http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/basketball/breaking-levenson-to-sell-interest-in-hawks/nhHZt/
Clovis and I now live in shame like Adam. :/
Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson announced Sunday that he will sell his controlling interest in the team.
Levenson cited an “inappropriate and offensive” e-mail he sent two years ago in the abrupt announcement.
“If you’re angry about what I wrote, you should be,” Levenson said in a statement released by the team. “I’m angry at myself, too. It was inflammatory nonsense. We all may have subtle biases and preconceptions when it comes to race, but my role as a leader is to challenge them, not to validate or accommodate those who might hold them.
“I have said repeatedly that the NBA should have zero tolerance for racism, and I strongly believe that to be true. That is why I voluntarily reported my inappropriate e-mail to the NBA.
“After much long and difficult contemplation, I have decided that it is in the best interests of the team, the Atlanta community, and the NBA to sell my controlling interest in the Hawks franchise.”
According to Levenson, Hawks CEO and part-owner Steve Koonin will oversee all team operations during the sale process.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a release Sunday that Levenson informed him of his decision Saturday night.
“Following Bruce Levenson notifying the league office this July of his August 2012 email, the NBA commenced an independent investigation regarding the circumstances of Mr. Levenson’s comments,” Silver said in his statement.
“Prior to the completion of the investigation, Mr. Levenson notified me last evening that he had decided to sell his controlling interest in the Atlanta Hawks. As Mr. Levenson acknowledged, the views he expressed are entirely unacceptable and are in stark contrast to the core principles of the National Basketball Association. He shared with me how truly remorseful he is for using those hurtful words and how apologetic he is to the entire NBA family – fans, players, team employees, business partners and fellow team owners – for having diverted attention away from our game.
I commend Mr. Levenson for self-reporting to the league office, for being fully cooperative with the league and its independent investigator, and for putting the best interests of the Hawks, the Atlanta community, and the NBA first.”
Clovis and I now live in shame like Adam. :/
Holy shit..
http://www.basketballinsiders.com/atlanta-hawks-going-up-for-sale/
In trying to address those issues, I wrote an e-mail two years ago that was inappropriate and offensive. I trivialized our fans by making clichéd assumptions about their interests (i.e. hip hop vs. country, white vs. black cheerleaders, etc.) and by stereotyping their perceptions of one another (i.e. that white fans might be afraid of our black fans). By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans.
Read more at http://www.basketballinsiders.com/atlanta-hawks-going-up-for-sale/#0bkGRQVJO0wbSiFx.99
http://www.basketballinsiders.com/atlanta-hawks-going-up-for-sale/
This coupled with the Braves moving up north to the suburbs from Atlanta to Cobb county says a lot about what Atlanta based team owners think about the fan demographics down here.
http://deadspin.com/heres-the-email-that-forced-hawks-owner-barry-levenson-1631640411
FULL TEXT OF THE E-MAIL (via the Hawks):
From: Bruce Levenson
Sent: 8/25/2012 11:47:02 PM
Subject: Re: Business/Game ops
1. from day one i have been impressed with the friendliness and professionalism of the arena staff -- food vendors, ushers, ticket takers, etc. in our early years when i would bring folks from dc they were blown away by the contrast between abe pollin's arena and philips. some of this is attributable to southern hospital and manners but bob and his staff do a good job of training. To this day, I can not get the ushers to call me Bruce yet they insist on me calling them by their first names.
2. the non-premium area food is better than most arenas, though that is not saying much. i think there is room for improvement and creativity. Levy is our food vendor so we don't have much control but they have been good partners. i have wished we had some inconic offereing like boog's barbeque at the baseball stadium in balt.
3. our new restaurant, red, just opened so too early for me to give you my thoughts.
4. Regarding game ops, i need to start with some background. for the first couple of years we owned the team, i didn't much focus on game ops. then one day a light bulb went off. when digging into why our season ticket base is so small, i was told it is because we can't get 35-55 white males and corporations to buy season tixs and they are the primary demo for season tickets around the league. when i pushed further, folks generally shrugged their shoulders. then i start looking around our arena during games and notice the following:
-- it's 70 pct black
-- the cheerleaders are black
-- the music is hip hop
-- at the bars it's 90 pct black
-- there are few fathers and sons at the games
-- we are doing after game concerts to attract more fans and the concerts are either hip hop or gospel.
