Hawks’ sale is in peril — and that’s bad news we don’t need
Alex Meruelo insists he has the resources to buy and run the Hawks.
The NHL wasn’t happy with the Atlanta Spirit when they owned the Thrashers. The NBA never has been thrilled with them as Hawks’ owners, either. But the league and Atlanta may be stuck with them a little longer.
Our Tim Tucker is reporting that the proposed sale of the Hawks from the Atlanta Spirit to Los Angeles businessman Alex Meruelo has hit a “significant snag.” You generally can read that as financial.
Tucker noted last week that the league approved the sale of the Philadelphia 76ers but would offer no update on the Hawks’ sale. Now we know why.
Meruelo, whose purchase of the team was announced Aug. 7, subject to league approval, did not deny that the deal might be in trouble in a statement but he maintains that he has the resources to purchase and run the team: “I have more than ample resources to purchase and operate the Hawks in a first-class manner. I am committed to the purchase of the Atlanta Hawks. While I can’t comment on the details of the approval process, I have and will do everything I can to bring the process to a positive conclusion.”
Here’s my first thought: Not again.
Many of the Spirit’s problems stemmed from partners battling each other, usually in course, and those issues filtered down to the sports franchises. It significantly affected the perception of the franchises, hurting the product and even attendance. The Spirit is a damaged brand at this point and new ownership is needed.
Meruelo doesn’t bring any guarantees as to how good of an owner he would be, but he certainly would provide a needed new face in the executive suite.
In short, this would be bad news.
By Jeff Schultz
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165 comments Add your comment
Peter
October 27th, 2011
9:39 am
Can anyone tell me if the players make $$ while not playing? How does their contract work?
Ed Peskowitz
October 27th, 2011
9:40 am
Rutherford, you little punk! You still owe me $20. You’re a total coward. You better pray that I never find you b/c I’m going to beat your rear like your father should have a long time ago.
Rutherford Seydel
October 27th, 2011
9:42 am
Ed, everyone knows you’re drunker right now at 9:40 in the morning on a Thursday than I was when I got yanked offstage at that Widespread Panic show a few years ago.
Meet me at the Pink Pony at lunchtime if you want me to bust your Rudolph nose into a hundred pieces.
Beau Turner
October 27th, 2011
9:44 am
Rutherford, I’m in. My dad didn’t give me any money this month because I spit on him a few weeks ago for calling me a failure.
See you there around 11:45.
St. Louis Native
October 27th, 2011
9:47 am
“Wish we could trade the Hawks back to St. Louis in exchange for the Blues.”
Nice idea, but there is a solid base of lifelong Blues fans in St.Louis and a solid base of youth hockey in area, so they aren’t going anywhere. The Hawks broke my heart as a kid when they moved – my Dad used to take me to games in St. Louis; I steadfastly refuse to attend a game here in Atlanta regardless of the current ownership. This situation with ASG and the sale was utterly predictable. Get ready fans, if they don’t get a sale done you’re in store for what we witnessed at the end with the Thrashers – uncommitted ownership, lies, and constant attempts to blame Atlanta and the fans for the messes they create.
Davey
October 27th, 2011
9:50 am
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again about the ASG:
This is the most dysfunctional yet fully operational group I’ve ever seen…
rename it
October 27th, 2011
9:54 am
Can we rename Turner Field to get Ted back for making Time Warner sell the teams to these clowns? I like the name “Aaron Field” much better.
KevinM
October 27th, 2011
10:04 am
I gotta say this isn’t the best time to buy a team, much less the Hawks.
How the ASG is making a profit by selling this team is beyond me! These guys have nothing left to offer this city, yet someone is coming in to bail them out by writing a check for more than their actual value?
Seriously, all we hear is teams are losing money, and yet, we find a guy who knows little about basketball, lives across the county, and sees this as a fit for ‘profit’? Call me a bit cautious here. And he keeps the ASG around as ‘co-habitants’? Sounds like 2 desperate groups trying to make something happen, and the fans of this franchise are the ones that get screwed in the end.
