Atlanta Spirit lied to us about Thrashers? Go figure
Three of the Thrashers' caretakers (left to right): Ed Peskowitz, Michael Gearon and Bruce Levenson. (Curtis Compton)
They told you they cared. They lied.
They told you their biggest concern was putting out the best product for you, the fans. They lied.
They told you not to pay attention to any of those rumors of the Thrashers being for sale, although they eventually admitted begrudgingly that, yes, they were looking for “investors.” They lied.
The Atlanta Spirit is not looking for investors. They’re looking to sell the Thrashers. They’ve been looking to sell them for — ready for this? –six years.
Six . . . years.
Those are the caretakers of your franchise. Those are the ones who’ve pleaded with you since 2005 to support a mostly inferior product — and now they can’t figure out how they’ve burned so many bridges in this town why fans still feel too angry or worn down to show up for a pretty decent team. Reality never has been their strong suit.
Team Pinocchio (a.k.a. the Atlanta Spirit) has filed a $200 million malpractice suit against their former attorneys at King & Spalding. Within that suit, the often dysfunctional ownership group discloses it has been looking to sell the Thrashers since 2005.
The remaining seven heads of Team Pinocchio (Michael Gearon, Bruce Levenson, et al.) are suing King & Spalding for their perceived shoddy work in the original ownership agreement, which led to the protracted litigation and settlement between former partner Steve Belkin and the non-Belkins. Team Pinocchio members are trying to recoup some of the claimed nine-digit losses they say they incurred as a result of the litigation.
The problem with making such claims is you’ve got to make a case. Part of Team Pinocchio’s case is that it “incurred over $130 million in out-of-pocket losses” while operating the Thrashers, which it intended to sell. If that’s not clear enough, here are four bullet points from the 20-page, 75-point complaint:
♦ Point 53: “Plaintiffs’ inability to buy out Belkin’s interest in a timely manner and the resulting cloud on their title created by the Maryland litigation interfered with operation of the franchises and specifically prevented Plaintiffs from selling the Atlanta Thrashers.”
♦ Point 54: “Because of a dispute with the players, the National Hockey League suspended the 2004-2005 season. It was widely anticipated that the league would enter into a new labor contract that would inure to the financial benefit of smaller market franchises such as the Thrashers and thus increase their value. Plaintiffs expected that once the new labor agreement was finalized there would be substantial interest from potential buyers and that they would be able to sell the franchise.”
♦ Point 56: “Potential buyers talked with Plaintiffs about acquiring the Atlanta Thrashers. However, because they had been unable to acquire Belkin’s interest and were entangled in the Maryland litigation, Plaintiffs could not convey free and clear title to the franchise and thus were not in a position to sell. Indeed, during the period from June 2006, when the Maryland trial court entered summary judgment for Belkin, until the judgment was reversed on appeal in September, 2007, Plaintiffs were subject to a judicial decree specifying that Belkin, in fact, was entitled to buy out SSG and LPF.”
♦ Point 58: “In addition, the Thrashers have steadily lost money, requiring Plaintiffs to fund operations from their own pockets. Plaintiffs have incurred more than $130 million in out-of-pocket losses operating the franchise over this time period. Plaintiffs would not have incurred these losses if they had had free and clear title to the Thrashers and thus had the ability to sell or otherwise dispose of the franchise.”
Dispose of the franchise? They make it sound like it week-old lo-mein.
Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it?
Team Pinocchio has shot down sell or sell-and-move rumors every time they’ve popped up. Sometimes, they put out statements. Sometimes, they scoffed and said a report didn’t dignify a response. Sometimes, as was the case in March 2010 after a New York Times story suggested both the Thrashers and Hawks were for sale, they didn’t even return reporters’ phone calls or emails to issue a denial.
In 2009, Thrashers president and former general manager Don Waddell — who has assumed the unenviable position of Team Pinocchio mouthpiece — stated: “In countless meetings with ownership, never once have we expressed any interest in selling the Thrashers or moving the Thrashers.”