Then i start looking around at other arenas. It is completely different. Even DC with its affluent black community never has more than 15 pct black audience.
Before we bought the hawks and for those couple years immediately after in an effort to make the arena look full (at the nba's urging) thousands and thousands of tickets were being giving away, predominantly in the black community, adding to the overwhelming black audience.
My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a signficant season ticket base. Please dont get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arean back then. i never felt uncomfortable, but i think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority. On fan sites i would read comments about how dangerous it is around philips yet in our 9 years, i don't know of a mugging or even a pick pocket incident. This was just racist garbage. When I hear some people saying the arena is in the wrong place I think it is code for there are too many blacks at the games.
I have been open with our executive team about these concerns. I have told them I want some white cheerleaders and while i don't care what the color of the artist is, i want the music to be music familiar to a 40 year old white guy if that's our season tixs demo. i have also balked when every fan picked out of crowd to shoot shots in some time out contest is black. I have even bitched that the kiss cam is too black.
Gradually things have changed. My unscientific guess is that our crowd is 40 pct black now, still four to five times all other teams. And my further guess is that 40 pct still feels like 70 pet to some whites at our games. Our bars are still overwhelmingly black.
This is obviously a sensitive topic, but sadly i think it is far and way the number one reason our season ticket base is so low.
And many of our black fans don't have the spendable income which explains why our f&b and merchandise sales are so low. At all white thrasher games sales were nearly triple what they are at hawks games (the extra intermission explains some of that but not all).
Regardless of what time a game starts, we have the latest arriving crowd in the league. It often looks and sounds empty when the team takes the floor.
In the past two years, we have created a section of rowdy college students that has been a big plus. And we do a lot of very clever stuff during time outs to entertain the crowd. Our kiss cam is better done than any in the league.
We have all the same halftime acts that other arenas have but i question whether they make sense. people are on their cell phones during half time. i wonder if flashing on the scoreboard "$2 off on hot dogs during halftime tonight" just as the half ends would be a better use of our halftime dollars and make the fans happier.
We do all the usual giveways and the fans are usually their loudest when our spirit crew takes the floor to give away t-shirts. It pisses me off that they will yell louder for a t-shirt then for our players.
Our player intro is flat. We manufacture a lot of noise but because of the late arriving crowd and the fact that a lot of blacks dont seem to go as crazy cheering (another one of my theories) as whites, it is not great. Even when we have just returned from winnng four straight on the road, i am one of the few people in the arena standing and cheering when our team takes the floor. Bob has kicked around ideas like having the starters coming down aisles rather than off the bench during intros. Sounds cool but may highlight all the empty seats at the start of games.
Not enough of our fans wear hawks jerseys to games. i have just begun to push for ideas like discount food lines for folks wearing jerseys, special entrances, etc. I think we need a committed and perhaps incentivized fan club. We need to realize atl is simply different than every other city. Just adopting nba best practices is not enough. we have to create our own.
I am rambling and could probably go on forever. If you have any specific areas you would like my thoughts on, let me know.
Best,
Bruce
ps -- I have cc'd todd and ed so they can chime in with additional or different thoughts.
Sent from my iPad
dude is cashing out rofl
FULL TEXT OF THE E-MAIL (via the Hawks):
From: Bruce Levenson
Sent: 8/25/2012 11:47:02 PM
Subject: Re: Business/Game ops
1. from day one i have been impressed with the friendliness and professionalism of the arena staff -- food vendors, ushers, ticket takers, etc. in our early years when i would bring folks from dc they were blown away by the contrast between abe pollin's arena and philips. some of this is attributable to southern hospital and manners but bob and his staff do a good job of training. To this day, I can not get the ushers to call me Bruce yet they insist on me calling them by their first names.
2. the non-premium area food is better than most arenas, though that is not saying much. i think there is room for improvement and creativity. Levy is our food vendor so we don't have much control but they have been good partners. i have wished we had some inconic offereing like boog's barbeque at the baseball stadium in balt.
3. our new restaurant, red, just opened so too early for me to give you my thoughts.
4. Regarding game ops, i need to start with some background. for the first couple of years we owned the team, i didn't much focus on game ops. then one day a light bulb went off. when digging into why our season ticket base is so small, i was told it is because we can't get 35-55 white males and corporations to buy season tixs and they are the primary demo for season tickets around the league. when i pushed further, folks generally shrugged their shoulders. then i start looking around our arena during games and notice the following:
-- it's 70 pct black
-- the cheerleaders are black
-- the music is hip hop
-- at the bars it's 90 pct black
-- there are few fathers and sons at the games
-- we are doing after game concerts to attract more fans and the concerts are either hip hop or gospel.
