Rejoice! New Hawks’ owner means end of Atlanta Spirit
We know little about Alex Meruelo. But ...
He is the right guy if for no other reason than he is a new guy.
“I will be in complete control of the team,” Alex Meruelo said.
And really, does anything else matter right now?
Because if Alex Meruelo is in charge, it means Bruce Levenson isn’t in charge. It means Michael Gearon Jr. isn’t in charge. It means Ed Peskowitz, Rutherford Seydel, the ghost of Steve Belkin, Topo Gigio and anybody else who ever was among the blur of Atlanta Spirit partners isn’t in charge.
They don’t call the shots any more.
Say goodbye to exploding clown shoes.
So ends the rule of the Atlanta Spirit. It’s too late to save the NHL franchise that the former ownership
... he has to be better than Peskowitz, Gearon and Levenson.
group destroyed, lied about and ultimately sold off to Winnipeg. It’s too late to save us from the absurdity of owner-vs-owner lawsuits and daily dysfunction we witnessed for most of roughly seven years — why does it seem like 27? — in the front office. But we’ll take it today because it’s better than waiting until tomorrow.
If the Atlanta Spirit wasn’t the worst ownership in the history of professional sports, it at least is in the argument. No sports town wants to be in that argument.
I don’t know a thing about Alex Meruelo, other than what I Google and read. Pizza restaurants. Construction. A casino. A television station. Dandy.
The guy could have made his fortune selling second-hand nuclear reactors and I’d be cool with it. Alex Meruelo suddenly emerging the top of Atlanta Hawks’ food chain is like popping a few extra strength Tylenol, knowing the headache is bound to get better.
I know. He’s not from here. He doesn’t live here. He never has owned a sports team before. He comes with no guarantees.
Sorry, there is no such thing as guaranteed perfect owners, any more than there are guaranteed perfect general managers, coaches and point guards.
For all we know, Meruelo could be another Levenson (get down on your knees and pray no). Or he could be another Arthur Blank (get down on your knees and pray yes).
But wouldn’t you rather take the unknown vs. the known?
Meruelo, who will be introduced at a 2 p.m. news conference Monday at Philips Arena, says he will own more than 50 percent of the Hawks and Philips Arena operating rights. That’s all we need to know right now. Logic says Levenson, Gearon and/or Peskowitz will remain as minority partners because the rest of the money has to come from somewhere. But when one man owns controlling interest, it means one votes and one man decides.
Know this: When all of the Hawks’ owners get together in a room, only one of them will have had nothing to do with the Joe Johnson contract. It’s the one now in charge.
The NBA is in a lockout. I kind of like that. It gives Meruelo a chance to assess the Hawks, assess Rick Sund, assess Larry Drew, assess the franchise as both a business and a potential competitor for an NBA championship. There should be no rushed decisions here.
Meruelo said: “I want to bring a championship to the city of Atlanta.”
Yes, this is standard speak from the new owner talking points manual. Everybody involved with the Spirit said they wanted to win championships, too. It just doesn’t necessarily mean they were equipped to.
Maybe the new guy will know what he’s doing. He can’t possibly know less.
By Jeff Schultz
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238 comments Add your comment
NipTuck
August 8th, 2011
6:26 pm
Memo to new Hawk’s ownership: Make sure the ALL NEW Latina Cheer leading squad are at least 5′9″ in their bear feet!
Put them in micro-fishnets to accentuate their long gorgeous legs! Excitement down @ Phillips!!
LetPhilipsRot
August 8th, 2011
7:48 pm
Sorry Jeff, but while every single person in this city is happy ASG is essentially gone, the legacy they have left has tarnished this state, city and our reputation. For Thrashers fans, there is nothing to rejoice in. For Hawks fans, I would be worried that…GUESS WHAT… this was ASG who sold to this man. ASG was never honest or upfront with ANY of their dealings – ask any Thrashers fan. This is an individual owner – something every Thrashers fan DREAMED of. And now, we see one, and yet, our Thrashers are gone. It is still painful, surreal and surreal that they are gone. They should have NEVER been allowed to sell either team until the found an owner for BOTH teams. Where was this guy when the Thrashers were for sale? Something is very fishy about all of this. This guy cares zero about Atlanta… he’s not from here and doesn’t have any connections so why would we care if an Atlanta team wins or loses? In a few years he’ll move em to CA and we’ll have no NBA or NHL teams. Way to go, ASG.