He must’ve been out for coffee whenever the topic came up. I’ve heard better lies from “Baghdad Bob.”
I’ve stated this before but it bears repeating: If Atlanta loses its second NHL franchise, it won’t be because the sport failed here. It will be because ownership and management failed.
And right now, I wouldn’t even buy a hot dog to put a buck in these guys’ pockets.
By Jeff Schultz
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Previous posts:
– NCAA has lost sight of mission, needs to end ‘oversigning’
– Part I: A word about ‘oversigning’ (and revisiting Saban’s dance)
– Time to mock! Kiper, McShay say Falcons take . . .
– Stacy Searels leaving Georgia? Can I offer him a lift?
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342 comments Add your comment
Monkey
January 21st, 2011
3:25 pm
Gut Punch…
Jeff Schultz
January 21st, 2011
3:25 pm
Iron League 13 — Your feelings (and visuals) come through loud and clear.
Sage of Bluesland
January 21st, 2011
3:26 pm
…Gee, I’ve heard some of this before; I just don’t know where…
(silly sheep–are you convinced NOW?)
Ben
January 21st, 2011
3:26 pm
You mean some super rich d-bags tried to bamboozle hard working people who supported their cause??
Weird. Seems like I’ve seen that somewhere else in the last few years.
Chuck Sheen
January 21st, 2011
3:26 pm
Good work Schultzie. Good read as always. It angers me that these boneheads own the Thrashers and Hawks. Does Blank have the bottomline to make a sensible purchase? Makes you really appreciate his ownership of the Falcons..
Jeff Schultz
January 21st, 2011
3:27 pm
Coach Cool — Funny that the guy who made out best was the guy who never bought the teams, David McDavid, who got jobbed during attempted purchase and then crushed Turner in court.
LAC
January 21st, 2011
3:27 pm
Jeff, I have an open invitation to the Drunk Liar levenson to fight me one on one. Just sign a release and have a go, but the little wimp coward never responds, would you expect anything less ?
This A-Hole, really, I mean REALLY needs a Good Old Fashion Butt Whipping, in front of the fans of this team. But as we All know, liars hide, they never will stand up and face the music and never
will he be in a position to walk again after I get finished with him, I promise… But he will never
defend his honor or the like, he will continue to hide and Lie as always.
What a little man, how in the HELL he ever got the $ to be in the position he is… Is unreal, he is a DUMB as a blade of grass…
So Jeff, ask little bruce why he will not tangle with a fan who is tired of his LIES and acting like a little baby, ask him where and when, let me know and I WILL BE THERE !!!
Jeff Schultz
January 21st, 2011
3:28 pm
Jason — Seriously? A season ticket rep said that? Unbelievable.
"Chef" Tim Dix
January 21st, 2011
3:28 pm
Sounds to me Jeff that they bought both to sell the Thrashers to fund the Hawks.
Want to know how to become a millionare in Pro sports? Start with 100 million and lose 99.
Tweets that mention Atlanta Spirit lied to us about Thrashers? Go figure | Jeff Schultz -- Topsy.com
January 21st, 2011
3:28 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by 790 The Zone, Augusta Golf Girl , Charles Olson, Michael Alexander, Brandon Culpepper and others. Brandon Culpepper said: RT @JeffSchultzAJC: BREAKING: Atlanta Spirit have been lying to us about #Thrashers for 6 years. (Go figure.) http://bit.ly/fuRxfd [...]
Jeff Schultz
January 21st, 2011
3:29 pm
Atl teams = Playoff chokers — Only thing NHL could do is take over if Thrashers were in bankruptcy. At least that’s only scenario I know of.
Matt
January 21st, 2011
3:29 pm
Relax, Gwinnett Fred… Take it easy. I’m sure at one point, Schultz was a fan of a team, or he wouldn’t have gotten into this business. He has a much larger voice than we “fans” do, so I say, Do your thing, Schultzie, do your thing..