We are so desperate to get this team from under the ASG buffoons, we will accept ANYONE in place of the ownership disaster we have now. I don’t have a lot of motivation in any of this that the NBA, the ASG or Muruelo having a handle on this. With the negative CBA ongoing, this probably isn’t at the top of the priority list. So do we end up with the ASG for yet another less than stellar year?
I can tell you this; I would never accept the payroll that the ASG have given to Muruelo. They are strapped at the cap, with no room to grow as I believe the penalties to overspend will exceed the need to do just that.
We are part of an average team in a Top NBA market who doesn’t have a lot to offer its fan base because the GM and coach are considered ‘average’ in their results.
Can you tell I can’t wait for the NBA to get this year started?
Dough Boy
October 27th, 2011
10:06 am
Where’s the dough?
J
October 27th, 2011
10:15 am
GT – you are among the racists here calling these guys thugs. How quick we forget the community functions they attend, the money they put into certain charities, and the entertainment they bring to the games. THEY are the talent, fans don’t attend games to see owners. THEY are entertainers just like movie stars are entertainers, like comedians are entertainers, like musicians are entertainers, etc. That fact is quickly ignored as well. AND GT, the facts also show that while you call them THUGS, the NFL has more players going out causing chaos … UGA’s football team alone has more chaos to it but yet you don’t call them thugs? And how do the Hawks fall into this? None of the Hawks players have had a run-in recently with the police (unless you count Powell’s blocking of an intersection due to traffic). Should i call you a thug GT b/c the last NBA player to have a run-in with the law graduated from GT? Seriously, take your racist crap out of here. It GETS OLD! You have no facts to support your calling of NBA players thugs. JACKA$$
J
October 27th, 2011
10:17 am
Keep your comments at the ASG, and stop branching out to bash the Hawks … it doesn’t make any sense.
Hillbilly D
October 27th, 2011
10:21 am
If this deal doesn’t go through, my guess is that the Hawks will follow the Thrashers out of town, in a year or two.
Back when we used to talk bad about the Smiths, if we’d only known what the future held.
meh
October 27th, 2011
10:35 am
I wish Ted Turner would buy all his teams back.
Simeon Rice N Gravy
October 27th, 2011
10:39 am
THIS JUST IN……………
NOBODY CARES.
Simeon Rice N Gravy
October 27th, 2011
10:40 am
NBA is turrrrble.
Sideline Dude
October 27th, 2011
10:43 am
The NBA is nothing but a bunch of thugs anyway. Overpaid, spoiled hoodlums for the most part. So if the Hawks can’t go away, maybe they can just fade away. And on the NBA season being cancelled, who cares? I certainly don’t.
PMC
October 27th, 2011
10:48 am
There are more Thugs on Wall Street than in the NFL.
Atlanta native
October 27th, 2011
10:48 am
Thanks for your incompetence with our Hockey team. You stink
PMC
October 27th, 2011
10:48 am
NBA rather
Kramer
October 27th, 2011
10:55 am
I thought they moved to Winnipeg. Don’t tell me they are coming back!
JoeFan
October 27th, 2011
11:15 am
Does anyone really care whether the Hawks stay in Atlanta or not? The Hawks are for entertainment pruposes and I use that term loosely. The fans do not own them or any professional sports team. Their fans if there are any and Meruelo should just count their lucky stars and run not walk away.
Wayne stuck in AL
October 27th, 2011
11:35 am
JEFF:
Question: Would Gearon and Levenson lose MORE money with a prolonged lockout, or less?
J
October 27th, 2011
11:50 am
joenobody and sidelinedud – nobody cares about your comments … go troll the harry potter website
GTJohn
October 27th, 2011
11:50 am
Who cares.
If all of pro basketball went away, it would be good thing except for the prison population which would go up dramatically.