Stan
August 8th, 2011
8:22 pm
Who is that idiot columnist for the ajc who said the braves could catch the philles?
As Week 18 begins, the Philadelphia Phillies have become the first team in baseball to reach 100 percent in the playoff probabilities. They went 6-1 on a road trip through the NL West and are now forecasted to win 105 games. The Braves have just a 1.1 percent chance of catching Philadelphia for the NL East Division title.
darb
August 8th, 2011
9:12 pm
Please buy out all former members of Atlanta Spirit, they are loosers who couldnt ever figure out ownership by committee would never work, and as even minority owners, they will want to have a say so. Buy the out no!w !!!
cloudy
August 8th, 2011
9:52 pm
Oh no!!!! You mean we won’t have the jock sniffers around anymore?!!!
BZR
August 8th, 2011
10:05 pm
This is only my opinion of course. The city had it good when the the Spirit ran the club. BUT – Clearly an immeasurable improvement from pre-Spirit days. First round playoff win last year – that means (approximately) the 8th BEST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE”. I agree, best teams since the days of Dominique. So…..
How can 8th BEST = “worst ownership in the history of professional sports”? How can you (Shultz) say that when describing a group that took their team from the NBA gutter to 8th BEST in a few years. Seriously, how can you say that (and still get paid for writing). Are you serious? I am curious. Why do you think that? What do you know that we don’t? You must know something. 8th BEST = “worst…in…history”????? What numbers are you looking at? What crimes do you know about that you have not told us? There HAS to be more going on for you to insinuate “worst ownership in the history of professional sports”.
Sorry but I want substance in what I read. If you are going to criticize, back it up with something. Give me some statistics, reasons, some substance, something to think about. Otherwise you are just whining. Just sitting around whining. Which to me, describes the above article. Nothing there but whining.
Shultz – I have not read you enough to know if this is always the case, but the above article is vapid. It is empty. All I read is you whining.
And I think 10 years from now we will miss the Atlanta Spirit – and the 2011 Hawks – who came back from being crushed the year before – and beat the Orland Magic in the first round of the playoffs. I thought it was AWESOME!
cloudy
August 8th, 2011
10:10 pm
BZR Perhaps you need to reread the article. Perhaps you were not here when all of the above mentioned dramas took place from the get go. Perhaps you just don’t like the messenger. Know this- most of Atlanta is happy to see them go.
Jeff97
August 8th, 2011
11:12 pm
what are the chances that if this guy turns out to be a good NBA owner that maybe we get a chance at another NHL team? ATL needs another chance at a hockey team, this time with a legit owner. something we did not have the last time.
Kevin
August 9th, 2011
2:45 am
Well as soon the NBA board of Governers approved and its okay with Al sharpton n jesse Jackson he can own then should be no problem in him ownin all n he owns the arena too folks ASG…..is bye bye but we have to wait there be No NBA david stern will see that happens…..time for owners fire the Commish of NBA n Hire ….former laker who was center n was at Ucla and was No1 scorer pass the wilt chamberlin…..u know who is i just can’t spell his name…sorry folks!
BZR
August 9th, 2011
8:32 am
Cloudy. I want my sports team to win. They did. More than any Hawks team since the 80s.
The “dramas” were creations of the media. That stuff did not have to play out in public – the media and the readers who feed off of the drama made that situation what it was. Should have been and would have been private if it weren’t for the media and the drama hungry reader.
Bottom line – they won more games than any hawks ownership has since the 1980s and the people of Atlanta still whine. Though I honestly think it is a small segment of Atlanta feels that way. Most recognize that the team won and the legal dramas were separate.
GT
August 9th, 2011
8:41 am
The Thrashers are where they belong, like Manchester is a good place for soccer. The local sport’s press have a dog in the hunt. If there is no hockey there is no reporting which leaves less money on the table. This team was for sale. Any transplant was welcome to buy it and keep it here, would have saved the sellers 60 million. There is a reason why no one wanted to throw good money after bad and it had nothing to do with the ASG. Watch what would happen if the Georgia Bulldogs decided to move, or something in this town people really cared about. If you want to get mad at someone get mad at Atlanta, we don’t care plus or minus about hockey. I can’t remember a sport I heard less about being here. No one in this town started a conversation off about hockey. People would think you were nuts. “How bout those Thrashers?” Too funny.