Then i start looking around at other arenas. It is completely different. Even DC with its affluent black community never has more than 15 pct black audience.
Before we bought the hawks and for those couple years immediately after in an effort to make the arena look full (at the nba's urging) thousands and thousands of tickets were being giving away, predominantly in the black community, adding to the overwhelming black audience.
My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a signficant season ticket base. Please dont get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arean back then. i never felt uncomfortable, but i think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority. On fan sites i would read comments about how dangerous it is around philips yet in our 9 years, i don't know of a mugging or even a pick pocket incident. This was just racist garbage. When I hear some people saying the arena is in the wrong place I think it is code for there are too many blacks at the games.
I have been open with our executive team about these concerns. I have told them I want some white cheerleaders and while i don't care what the color of the artist is, i want the music to be music familiar to a 40 year old white guy if that's our season tixs demo. i have also balked when every fan picked out of crowd to shoot shots in some time out contest is black. I have even bitched that the kiss cam is too black.
Gradually things have changed. My unscientific guess is that our crowd is 40 pct black now, still four to five times all other teams. And my further guess is that 40 pct still feels like 70 pet to some whites at our games. Our bars are still overwhelmingly black.
This is obviously a sensitive topic, but sadly i think it is far and way the number one reason our season ticket base is so low.
And many of our black fans don't have the spendable income which explains why our f&b and merchandise sales are so low. At all white thrasher games sales were nearly triple what they are at hawks games (the extra intermission explains some of that but not all).
Regardless of what time a game starts, we have the latest arriving crowd in the league. It often looks and sounds empty when the team takes the floor.
In the past two years, we have created a section of rowdy college students that has been a big plus. And we do a lot of very clever stuff during time outs to entertain the crowd. Our kiss cam is better done than any in the league.
We have all the same halftime acts that other arenas have but i question whether they make sense. people are on their cell phones during half time. i wonder if flashing on the scoreboard "$2 off on hot dogs during halftime tonight" just as the half ends would be a better use of our halftime dollars and make the fans happier.
We do all the usual giveways and the fans are usually their loudest when our spirit crew takes the floor to give away t-shirts. It pisses me off that they will yell louder for a t-shirt then for our players.
Our player intro is flat. We manufacture a lot of noise but because of the late arriving crowd and the fact that a lot of blacks dont seem to go as crazy cheering (another one of my theories) as whites, it is not great. Even when we have just returned from winnng four straight on the road, i am one of the few people in the arena standing and cheering when our team takes the floor. Bob has kicked around ideas like having the starters coming down aisles rather than off the bench during intros. Sounds cool but may highlight all the empty seats at the start of games.
Not enough of our fans wear hawks jerseys to games. i have just begun to push for ideas like discount food lines for folks wearing jerseys, special entrances, etc. I think we need a committed and perhaps incentivized fan club. We need to realize atl is simply different than every other city. Just adopting nba best practices is not enough. we have to create our own.
I am rambling and could probably go on forever. If you have any specific areas you would like my thoughts on, let me know.
Best,
Bruce
ps -- I have cc'd todd and ed so they can chime in with additional or different thoughts.
Sent from my iPad
dude is cashing out rofl
I specifically remember him being on CNN saying how he'd want Sterling out of the league and how he and his team went to some african american museum.
L
O
L
L
O
L
the kiss cam is too black :lol:
i guess we've got a rich mine to dig for regular season thread titles from
i guess we've got a rich mine to dig for regular season thread titles from
is that email really that bad? i mean he complains about racist white people but thinks they're the better target to get more money from (by rebranding certain things). certainly it's far from good but that's no where near the stuff Sterling said publicly over time.
but i'm white so what do i know, happily get corrected/educated.
but i'm white so what do i know, happily get corrected/educated.
is that email really that bad? i mean he complains about racist white people but thinks they're the better target to get more money from (by rebranding certain things). certainly it's far from good but that's no where near the stuff Sterling said publicly over time.
but i'm white so what do i know, happily get corrected/educated.