GTJohn
October 27th, 2011
11:59 am
J, it looks like you are in the minority on this blog. Real basketball left the scene years ago when players like Jerry West, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlin, Nate Archibald, etc. retired.
All these inked up guys we see today are not basketball but streetball – no finese in the bunch and very little pure talent, just pushing, shoving, elbowing and trash talk. You will not see ball handling like we did with the Pistol, nor outside shooting like the big O.
J
October 27th, 2011
12:01 pm
and a little fact to the trolls that said nobody cares … last year, the Hawks had the highest gate revenue in NBA history for the Heat v. Hawks game. Kind of goes against your theory that nobody cares. NBA was at an all-time high last season thanks to the upcoming stars. People care, just not the 5 or 6 bloggers on here that obviously don’t attend games and can’t speak facts. We don’t care if you don’t care! You’re just a handful!
GTJohn
October 27th, 2011
12:11 pm
Still no real talent.
Basketball is a celebrity entertainment sport and for people who want everyone to think they are a celebrity or know one.
You are right, I do not go to Hawks games any longer – not since the days of Hazzard and Bellamy. Would not be caught near the place now.
The half-time show put on by Pete Maravich will never be equalled – that’s right, the Hawks once had a player so good, he could do the entire half-time show by himself and it did not involve dunking a ball – just pure talent.
J
October 27th, 2011
12:13 pm
really? Pretty sure that Jason Kidd & Steve Nash fall into the category of great ball handlers & team players. I’m also pretty sure that LeBron/Wade/Bosh took paycuts to head to Miami (not that i’m a fan of trying to create a championship team that way). The Boston Celtics did the same to acquire the big three. I also see very talented athletes in the NBA as well. Everytime i hear somebody bash the NBA, it’s the white crowd … it’s racist. Tatoos are common these days. Baseball players, nfl players, hockey players, soccer players, etc ALL HAVE TATOOS. Maybe you can blame America for the demoralizing of values in the US, but passing it onto the NBA is ridiculous. Times have changed, people have changed. Not many people i see these days that don’t have a tatoo at some point on their body. Should i call my friend a thug b/c he’s inked or how about i call my girlfriend a thug b/c she has a small tatoo on her?
I will defend this b/c of racist like most of you bloggers on here who get on here and spit venom with no facts behind it, other than trying to get people to follow your propaganda. Anybody who reads these blogs should at elast know facts. This article was written about a potential owner not having funds to buy the Hawks … not about NBA players being thugs. It’s ridiculous and it should stop. Obviously it won’t though when there are people like yourself out there who troll around and hide behind computers.
Ted M
October 27th, 2011
12:17 pm
I would like to know how much, if any, money the Atlanta Spirit lost during their ownership and possibe sale of both franchises.
Anyone know?
The more the merrier!
J
October 27th, 2011
12:23 pm
you named pete maravich, when you have guys like Jason Kidd & Steve Nash who have similar talents. It’s a mute point, especially b/c you don’t even attend games. Jason Kidd & Steve Nash are BOTH in the Top 10 in assists in NBA History. Their ball handling abilities, especially Nash, are also unequaled today.
dunking a ball was exactly what started making the NBA big, so not sure why you even bring that up. Dr. J, Michael Jordan, Spud Webb started it. Guys like LeBron, Kobe, Blake Griffin continue it. It’s entertainment! If i go to a game and i don’t see at least one great dunk, it takes the fun away from it. It also gets the crowd going. Same as a great three point shot in transition. I seriously can’t even listen to you GT John. You’re part of the problem with these blogs. Uneducated when it comes to the NBA. There are legends in the making today, and it was obvious by last season’s ratings. How about you continue you’re bashing of the ASG, probably something else you know nothing about.
alex
October 27th, 2011
12:29 pm
J, of course they thugs, do you know the fax that about 70% NBA players had numerous encounters with police from drinking driving to more serious criminal matter. NBA hiding this, but it on the record in well known book about behavior of NBA players. compare for example with pro soccer players around the world, NHL, or basketball players playing in Europe this number coming down to 4%. to folks who mocking Winnipeg jets, don’t worry they going to be OK because of steady big attendance, also don’t worry about philly baseball with average attendance in the lebron world not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, but 15 thousand more than beloved braves. so this teams for sure going to get in much better shape for signing than hawks. watch out for winnipeg three years from now. for sure they be in playoff with success. no good Atlanta, no support for pro sport team translated in just one big win in 1995 and several relocates. still asg suck.