BZR
August 9th, 2011
8:51 am
GT – I could not agree more. Atlanta has tried to support professional hockey once before and couldn’t.
Peter
August 9th, 2011
8:51 am
I agree……… if the Spirit is involved in any way I will mot spend a dime !
Browncoat
August 9th, 2011
9:00 am
I hate the Atlanta Spirit.
Browncoat
August 9th, 2011
9:15 am
And GT, you really don’t know what you are talking about. I was a Flames fan and a Thrashers fan. Both teams had solid bases of support, however the teams left because of ownership problems. If you go back to the Flames and look at their attendance numbers, they were good. Although the team did poorly in the playoffs, they made the playoff most years. However, Tom Cousins’ real estate empire began to collapse and he needed cash. At the same time, a group out of Calgary came and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. The offer was way above market price, and no one could match it.
The Thrashers were undermined by the Atlanta Spirit group. The team had good support in the early days, and actually the Thrashers attendance numbers were better than the Hawks for several years. However, it became clear that the Spirit group wouldn’t and couldn’t make the decisions necessary to build a consistently successful franchise. Franchise player after franchise player left the team through trades or free agency, the wrong supporting players were added, the coaching was suspect, and Don Waddell proved himself to be incapable of running a franchise. We now know that the Atlanta Spirit had been trying to sell the team for years, not trying to spend money to build a winner. Slowly, even support from some diehard fans faded. Once again, a Canadian market desperate for a team came in and made an offer that the Spirit wouldn’t and couldn’t refuse. Add this to the NHL stepping in to keep hockey in Phoenix while pushing hockey out of Atlanta (presumably in order to receive a 60 million dollar relocation fee from Winnipeg), and we once again have Atlanta without NHL hockey.
da'boomer
August 9th, 2011
10:17 am
GT – you are an ignorant douche. Browncoat – Amen! Thanks for your post. Very good account of exactly what has happened to hockey in Atlanta. Just the facts. Unfortunately, anything that happens in Atlanta seems to come back to race. In the case of the Thrashers, I think it was a big factor in the lack of action by the city. Were the Hawks or Falcons in the same boats the Thrashers there would have been bonds, referendums, etc to ensure they stayed. And in regards to demographics, why would you build the arena for a predominately white sport in a predominately black downtown area.
GT
August 9th, 2011
10:34 am
This has nothing to do with support. The same scenario was played out with the Falcons. The problem there was the owner, Smith, would not let go of them, lots of local people were in line to buy them, but the Smiths would let go. Plus people like Arthur Blank loved football, the money was secondary.
I worked with Cousins during the Hawk, and Flames era. He owned the Omni. He needed a show, in the Omni to pay the rent. It filled the office building next door and made the retail work. It was a novelty just like Winnipeg, sold out till the new washed off on it. Don’t forget Winnipeg lost a NHL franchise before too. The World of Sid and Marty Krofft was put in the building next door for the same purpose and it went bust too. When Cousins wanted to sell a team unlike the Falcons where people were begging for it, he was the one begging for a buyer. The man had done a herculean thing in bringing hockey and basketball to Atlanta, which in itself should make him a saint. You go from his begging the hockey and NBA for a team to complete silence on the hockey front for a person to step up and take it off his hands. It is like as long as he was having the party we are in but if I have to pay for my on booze I am out. The Same thing goes with the ASG, who were force to swallow the hockey and the Omni in order to get the basketball. This is not a draft where you are entitled to a hockey team you have to want one. We don’t want one in Atlanta and for most of us our lives have not changed one bit now that it is gone. I do miss The World of Sid and Marty Krofft though.
Hawks New Owner Alex Meruelo Must Combat A Spirit of Fan Apathy in Atlanta | Atlanta News
August 9th, 2011
10:49 am
[...] you read Jeff Schultz’ article regarding this matter, you’d think that The Atlanta Spirit drained the spirit out of NBA fans in [...]