He kinda flip-flops between being racist and not racist during the email. But yeah, he's probably like 32% racist and 68% greedy and just sees people with dollar amounts attached.
The most pathetic part is hardly any of it is data driven. A guy with that much money is just going off "I think"s. And doesn't know how to use spell check properly.
laughable that he just assumes blacks can't afford season tix, doesn't even cross his mind that maybe they just don't want to.
Yeah, i don't think it's really that terrible, just unscientific in the assumptions but...is that email really that bad? i mean he complains about racist white people but thinks they're the better target to get more money from (by rebranding certain things). certainly it's far from good but that's no where near the stuff Sterling said publicly over time.
but i'm white so what do i know, happily get corrected/educated.
He kinda flip-flops between being racist and not racist during the email. But yeah, he's probably like 32% racist and 68% greedy and just sees people with dollar amounts attached.
The most pathetic part is hardly any of it is data driven. A guy with that much money is just going off "I think"s. And doesn't know how to use spell check properly.
laughable that he just assumes blacks can't afford season tix, doesn't even cross his mind that maybe they just don't want to.
He seems to be inferring a lot of this from talks with other owners with much better season ticket bases so who knows.
are there any actual good theories as to why their crowd sucks so much?Atlanta pro sports fans are terrible, period. The Falcons only became relevant when Mike Vick emerged onto the scene. The state (and even the ATL metro) cares far more about college football.
Also, the Hawks are boring and everyone knows they'll just make the playoffs as a mid-level seed and go out in the second round at the latest.
is that email really that bad? i mean he complains about racist white people but thinks they're the better target to get more money from (by rebranding certain things). certainly it's far from good but that's no where near the stuff Sterling said publicly over time.
but i'm white so what do i know, happily get corrected/educated.
He kinda flip-flops between being racist and not racist during the email. But yeah, he's probably like 32% racist and 68% greedy and just sees people with dollar amounts attached.
The most pathetic part is hardly any of it is data driven. A guy with that much money is just going off "I think"s. And doesn't know how to use spell check properly.
A lot of my FB friends know I went to grad school to study this kind of stuff so they almost always defer to my opinions on these things. I'm only mentioning this because I wouldn't have said anything about it here had I not had a friend PM me on FB to ask me if I had read the letter and how offended I was at it on a scale of 1-10. So I'll just copypasta.
Literally registered as a "1" to me.
Compared to all the legitimately racist stuff that exists out there in human civilization, this is tame. Actually, I think it's insightful if one wants to discover how the hegemony stays as such. What I read in this Levenson's letter is closer to the brutal truth of economics than prejudice or discriminatory practice. Man's trying to make money and wants to figure out how to get more white people with disposable incomes into his stadium. People need to understand that his letter is about business, not subjugation.
Now if we should be disturbed about his letter, it should be because A) obviously, there's a lot of work involved in turning a grandiose adult toy that is a sports franchise into a profitable venture rather than a wash/headache, and months after Sterling, digs up an email from 2012 so that someone will "buy him out" and he can go somewhere and chill. In other words, he's looking to capitalize on Sterling's gaffe rather than create social change, and B) the fact that structural/systematic/social obstacles prevent (even affluent) blacks in the ATL area from becoming season ticket holders even though they represent the majority of the fans in the area, resulting in businesses investing into "gentrification ideology."
And to be quite frank, I wouldn't want to patronize an arena that inundates me with rap music either.
laughable that he just assumes blacks can't afford season tix, doesn't even cross his mind that maybe they just don't want to.
Corporate boxes are where the real money's at, and unfortunately, no one wants to be associated with the Hawks. SunTrust/Home Depot/Delta would much rather have boxes for UGA games that are 2 hours away than getting Hawks tickets.
It's dumb.
The more I think about it I'm convinced that the Hawks are the problem.
I wouldn't want to go to their games if I lived in Atlanta either, and I'm a pretty big basketball fan.
They need to do something to get people interested in going to their games. Redesign the uniforms, tank for high picks, update the arena, do *something*.
I wouldn't want to go to their games if I lived in Atlanta either, and I'm a pretty big basketball fan.
They need to do something to get people interested in going to their games. Redesign the uniforms, tank for high picks, update the arena, do *something*.
The more I think about it I'm convinced that the Hawks are the problem.Phillips is a nice place to see a game, really.
I wouldn't want to go to their games if I lived in Atlanta either, and I'm a pretty big basketball fan.