J
October 27th, 2011
12:33 pm
also, this didn’t post but too many people are quick to judge players based off tatoos when probably 50% of americans have tatoos these days … and not just your mlb/nfl/nhl/mls players. Try your dentist, doctor, hair stylist, server, car mechanic, etc. It’s not the NBA’s fault that values have been demoralized in America. Times have changed, people have changed. If you put the player’s of the past into today’s society, they would also mainstream too … tatoos, flashy cars, houses, etc. But yet you idiolize players of the past as some type of excuse to bash today’s players. You bring up these names of past players, and makes me even wonder if you even watched the games back then. Most all of our storied heroes in baseball/basketball/nfl, etc had some type of character flaw.
J
October 27th, 2011
12:46 pm
alex, i will agree with half of what you said (b/cc the other half i can’t even understand), Atlanta is VERY VERY bad when it comes to supporting pro teams. Mainly b/c most teams don’t have a storied tradition here, they were brought in from other cities. I’m from Gwinnett County, lived here all my life. Atlantans got spoiled by all thsoe trips to the postseason with the Braves so they stopped attending Braves playoff games. That WOULD NOT HAPPEN in Chicago/Boston/New York. Your point about 70% of NBA players being involved with police incidents seems skewed and i’d like to see where you got that number from. I do recall Braves pitcher Derek Lowe getting arrested for driving fast and being intoxicated but he “got off”. Players are human beings too, they have character flaws. Do we hold all of our own friends in high standards? Each of us have friends that have done something stupid in their lifetime. Unfortunately, most of those don’t make the news. The media likes to go after well-known people to make fools of them. Just b/c Mr. Superstar gets pulled over for driving drunk doesn’t make me the label the whole professional league as drunk drivers. I’m just as pissed as that person driving drunk as i am with the regular working guy getting pulled over drunk. Doesn’t mean i won’t attend games. And to hit home with my point, if regular guy that gets pulled over drunk works for Target, are you going to stop shopping at Target. NO, you’re not. These bloggers are just racists with nothing better to do than bash a product they never really supported in the first place.
BillS
October 27th, 2011
12:51 pm
Please help me understand why more people than I think care about the Hawks. I went to one game last year, three the previous year, looked at maybe a half dozen games on TV. What I saw in obviously limited experience was absentee management, mediocre coaching and a roster of mostly modest talent. Attendance for the Hawks shows not a whole lot of interest in the team com pared to attendance in other cities. So why — I’m asking seriously — do people want to spend money on season tickets? Or, in my case, even individual game tickets here and there? I’m frustrated and about to lose complete interest in this team and everything to do with it. Thanks for whatever replies show up.
phil
October 27th, 2011
1:17 pm
Frankly, most of us could care less what happens to the Hawks or to the NBA….the longer the lockout continues, the better…
checkercab
October 27th, 2011
1:21 pm
too many thugs outside the arena and on the court to want to buy overpriced tickets to hawks games. plus, you get hassled by the atl police and security wherever you go downtown—no thanks!
phil
October 27th, 2011
1:29 pm
J – You’re breaking out the race card.
That immediately makes you an idiot not worthy of being listened to.