GT
August 9th, 2011
11:08 am
Have you ever been in a community that has a golf course? Drains the hell out of the developer, but adds value to the community. The developer sells the lots or houses for about 30% more than they are worth because of the golf course. ASG bought the people of Atlanta a golf couse. The problem is they didn’t own the subdivision the golf course was in. Atlanta’s value went up, the Omni value went up, but none of this was reaped by the owner of the golf course, “sports team”.
DAWG Days of Summer
August 9th, 2011
11:28 am
Clearly, GT is a virgin.
miner
August 9th, 2011
11:33 am
so John Smoltz is foreclosing on 1.6 million dollar property in Wyoming..is he broke or just decided to quit paying his bills? The latter I’m guessing. IS Smoltz a bum now?
mike
August 9th, 2011
11:36 am
asg arguable worst ownership, Atlanta arguable worst pro sport city in universe – terrible combination. did you hear meruelo “i am not interest in hockey team” it’s because his hope to make couple bucks on Philips Latino concerts and pizza – la Cora in one of the fastest growing Latino populations city. need combinations of Howard , lebron and coby to fill up arena here. one of the best sport in the world – hockey had no chance to establish here. so good luck new owner in the football college capital. go dawgs.(by the way some times attendance on beloved braves close to marlins 15000) again it not going to be easy even for Cuban.
Browncoat
August 9th, 2011
11:42 am
GT, you’re not making any sense. The Calgary group payed way abover market price. At the time, there were potential buyers but none were willing to pay the price Calgary was. My point is that Atlanta will support hockey, and has done so in the past. Many times cities lose teams even though fans support the team (i.e., the Baltimore Colts)
Atlanta got lucky with the Falcons. Smith toyed with the idea of moving them to Jacksonville, and there were other rumors that they could be sold and moved out of town. Fortunately, they were sold to Mr. Blank. Likewise, the Braves in the late 70’s were doormats and attendance was poor. Again, there were rumors that the team could be sold and moved. Fortunately, Ted Turner stepped in and bought the team.
My point is that team’s fortunes are often based upon chance and luck when it comes to ownership changes. The hockey teams in Atlanta have not been so much a victim of lack of fan support as ownership problems.
Hawks fan
August 9th, 2011
12:27 pm
GT ASG bought into arena revenue in Philips not the Omni as your comments state multiple times. By separating the thrashers from the arena( the refinancing of hawks) it acted as a poison pill in keeping thrash local. The NHL has no real tv contract so when you assure the buyer of thrash will have not arena revenue you guarantee nobody in their right kinds will buy team and keep it in Atlanta. Only guaranteeing losses with no arena revenue. Plus who wanted to be tenant to ASG. Parting thrashers from arena almost guaranteed they would be moved. That is why prospective buyers looked at thrashers and were frightened off in keeping team here. Hockey can succeed here but not without arena revenue. It would either need to be able to participate or move to a new suburban arena. If it moved to the suburbs we would have finally heard from the Atlanta mayor. He was fine with them leaving to another city but the suburbs would be a problem. Philips will he awful quiet this year. Happy I don’t own restaurant in CNN center.
R.I.P. Thrashers
August 9th, 2011
12:43 pm
The ASG are millionaires who wanted to act like billionaires. They had no business owning a professional sports team. Owners should have some sense of an obligation to the people of the city for which they are purchasing a team in. The ASG did not have the money nor the sense of responsibilty to own a team. Their egoes came before the people of Atlanta.
RHJ
August 9th, 2011
1:38 pm
having been a season ticket holder there seems to a be bait and switch ideal within the spirit group, keep season tickets low and reasonable. then you have the fans hostage. If your in the building your gonna spend money, between parking, tickets and concessions the spirit group is trying to make up for lost revenue regardless of how many people show up to watch an inferior product. RICK SUND we can do better LARRY DREW didnt do bad but wont win us a championdship. we need new blood in scouting as well < HEADS NEED TO ROLL IJS
mgm
August 9th, 2011
3:41 pm
Never has an ownership of professional franchises left so much despair in its wake. They destroyed our hockey franchise and while they may have improved the Hawks, they left it strapped with horrible contracts that will be its ultimate demise in the short term. I say our because as Arthur Blank has said about the Falcons, a pro sports franchise is the communities and the owners are just its stewards. ASG was the blueprint for how not to run a sports franchise. We may never see hockey again and a basketball championship will take another period of rebuilding after the money is freed up from the worst contract in basketball history.