They need to do something to get people interested in going to their games. Redesign the uniforms, tank for high picks, update the arena, do *something*.
But, god, yes, bring back the red and yellow, you losers.
"He's still a young guy overall," Ferry said, league sources with direct knowledge of the probe told Yahoo. “He's a good guy overall. But he's not perfect. He's got some African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way."
Danny Ferry dares to be stupid.
It's so dark in Phillips. And not the MSG/Staples "we're watching a show" kind of dark.
It's the rundown hospital emergency room kind, and that's just not good enough for a basketball game.
It's the rundown hospital emergency room kind, and that's just not good enough for a basketball game.
Never been to Atlanta, I guess I just assumed the arena sucked because nobody goes to the games.The more I think about it I'm convinced that the Hawks are the problem.Phillips is a nice place to see a game, really.
I wouldn't want to go to their games if I lived in Atlanta either, and I'm a pretty big basketball fan.
They need to do something to get people interested in going to their games. Redesign the uniforms, tank for high picks, update the arena, do *something*.
But, god, yes, bring back the red and yellow, you losers.
I'm with you on the unis though--there's really no excuse for a team that had such a strong identity in the past to use such boring unis.
Change them up and let the Pelicans own that boring look.
The more I think about it I'm convinced that the Hawks are the problem.Except for a long time they were a super athletic team. The tried to push the pace. And still no one went to the games. They've been struggling for a long time.
I wouldn't want to go to their games if I lived in Atlanta either, and I'm a pretty big basketball fan.
They need to do something to get people interested in going to their games. Redesign the uniforms, tank for high picks, update the arena, do *something*.
Having an exciting style of play is great and all, but who's the last real star that the Hawks had?The more I think about it I'm convinced that the Hawks are the problem.Except for a long time they were a super athletic team. The tried to push the pace. And still no one went to the games. They've been struggling for a long time.
I wouldn't want to go to their games if I lived in Atlanta either, and I'm a pretty big basketball fan.
They need to do something to get people interested in going to their games. Redesign the uniforms, tank for high picks, update the arena, do *something*.
They're really ruing that Marvin Williams pick now.
Having an exciting style of play is great and all, but who's the last real star that the Hawks had?The more I think about it I'm convinced that the Hawks are the problem.Except for a long time they were a super athletic team. The tried to push the pace. And still no one went to the games. They've been struggling for a long time.
I wouldn't want to go to their games if I lived in Atlanta either, and I'm a pretty big basketball fan.
They need to do something to get people interested in going to their games. Redesign the uniforms, tank for high picks, update the arena, do *something*.
They're really ruing that Marvin Williams pick now.
Hawks had a solid team for a long time. Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, AL Horford. Had Jamall Crawford for a while too and never had great attendance.
Not sure what's going on in Atlanta.
I lived an hour's drive away from ATL for four years and never once was I ever interested in going to a Hawks game. Hell, I would have gone to a Braves game instead and I don't even like baseball. I just knew the Braves were good (back then). What do the Hawks have going for them commercially?
Hawks had a solid team for a long time. Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, AL Horford. Had Jamall Crawford for a while too and never had great attendance."Solid" isn't enough to put asses in the seats in some cities.
Not sure what's going on in Atlanta.
Would anybody in Atlanta really miss the Hawks if they were moved to Seattle?
Hawks had a solid team for a long time. Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, AL Horford. Had Jamall Crawford for a while too and never had great attendance."Solid" isn't enough to put asses in the seats in some cities.
Not sure what's going on in Atlanta.
Would anybody in Atlanta really miss the Hawks if they were moved to Seattle?
If a team can't do well with the amount of success The Hawks have had, they really have no business being in that city. They've done better than most teams over the past 5-6 years. If it's compete for a chip or we're not interested, then it's time to leave honestly.
lol the owners literally eroded their own power. cuban was right tbh, theyve pretty much made their ownership beholden to whether or not people are offended by some shit they said.
email isnt the most enlightened document ive ever read, but it seems much more just cynical and slimy business wise than like the dude actually holds racist views. worst part is i imagine market research probs backs a lot of what hes saying in it up if their business aim was to attract wealthy white/corporate clients.
