed up each teams system.What matters Big Ray is how determined the players are to buy in to the coaches system.I looked at hawks.com and saw how exited the hawks players were with the hire of Drew and thats a good sign of better things to come.If most of the players feel that way no doubt jj feels the same way to.
Big Ray
June 18th, 2010
4:36 pm
Clyde
Heh. We have to be champions before the team can be. Like I’ve said a million times, see how well that philosophy works in New York….
JC
June 18th, 2010
4:38 pm
That’s absolutely true, Big Ray. On these threads, for every well thought out post on the effective utilization of Mo Evans off the bench, there are usually three misspelled posts decrying “Hawx suk, sign AI!” Luckily, they don’t read these ownership articles (too many big words).
I am proud that I know Zaza Pachulia is #27 without looking it up. I am glad the first time I heard about Larry Drew wasn’t a month ago. But I also know that not everyone shares my passions. And that while guys like Big Ray and myself crave nuance, the masses thirst for blood.
Unfortunately winning isn’t enough, at least at the level we’re winning at right now. We need sexiness to enfranchise fans. That’s the whole “Highlight Factory” mentality – don’t give me Tim Duncan solid fundamentals, give me dunk-in-your-face 360 circus slams. Give me names I hear about outside of sports. I’d rather look good and lose than win.
Ramon
June 18th, 2010
4:41 pm
Jojo, of course I would take that deal all day long.
Big Ray
June 18th, 2010
4:42 pm
Jroc
Love your “glass is half full” perspective. I hope you’re right. It was indeed good to see the players saying they’re excited about playing for Drew. Hopefully it translates into better team chemistry and guys actually listening to and respecting their coach. Especially during the tough times. I want to see these guys gel. That’s what helped teams like Boston and L.A. when things got tough. The Lakers won despite shooting below or around 30% for the first half.
Chemistry really helps then, and I hope we get more of that.
Big Ray
June 18th, 2010
4:48 pm
JC ,
LOL. Hey, I’ll take Tim Duncan and those rings, thank ya very much! Nothing wrong with a little sexy, it sells. But I don’t want to be the eastern conference version of Golden State…
drmaryb
June 18th, 2010
4:48 pm
Blu-Ray
(Picture Perfect)
Fubar? Now, where is my Roget’s Thesaurus when I need it?
jroc
June 18th, 2010
4:54 pm
Its not that many coaches in the nba where players look forward to play for their coach.Players love to play for Phil,Doc and Pop……….. and Drew? Watch out ATL next year might be special, not championship special but special like 08 for fans, casual or die-hard.
drmaryb
June 18th, 2010
5:01 pm
Blue-Ray
(3D – HDMI)
Or was Fubar a typo for Subpar?
I know, I can spell, but sometimes my B-berry changes my word spellings. Weird.
Anywho – great comments today, Ray. ;0
MsDee
June 18th, 2010
5:06 pm
The city of Atlanta is a great city to get fans to come and support the Hawks. The ASG just doesnt market the team well at all!! If it wasnt for the diehard fans we are who stays on top of the Hawks, knows all the ins and outs of this team, we too probably wouldnt go to many games because we wouldnt know when they played or the prices for each game. What I’m saying is, for the casual fan, we need to market the Hawks on commercials other than SportsSouth or FoxSport stations but on other local stations, esp those ones not on cable (everyone doesnt have cable) Also, have better Hawks advertising on billboards arround the city,
Jody
June 18th, 2010
5:12 pm
Revisionist history from prior drafts. Sad, but funny stuff.
http://www.nbadraft.net/eavesdropping-draft-history
Ramon
June 18th, 2010
5:17 pm
MsDee, the Hawks could do a lot better marketing towards the school kids (making it more of a family experience), or even having some sort of display in the airport also advertising the Hawks. Its a lot of different things. Just having 3 billboards on 285 isn’t going to cut it, lol.
MsDee
June 18th, 2010
5:19 pm
Also, have better Hawks advertising on billboards around the city, instead of that crap they have up now with a faceless guy with a hawks jersey on and a ball in his hand..how insulting to the players. I bet when JJ and the others goes out of town to play games, they see the huge LeBron billboards in cleveland, they see the Kobe/Pau billboards in LA, they see Wade billboards in Miami, they might even see Derek Rose billboards in Chicago, but when they return home to a great city of Atlanta, they see a ‘faceless guy with a hawks jersey on and a ball in his hand’..SAD…just SAD!! How about a JJ billboard, a Josh & Al Horford billboard..a Jeff Teague billboard advertising our new Rookie(at the time)..you never know how that can make a player feel when they are being exposed like that! It makes them bring their A-Game every night.