I miss them
August 9th, 2011
4:49 pm
Season hasn’t even started yet but I still miss the Thrashers. Hawks are fine and all, but can I please have our Thrashers back?
KevinM
August 9th, 2011
7:06 pm
Too many mistakes by the ASG left a bad taste all over this city. They have been lucky to get the success they have had, with all the lower draft picks to screw up and a couple have been good. But they have peaked and have left AM and the city with nowhere to grow.
We have Marvin handcuffed to us, (thanks Rick)…
We have Joe taking over 25% of the salary allowed (thanks Rick)
The ASG spent money, but they also made money….they are whining about losing money, but I don’t see losses in their sale price.
Fans aren’t as ignorant as the ASG make them out to be…they absolutely were over their heads and whoever told them we had a contender should be fired…..(thanks Rick and Larry)
Move these 2 ‘leaders’ out of their authoritative positions and bring in some NBA people that know how to build a team….our 3 captains look good against under .500 teams…..other than that, we have little to root for.
KevinM
August 9th, 2011
7:28 pm
Jeff Teague shows you how clueless Larry Drew is….as stubborn as Woody.
Josh Smith and his jumpers show you how clueless Larry Drew is…as stubborn as Woody.
Mike Bibby showed you how clueless Larry Drew was…..as stubborn as Woody.
I don’t think any further examples are needed. Can’t help it…one more…
Al Horford being benched in a critical playoff game with 2 fouls shows you how clueless Larry Drew is….there goes the momentum!
BZR
August 9th, 2011
9:10 pm
Hockey WILL return to Atlanta. It will retrun when someone can afford to lose a tremendous amount of money every year to put a team into a city that will never fill the seats of the stadium to watch hockey on a regular basis.
LD
August 9th, 2011
11:20 pm
Good riddance Atlanta Spirit Group! I don’t know who lies more….Mike Gearon or Obama!?
Gary Bettman
August 10th, 2011
7:30 am
Any truth to the rumor he might hire Waddell as GM?
Dejay
August 10th, 2011
9:56 am
Well, I guess I’ll chime in since everyone else is. But allow me to clear a few things up…
First let me address the hockey argument. Browncoat had it right, a bullseye on the target. The sole reason why the Flames are not celebrating its 40th season here is because of the real estate collapse of the 70’s that sunk the Cousins empire. They sold out the old Omni more often than the Hawks did; in fact, they still had attendance records that the Hawks didn’t touch until Nique’s heyday in the mid-late ’80s. Fan support was NOT an issue with the Flames at all. It was simply the fact that Nelson Scalbania and his merry men from Calgary put a Joe Johnson-esque offer on the table ($17M; to put that amount in perspective, the Omni was built for $17M, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium for $18M) that no one locally could match. By the time Ted Turner got the scent, the Flames were already out the door. Had the Flames stayed in Atlanta, they would’ve been the biggest show in town in the ’80s when they were competing for Stanley Cups while the Braves and Falcons were losing to small college and high school teams in a dreary, run-down, half-empty AFCS; that’s a fact.
As far as the Thrashers are concerned, they never had a chance to succeed, even at the Flames’ level. We all know how little the Notorious A.S.G. cared about hockey when they allowed one of the most incompetent GM’s in the sport to run the team into the ground, so as long as he did it under budget (which was normally at the NHL salary floor). That would be like the Hawks keeping Pete Babcock as GM for a over a decade and…oh wait (I’ll get to them later).
As far as the Falcons are concerned, yes, the Smiths were in talks to move them to Jacksonville in the late-80’s. But it was the construction of the Georgia Dome that kept them here, not Arthur Blank. Knowing that taxpayers wouldn’t support a known cheapskate like Rankin Smith getting a domed stadium at their expense, the state legislature, Atlanta Chamber of Congress, and then-govenor Joe Frank Harris sold it to the public as a showpiece to host Super Bowls, Final Fours, and national conventions (which went a long way after the DNC openly complained about the outdated, smallish Omni they used in 1988), which it did. Factor in the ‘96 Olympic bid and the referendum to add a hotel/motel tax to build it was approved (which you’re still paying for right now if you were at the Hyatt last night). But in his cheapness, Smith was burned in the end. Because he wanted guaranteed $$$, the state paid him $4M/year in lieu of the revenue generated from luxury boxes and club seats. It is because of that tiny, little clause in the deal why Arthur Blank is hiring stadium architects right now because his Falcons miss out on roughly $15-20M generated by those leases every year.