hawks got bigger problems than that though; it aint just rich white people who dont wanna go to their games, it's everybody. terrible fucking brand, conjures up mental images of failure, boredom and incompetence even when those mental images arent accurate. why would anyone wanna go to one of their games other than to see another team play
email isnt the most enlightened document ive ever read, but it seems much more just cynical and slimy business wise than like the dude actually holds racist views. worst part is i imagine market research probs backs a lot of what hes saying in it up if their business aim was to attract wealthy white/corporate clients.
hawks got bigger problems than that though; it aint just rich white people who dont wanna go to their games, it's everybody. terrible fucking brand, conjures up mental images of failure, boredom and incompetence even when those mental images arent accurate. why would anyone wanna go to one of their games other than to see another team play
Well he wasn't fined nor banned by the NBA, I think he just wanted out.. a few cities are desperate for teams and maybe he can net a bill or close to it off the Hawks.
Well he wasn't fined nor banned by the NBA, I think he just wanted out.. a few cities are desperate for teams and maybe he can net a bill or close to it off the Hawks.feels like he got strong armed into "resigning on his own terms" but it mightve been mutually beneficial thats tru
Well he wasn't fined nor banned by the NBA, I think he just wanted out.. a few cities are desperate for teams and maybe he can net a bill or close to it off the Hawks.feels like he got strong armed into "resigning on his own terms" but it mightve been mutually beneficial thats tru
From what i'm reading, it sounds more like he's riding the tail of the Sterling thing to have an excuse to sell the team. To anyone. For any reason.
Even if it means out of state.
Hawks had a solid team for a long time. Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, AL Horford. Had Jamall Crawford for a while too and never had great attendance."Solid" isn't enough to put asses in the seats in some cities.
Not sure what's going on in Atlanta.
Would anybody in Atlanta really miss the Hawks if they were moved to Seattle?
Of course the Thunder fan would bring up the "Would anyone miss them?" :roll:
idk that doesnt really gel with the "three months of turmoil in league offices" report, or the fact thatWell he wasn't fined nor banned by the NBA, I think he just wanted out.. a few cities are desperate for teams and maybe he can net a bill or close to it off the Hawks.feels like he got strong armed into "resigning on his own terms" but it mightve been mutually beneficial thats tru
From what i'm reading, it sounds more like he's riding the tail of the Sterling thing to have an excuse to sell the team. To anyone. For any reason.
Even if it means out of state.
well
he can just sell his stake without an excuse when he wants. why would he use a supposedly racist letter to tarnish his own name to sell his team when he could sell the team without doing that
idk that doesnt really gel with the "three months of turmoil in league offices" report, or the fact thatWell he wasn't fined nor banned by the NBA, I think he just wanted out.. a few cities are desperate for teams and maybe he can net a bill or close to it off the Hawks.feels like he got strong armed into "resigning on his own terms" but it mightve been mutually beneficial thats tru
From what i'm reading, it sounds more like he's riding the tail of the Sterling thing to have an excuse to sell the team. To anyone. For any reason.
Even if it means out of state.
well
he can just sell his stake without an excuse when he wants. why would he use a supposedly racist letter to tarnish his own name to sell his team when he could sell the team without doing that
Because it means the NBA has to almost OK a sale NO matter what...
So if investors come in to move the team off rip the NBA almost can't block it unless they want a "racist" owner.. His name won't be affected to much by this because he didn't really say nothing "racist" he was racially profiling customers and what not.. He also put pressure on the NBA with the statements about how he thinks the NBA NEEDS a zero tolerance policy and what not.
idk that doesnt really gel with the "three months of turmoil in league offices" report, or the fact thatWell he wasn't fined nor banned by the NBA, I think he just wanted out.. a few cities are desperate for teams and maybe he can net a bill or close to it off the Hawks.feels like he got strong armed into "resigning on his own terms" but it mightve been mutually beneficial thats tru
From what i'm reading, it sounds more like he's riding the tail of the Sterling thing to have an excuse to sell the team. To anyone. For any reason.
Even if it means out of state.
well
he can just sell his stake without an excuse when he wants. why would he use a supposedly racist letter to tarnish his own name to sell his team when he could sell the team without doing that
Because it means the NBA has to almost OK a sale NO matter what…
So if investors come in to move the team off rip the NBA almost can't block it unless they want a "racist" owner.. His name won't be affected to much by this because he didn't really say nothing "racist" he was racially profiling customers and what not.. He also put pressure on the NBA with the statements about how he thinks the NBA NEEDS a zero tolerance policy and what not.