Ramon
June 18th, 2010
5:21 pm
Jody, that BK and Woody is hilarious!
MsDee
June 18th, 2010
5:23 pm
Ramon,
I agree..the airport would be a Great place to advertise the Hawks…
MsDee
June 18th, 2010
5:28 pm
Another idea is to get the Hawks players out and about in the city, instead of being in there 2.3 mil house we help get them in. Come out and have cook-outs in local parks, or sign autograghs at McDonalds where families always eat at, or have outings at malls, etc…all i’m saying is get involved with being involved with your fans, JJ, so u wouldnt have to call them out.
Jody
June 18th, 2010
5:29 pm
Ramon,
Indeed it is. A must read I must say.
justahawkfan
June 18th, 2010
5:30 pm
Spending a truck load of money on coaches and (elite?)free agent always ensure a wining/championship teams. see Knicks, Wizards and any team except Celtics and Lakers. Right?
Ramon
June 18th, 2010
5:36 pm
MsDee, did Joe Johnson or Josh Smith ever throw out the first pitch of a game? ( I know that doesn’t mean anything 84 people throws out the first pitch every season, lol). But its a lot of things they can do that they don’t do.
Big Ray
June 18th, 2010
5:52 pm
Ramon ,
Yeah, but he held the ball for 20 seconds before doing so….
Big Ray
June 18th, 2010
5:53 pm
And Josh threw it from beyond his range…
Big Ray
June 18th, 2010
5:54 pm
Spending a truck load of money on coaches and (elite?)free agent always ensure a wining/championship teams. see Knicks, Wizards and any team except Celtics and Lakers. Right?
Exactly. And since they have such great fans who keep paying for the tickets and showing up for games, I just don’t udnerstand why teams like the Knicks haven’t won championships for the last several years.
Clearly their fans are of championship caliber, right?
This is what happens when the dummy has all the money (in this case, Dolan)
Section 303
June 18th, 2010
5:55 pm
northcyde, I do not question your standing as a Hawks fan. You’re a good one. Anyone who has read this blog would know that.
I have to agree with JC, though. You would never sell some/most of the games you couldn’t make. I’ve been a season ticket holder for 6 years now. I make probably 30-33 regular season games a year. I’ve either given away tickets to games I couldn’t make, or have just had to eat them. Several times I have tried to sell on E-bay or Stubhub and have not had a buyer even sniff at picking up the tickets.
Also, you aren’t charged for preseason games. Those are always scheduled after regular season games. So, you get those on the house.
The Truth
June 18th, 2010
5:57 pm
Good Read:
http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/article/2010-06-01/sbj-nbpa-chief-billy-hunter-calls-nbas-claim-400-million-loss-baloney
The Truth
June 18th, 2010
5:59 pm
There is a point to be made about the hype or the validity of the NBA team 400 million dollar losses claimed by the league. Is this nothing more then league positioning ahead of the CBA set to expire June 2011? Billy Hunter of the NBAPA is questioning the 400 million losses in this report.
Sautee
June 18th, 2010
6:18 pm
drmaryb,
Fubar is actually an acronym that stands for “F-d up beyond all repair”.
Now you know!
JeJe
June 18th, 2010
6:20 pm
CAN WE PLEASE GET AN ASG/BELKIN UPDATE?
JESUS
northcyde
June 18th, 2010
6:21 pm
Now I do agree with you all on that. The Hawks could be marketed much better than what they are.
The coolest thing advertising wise I’ve seen done on the Hawks, was a Nike billboard featuring Mookie Blaylock. It was done in black and white. The billboard tag line . . . “Master of the Take and Give” . . . which was in reference to his ability to dish out assists and get steals.
560 AM may be a good station in the daytime. But once that station powers down their signal at night, you’ll be lucky to pick up the signal 20 miles outside of the central city. I know at one time, Hawks games used to be carried on 750 AM. At night, you could pick up that signal even where I live on the TN/KY state line.
Marketing is definitely one area in which they can do much better.
JeJe
June 18th, 2010
6:26 pm
Don’t be surprised if LBJ vouches to play with Wade.