Now that we cleared that up, back to the A.S.G. I too was going to go on a self-imposed embargo from Philips as long as those clowns were in charge. But with the sale of the Hawks, I’ll return. I don’t know anything about the new owner but he HAS to be better than what we’ve had to endure. I’ll withhold judgment on him until the lockout is lifted and moves can be made to improve the product. And even so, it’s going to take some time to erase the many, MANY errors the previous owners have made. It is like buying a house on the cheap that’s liveable but you have to get new cabinets, redo the plumbing, install a new HVAC system, and put on a new roof to get optimum value on it. For those wanting to get this player and that player, who in their right mind is taking on JJ’s contract, Smith’s propensity to shoot 27-footers at the worst time, or Marvin’s laziness? Are you seriously thinking that the Hawks are going to get equal value for any of those guys? And no, unlike some folks here, I don’t applaud the previous owners for ‘leading’ them to three consecutive winning seasons; heck, the Falcons did that under much worse circumstances and without wasting THREE TOP-10 DRAFT PICKS to boot.
So like all of us, we’ll wait it out and see what he brings to the table. Hopefully and prayerfully, it will be more than what Gearon and the gang brought. A LOT more…
Winny Pegg
August 10th, 2011
12:23 pm
I can’t believe these Thrashers trolls hold it against the new owner of the Hawks that he didn’t buy two franchises. People seem to forget that these are businessmen making investments not donating to charity.
BZR
August 10th, 2011
3:14 pm
Not sure who posted it above BUT – If you want to read an article with some depth on the subject – read “Hawks New Owner Alex Meruelo Must Combat A Spirit of Fan Apathy in Atlanta” by Patrick Rishe.
He reviews the numbers – amount that the owners are paying in salary and wins they are getting out of this investment. He also compares it to other teams around the league. It is a mathematical analysis without a lot of emotion so a lot of the writers above will likely not be interested.
Not sure if Schultz will really get it either. I think it will be too deep for him…..
Dejay
August 10th, 2011
3:54 pm
Hawks fan made a great point. By keeping the Thrashers completely out of the discussions in terms of being packaged with Philips, it became a poison pill. The ASG knew from the jump that there was no way any local business person would buy a team without being able to get a dime from concessions, parking, et al, and THEN have to pay rent to another entity (likely, them). That’s like buying a house, only to be told that you can’t move your things in it; but you still have to make the payments.
Make no mistake, the ASG wanted to keep the Hawks and sell the Thrashers (and their losses) locally to some unsuspecting dolt who would be obligated to pay them rent, on top of pocket all of the revenue generated short of ticket sales. When that didn’t happen, the ASG was ultra-quick to tell the folks not in the know (see ESPN) that no one locally ’stepped up’ to buy the team, thus justifying them to sell out to True North. That alone should tell you everything you need to know concerning this group. The only reason they sold the Hawks was because they knew that they were black-flagged locally because of the way the sold the Thrashers down the river; no one was stepping foot in that arena for the Hawks if they were still in charge. They knew that if the lockout ended with them still in control of the basketball team, we would make it our pleasure to stay away from Philips, to the point of them having to sell in order to stop the flow the red ink.
Simply put, those guys (Gearon, Seydel, Levinson, et al) are pariahs in this town and there’s little that they can do to change that. Jeff George, Danny Manning, and Jon Koncak have nothing on that bunch. Even Rankin Smith’s ghost is shaking his head at them in shame…
Hawks New Owner Alex Meruelo Must Combat A Spirit of Fan Apathy in Atlanta | Atlanta Local Me.me
August 10th, 2011
4:00 pm
[...] you read Jeff Schultz’ article regarding this matter, you’d think that The Atlanta Spirit drained the spirit out of NBA fans in [...]