J
October 27th, 2011
1:30 pm
Attendance for any pro team in Atlanta is going have the same result Bill. Braves played the Phillies near the end of the season and the place wasn’t even close to being packed. I went to the game and wasn’t too surprised by that. Thrashers games were the same way. Even Falcons games are that way now. The Falcons had an awesome team last year but yet, they still didn’t sell out every game. The games they do sell out is b/c of certain teams coming to town or certain players. Atlanta is a joke when it comes to support, mainly b/c nobody is from here anymore. Also, what exactly got you to go to that one game last year? What got you to go to three the previous year? Which team did you see and who did you take with you? I can say that there are dog games, as most teams have dog games on their schedule. I can promise you if you came to the Clippers game last year, you got to see a show. Same for the Heat game, Lakers, early March Bulls game.
J
October 27th, 2011
1:30 pm
Phil, you broke out the “who cares about the NBA & Hawks” card – which, likewise, makes you an idiot not worth listening too.
phil
October 27th, 2011
1:34 pm
J – I may very well be an idiot as you say. The NBA just isn’t worth watching anymore, aside from the great enjoyment I got from watching the Mavs oust the Heat….
The Hawks have never amounted to a hill of beans….
Please, I beg you league, continue the lockout until May….
J
October 27th, 2011
1:35 pm
I’m on a blog that directly relates to the Hawks & my interest … shouldn’t you be on a blog where people give a crap about your comments, i’d try the ignorant UGA fan blog for starters, seems to be a good fit for you
phil
October 27th, 2011
1:36 pm
Fire FG….
J
October 27th, 2011
1:37 pm
we ALL got enjoyment from watching the Mavs beat the Heat … the Heat were the most hated team in the league this year. The Hawks have at least developed a team of really good players who are making the playoffs year in and out. Better than the 13 win season a few years back. They are one great player & a new owner from coming close to a championship. Also, these guys are giving back. Look up Al Horford and check to see his community involvement. You’ll be surprised.
BillS
October 27th, 2011
1:38 pm
J, thanks for replying. Last year I saw the Bucks, hardly a classic, you’re right. From what I’ve read, however, overall attendance for the Hawks ranks on the low end in the league. And I’m sure you are correct: some of the games are gems. But again, given the team’s shortcomings, I’m not wiling to take the time, trouble and cash to go. I don’t fault those who do, but count me out, at least for now.
phil
October 27th, 2011
1:38 pm
I AM one of those ignorant UGA fans, though I tend to bash them myself because they are, to the most part, incredibly stupid…
And since you actually have interest in the Hawks, J, you and your racist rants are perfect here….
phil
October 27th, 2011
1:40 pm
I like Horford. I DON’T like lazy, whiny Josh Smith….in fact, he makes me want to wretch violently into a bucket.
J
October 27th, 2011
1:40 pm
either way, i can debate you all day on this subject which i know a hell of a lot more than you do … i’m also a fan of the once Thrashers and the Braves. I at least go to games, even if i am fed up with owners. It’s bonding time i get with my son and for the most part, entertaining. I’m not going to pay and arm and a leg though.
J
October 27th, 2011
1:42 pm
Phil, nobody likes J-not-so-smoove … he’s one that i hope is traded. The most bone-headed player we currently have on our roster. His shot selection is criminal, and that IS something he should be locked up for.
J
October 27th, 2011
1:45 pm
Phil, i’m white and tired of seeing people randomly come on here to bash the NBA/Hawks. Let’s not sugarcoat it, 99% of them are white. That doesn’t make me a racist for calling it out as i see it. Also, it’s pretty obviouse when they talk about Thrashers that they have no common knowledge/interest in the NBA for the most part. Just another forum for them to cry. I’m sick of hearing the crying. At least they can do it on this column but bringing the Hawks into it is still senseless. Bash the ASG, not the Hawks, they have nothing to do with the loss of the Thrashers.
phil
October 27th, 2011
1:46 pm
J – I’m sure you have plenty of sense…in fact, it’s obvious.
As for knowing a heckuva lot more about whatever the subject is you’re talking about, I can’t say I agree when I don’t know what you mean.
The Hawks? Sports in general? Racism? What?