Ugh
January 21st, 2011
3:30 pm
Finally the truth comes out……… Talk about a slap in the face.
Joe Friday
January 21st, 2011
3:30 pm
“Team Pinocchio”
Classic, love it.
I have known for a long time that they’re wanting to sell the team, if you didn’t realize that you just aren’t paying attention. This guys were and are basketball guys. So a revelation today that they’ve been trying to sell the team for 6 years isn’t news, but it’s interesting to see the reactions of some who believe the smoke being blown up their rears from Waddell and Team Pinocchio. But I always figured they’d sell to a new owner who would agree to keep the team in Philips Arena, and the Spirit would retain the Philips rights and the Hawks, and the new owner would take care of the Thrashers.
What is worrisome to me is to consider this news coupled with Bill Daly, the #2 man in the NHL front office, last month let it slip that “they’re going to have to consider options with Atlanta”. What this means is Team Pinnocchio has gone to the league and said “look, we’ve tried to sell for 6 years, no buyers in Atlanta” and now the league is setting the table for the move of the Thrashers out of Atlanta.
There is a lot of blame to go around, but the inability of Waddell to build a team in the first 5 years really really killed the fan base. It’s clear now that the owners kept him in place to manage a budget, not ice a winning team, in order to try to maximize their profit on a sale of the club.
I bet the naive fans who stood behind Waddell for so many years calling for patience and saying he was building it the right way feel pretty foolish today in the light of the facts.
Unfortunately, the Sage of Bluesland was just proven that, to be quite the Sage . . . he called it all along . . .
James Brown
January 21st, 2011
3:30 pm
Jeff you should not encourage people to not support this team. We want hockey in Atlanta and the only way we can have this is to come out to the game. What you, with your following, should do is figure out a way we can rid this ownership, protest our disgust, but still support this team to let the NHL know we want a team. I also would say its very immature to attack your readers for a grammatical error. Now lets try to work together, or is that something this society can’t do?
Jeff Schultz
January 21st, 2011
3:31 pm
Dana Blankenhorn — The only way I think Thrashers could be sold AND kept in Atlanta is if Atlanta Spirit cuts new owner in on arena revenues. Owning the hockey team alone is guaranteed financial losses.
Jeff Schultz
January 21st, 2011
3:32 pm
Chuck Sheen (and others) — I understand why Arthur Blank’s name always is brought up. But his priorities right now are: 1) Falcons; 2) A new stadium for the Falcons. There’s no No. 3.
Reid Adair
January 21st, 2011
3:32 pm
Why is anybody even remotely surprised? They’ve lied before – about the Thrashers and the Hawks.
Doesn’t anyone remember them saying that the Hawks weren’t done in free agency after giving Joe Johnson a max contract? Even the AJC’s Michael Cunningham fell for that one.
Thrashy Thrashy
January 21st, 2011
3:33 pm
This is a real tough situation for Thrasher fans. We want a team in Atlanta, but we don’t want these idiots owning the team. The odds are good that new ownership means that the team will be leaving. We’re just kinda stuck. I don’t think any true hockey fan in Atlanta wants to see that happen, so what the hell do we do?
Ken Stallings
January 21st, 2011
3:33 pm
The NHL needs to step in and force a better ownership situation with the Thrashers. This current one has been an abysmal failure from the outset. Comparatively speaking, the Atlanta market is larger than the average for all NHL teams. Without question, there is no other market available current not served by an NHL team that would be larger than the Atlanta market.
Jeff Schultz
January 21st, 2011
3:33 pm
LAC — Levenson and I haven’t spoken in probably 2 years. So I can’t be the matchmaker. Sorry.
:)
January 21st, 2011
3:33 pm
This is dumb. These people don’t deserve to own anything. Hopefully someone like Blank comes around and buys both teams and keeps them here.