It’s obvious no one in the West is close to competing with LA (I thought Dallas would…), so why not dominate the East and meet them in the Finals? Miami or CHicago will get damn lucky when they get LBJ and will spend the bank to get LBJ and other stars
WHY CAN’T WE BE THAT CITY?
WHY IS THERE NOT ONE !@#DAMN RUMOR ABOUT A S&T FOR LBJ OR WADE OR TRYING TO GET INTO THE LUX TO ADD THEM?
WHY IS THIS CITY ALWAYS THE EXCEPTION IN SPORTS?
Melvin
June 18th, 2010
6:44 pm
Although we don’t need a midget on this team but is this the next nate robinson???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj5UmH5TdfI&feature=fvw
northcyde
June 18th, 2010
6:45 pm
Wow Sec 303 . . . couldn’t even give away tickets? That’s a shame.
Let me ask you this:
Do you use the payment plan for your season tix, or just pay it off all at once? And if you do use the payment plan, about how much a month are you paying?
ryan
June 18th, 2010
6:48 pm
What the Hawks or the Braves need is a Mark Cuban style owner someone who not a suit somebody who cares about the fans and the city.
drmaryb
June 18th, 2010
7:16 pm
Ms.Dee
Damn Girl! Co-Sign them Billboards! You must be psyhic! Get ‘Em!
Blast
June 18th, 2010
8:01 pm
Lots of good stuff on the blog tonight. Big Ray on fire!
I trully believe Hawks blog is the best sport blog in cyberspace.
Keep firing it up, Hawks fans!
Dr. Phil
June 18th, 2010
8:14 pm
Wish Hawks were for sale!
Sautee
June 18th, 2010
8:17 pm
LOL @ Big Ray telling about JJ and Josh throwing the first pitch.
ROFLMFAO
O'Brien
June 18th, 2010
8:31 pm
Funny stuff on the blog.
BK draft conversations? Hilarious, but painful.
And funny stuff with JJ and Josh throwing out the first pitch.
Marvin was supposed to throw it out too. But instead of throwing it to the catcher, he kept throwing it to Josh or JJ.
JeJe
June 18th, 2010
9:37 pm
SELL THE DAMN TEAMS
WE NEED MICHAEL MORON JR OUTTA HERE
ARROGANT P.O.S. OWNER
HOW THE HELL IS THIS GUY AN OWNER? HIS ONLY MEANS OF NBA KNOWLEDGE IS TALKING ABOUT DEFICIENCIES IN PLAYERS WE DON’T HAVE (JR SMITH, ILGAUSKAS). HE NEVER TALKS ABOUT OUR FAULTS, JUST THE FAULTS OF PLAYERS WE DON’T HAVE
GOOD JOB IDIOT
atownhawk23
June 18th, 2010
10:00 pm
yeah. that’s good.
NOW HOW BOUT THOSE LAKERS?
The Truth
June 18th, 2010
10:04 pm
When it comes to the recent NBA cap projections as reported by Stern, this sounds look a contradiction compared to his earlier reports of losses totaling 400 million dollars.
JeJe
June 18th, 2010
10:08 pm
THE LAKERS ARE GOING TO THE FINALS THE NEXT 3 YEARS
SHOOT BIG AND TRY S&T JOE FOR LEBRON OR WADE OR SOMETHING.
WHY IS THIS CITY ALWAYS THE !@#$ING EXCEPTION
JeJe
June 18th, 2010
10:11 pm
IF WE OFFERED LEBRON A $6 MILLION/3 YEAR CONTRACT AND HE WANTED 6.01 THE ASG WOULDN’T DO IT. THAT’S HOW RETARDED THEY ARE
Sautee
June 18th, 2010
10:14 pm
Jeje,
Man, I know you are frustrated but at least TRY to be real.
If Joe doesn’t WANT to go to Cleveland or Miami, THEN what?
You DO realize what UNRESTRICTED means don’t you?
Sautee
June 18th, 2010
10:18 pm
LOL, Wade and LeBron are unrestricted, too. They would have to be asking to come HERE.
Use your noggin.
Section 303
June 18th, 2010
10:19 pm
northcyde, My seats in 303 are not that expensive. For my pair, it is $900. So, I just pay the whole thing at once. Last year, I did the payment plan. I did the 4-month plan. Worked out to $200 ish for each payment.
Simpdawg
June 18th, 2010
10:23 pm
The 2010 NBA draft is less than a week away, and if the Hawks don’t draft a center, this team will take a serious step back. We don’t need to sign a free agent center we need to draft one.