Jeff Schultz
January 21st, 2011
3:34 pm
“Chef” Tim — They’ve been basketball guys from the outset. Levenson always has tried to present himself as a hockey guy but he’s not. Doesn’t know anything about the sport and doesn’t care.
Erin Andrews' Landing Strip
January 21st, 2011
3:34 pm
Jeff, small item, but why did you place the name of the law firm being sued, King & Spalding, in quotation marks? Are you implying that the first being sued isn’t really King & Spalding?
Flame Lover
January 21st, 2011
3:35 pm
I feel sorry for the real fans. I was a Flame STH and the same thing is happening again. No concern for the fans–just the BIG bucks!
Jeff Schultz
January 21st, 2011
3:36 pm
Matt — Thanks. I’ve always loved hockey and have always wanted this team to succeed. Anybody who knows me knows that to be true. But when things go wrong, I’m not going to hesitate to point them out. If I didn’t care about the sport or the team, I wouldn’t write about it at all.
Iron League 13
January 21st, 2011
3:37 pm
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say the only possible loss of revenue would come from:
A.) composite sticks
B.) pure unadulterated bullbleep
More monetary shell games from bigshots, are we surprised? This is a typical excuse used by wealthy people in lawsuits. Chances are we won’t know the truth, again shell games. Money manipulation, pure and simple. You wanna tell me the Panthers have been around for what, about 20 years with ****** attendance and we’re struggling up here WITH MORE TRANSPLANTS? Gimme a break.
Jeff Schultz
January 21st, 2011
3:37 pm
James Brown — I only take a shot at a reader when they attack me personally … and even then I don’t do it much. …. But I agree. Let’s hug it out!
buckhead benny
January 21st, 2011
3:39 pm
Sounds like these guys are looking for a settlement from King and Spalding and someone at King and Spalding has peed on their corn flakes. I am not an attorney or judge, but if you have an owner that is in an active lawsuit you should not be able to have the team sold from underneath you until that litigation is complete then you can tackle that hurdle. They should not have bought the team if they were not ready for it. They must have accepted responsibility for it.
When I married my wife and we got divorced. Hell I would love to send her a bill for the divorce or blame a damn attorney for me not being able to get rid of her. Hey, I had to pay the price because I chose her and I married her.
Atlanta Spirit you married the Thrashers and Chose the Thrashers you need to “MAN UP” AND “OWN UP” to it!
Hollywould
January 21st, 2011
3:41 pm
Man, i just bought 4 tickets yesterday to a feb. game. Maybe I should cancel that credit card transaction/ everyone knew they were lying/Waddell lying again/ Levenson/screw them all!!!
Road Trip
January 21st, 2011
3:42 pm
Not a shock at all. Not one of them had any discernable passion for the sport. Mike, Jr. grew up at center court and not center ice. Their communications with the season ticket holders was insulting. For years you could buy season tickets and find yourself next to someone with 2 for 1 seats. I can’t quite recall if they have hot water in the mens rooms on the concourse side yet. And that’s not to mention the product on the ice up until now. You hate to use the word “lie” loosely, but what other word is appropriate.
Jeff Schultz
January 21st, 2011
3:43 pm
Erin Andrews’ —- The quote marks was because I thought that was our style but I’ve since removed them. And the “and” instead of the “&” was because I didn’t realize that was firm’s style until after re-checking Kristi Swartz’s story. So that’s been changed. …. What part of the firm do you work in?
Art Vandelay
January 21st, 2011
3:46 pm
I interviewed for the ASG’s open Director of Corporate Communications position last month. I can’t even begin to explain how happy I am that I wasn’t offered the position. What a nightmare this is going to be for the poor person who got the job.
coachx
January 21st, 2011
3:46 pm
That is not right Jeff.
The ASG said the team was not for sale in 2007 to the ptresent.
The court papers said they wanted to sale back in 2005 when they were trying to buy out Belkin’s 30% share.
By 2007 and 2008 the economy tanked so the Thrashers franchise lost a lot of value. At that time it made no sense to sell at a depreciated value.
Get you basic facts straight before calling people liars. There is this thing called a time line you should look into.
Thrashers Recaps
January 21st, 2011
3:47 pm
Still supporting the Thrashers and keeping hockey in Atlanta by being a season ticket holder, no matter what.
gdawginkalamazoo
January 21st, 2011
3:47 pm
This is going to be great. These A clowns are going to lose millions. The lawyers will get filthy rich off this and probably collect the team as payment for the legal fees. In this type of litigation there is no such thing as “opposing” counsel. It is “how many hours can we bill on this thing” buddies.
PooperScooper
January 21st, 2011
3:47 pm
Its hockey. Who cares?
B. Thenet
January 21st, 2011
3:48 pm
I wonder how much of the Thrashers have generated they have hidden in the Philips Arena books.
Suing their own lawyers, be careful they might sue the season ticket holders next.
da' boomer
January 21st, 2011
3:49 pm
I TRULY HATE THESE GUYS. I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH A COLLECTION OF ASS CLOWNS.
LET’S HOPE WE CAN FIND A ‘REAL’ OWNER…WHERE’S DAVID MCDAVID WHEN WE NEED HIM?
BIG BUFF
January 21st, 2011
3:50 pm
Why cant they pull like a Phoenix Coyotes deal and have the league buy them? The league needs this town to succeed.
And if yall decide to boycott because of ASG your only asking for this team to relocate. If no one keeps showing up then they’ll definatley sell to some French Canadien and move the entire show to Quebec City. Dustin Byfuglien hates French Canada.
The Real Thrash
January 21st, 2011
3:50 pm
Why is this a surprise to anyone?
PMC
January 21st, 2011
3:51 pm
Sure they can make money, if they win or even have close to a chance of winning long term. Why would anyone invest in the Cleveland Indians from Major League?
Don Waddell presided over a team that has won 0 playoff games EVER. Not, a championship. They haven’t won a GAME. He wasn’t trying to win and he got to keep his freaking job for 11 years and get promoted? WHY?
Matt
January 21st, 2011
3:51 pm
Too many “Matt” posters on here. Gonna have to figure out a way to differentiate myself.
Iron League 13
January 21st, 2011
3:52 pm
Well, Pooper Scooper…
No, on second thought your name ’s making me hold back. I won’t verbally annihilate simple people.
layinlow
January 21st, 2011
3:53 pm
Jeff, can the public pronouncements by Liar Inc. to the fans of Atlanta that the team was not for sale be used against them in court? I’m no lawyer but this seems like it could be used by the defense.
Larry E
January 21st, 2011
3:53 pm
I hate to see the Thrashers go and hope they can be saved, but the upside is there is always the Gwinnett Gladiators and you will not have to go down down Atlanta. The Spirt owners should be arrested and charged with false representation to season ticket holders. They out right lied to cover their own butts and didn’t give a rip about the paying public, ala Wall St.
Matt from MN
January 21st, 2011
3:54 pm
How the heck did these guys ever succeed in their respective businesses? If they ran their business, like they have the Thrashers, they would all be “living in a van down by the river!”
gdawginkalamazoo
January 21st, 2011
3:55 pm
Matt, to differentiate yourself you can usually add the name of your city, for example, kalamazoo, or maybe the team you are a fan of, for example, gdawg. Or put the double whammy and go with both.
Tears for Beers
January 21st, 2011
3:56 pm
Is anyone surprised by this? I mean, really?
Tweets that mention Atlanta Spirit lied to us about Thrashers? Go figure | Jeff Schultz -- Topsy.com
January 21st, 2011
3:57 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by JAEaton, HA57Y, HA57Y, Robin Boonk, Chelsea Kearns and others. Chelsea Kearns said: RT @JeffSchultzAJC: Atlanta Spirit lied to us about Thrashers? Go figure http://bit.ly/ep3dwz [...]