Yeah, he's put the pressure on them to not be able to block ANY sale. And with the contents of that email, they can play the "it won't work in ATL" card. He's basically set it up so if any state wants a team....
"He's still a young guy overall," Ferry said, league sources with direct knowledge of the probe told Yahoo. “He's a good guy overall. But he's not perfect. He's got some African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way."
Danny Ferry dares to be stupid.
No one who went to Duke would be racist
No one who went to Duke would be racist
None of my college friends are racists. The Duke student body is not a monolithic entity.
No one who went to Duke would be racist
None of my college friends are racists. The Duke student body is not a monolithic entity.
Do they play lacrosse?
I read the entire letter and I don't really find it to be racist. Insensitive, yes, but he's basically saying he's willing to cater towards racist southern whites because they have more money than black people, though he explicitly states the racist whites are wrong. But money talks. Sure, he should say "to hell with the racists, I don't need their money," but I can understand how money drives his decisions here. It would be racist if he tried to cater to whites simply because he wanted their money over the money of black people (with it being equal). Not the case. Again, insensitive but I don't find him racist.
Danny Ferry, on the other hand, said something that was fucking vile.
Now that's racist. And he should be fired and banned from the NBA. Fuck Danny Ferry and what he said. And of all fucking players, he says it about Luol Deng?
I think Levenson wants out. Hasn't he wanted that for a while but the whole Atlanta ownership situation has been a clusterfuck?
edit: FWIW, until the Braves moved into the new stadium (I believe last year) they had the same problem putting fans in the seats, even as they won like 11 division titles in a row, went to a few World Series, one a title, etc. People there don't want to go. I have a cousin that just finished living out there for a few years and she said she was taken aback most by how racist numerous people were out there (mostly white). that's just anecdotal, though.
Danny Ferry, on the other hand, said something that was fucking vile.
He is a good guy overall. But he is not perfect. He's got some African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way, but he's like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell your counterfeit stuff out of the back.
Now that's racist. And he should be fired and banned from the NBA. Fuck Danny Ferry and what he said. And of all fucking players, he says it about Luol Deng?
I think Levenson wants out. Hasn't he wanted that for a while but the whole Atlanta ownership situation has been a clusterfuck?
edit: FWIW, until the Braves moved into the new stadium (I believe last year) they had the same problem putting fans in the seats, even as they won like 11 division titles in a row, went to a few World Series, one a title, etc. People there don't want to go. I have a cousin that just finished living out there for a few years and she said she was taken aback most by how racist numerous people were out there (mostly white). that's just anecdotal, though.
I read the entire letter and I don't really find it to be racist. Insensitive, yes, but he's basically saying he's willing to cater towards racist southern whites because they have more money than black people, though he explicitly states the racist whites are wrong. But money talks. Sure, he should say "to hell with the racists, I don't need their money," but I can understand how money drives his decisions here. It would be racist if he tried to cater to whites simply because he wanted their money over the money of black people (with it being equal). Not the case. Again, insensitive but I don't find him racist.
Danny Ferry, on the other hand, said something that was fucking vile.He is a good guy overall. But he is not perfect. He's got some African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way, but he's like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell your counterfeit stuff out of the back.
Now that's racist. And he should be fired and banned from the NBA. Fuck Danny Ferry and what he said. And of all fucking players, he says it about Luol Deng?
I think Levenson wants out. Hasn't he wanted that for a while but the whole Atlanta ownership situation has been a clusterfuck?
edit: FWIW, until the Braves moved into the new stadium (I believe last year) they had the same problem putting fans in the seats, even as they won like 11 division titles in a row, went to a few World Series, one a title, etc. People there don't want to go. I have a cousin that just finished living out there for a few years and she said she was taken aback most by how racist numerous people were out there (mostly white). that's just anecdotal, though.
He basically said he wanted less black at games and because there were blacks there were less father and sons and blacks don't cheer as loud...
It's not KKK material but it's pretty shitty
I read the entire letter and I don't really find it to be racist. Insensitive, yes, but he's basically saying he's willing to cater towards racist southern whites because they have more money than black people, though he explicitly states the racist whites are wrong. But money talks. Sure, he should say "to hell with the racists, I don't need their money," but I can understand how money drives his decisions here. It would be racist if he tried to cater to whites simply because he wanted their money over the money of black people (with it being equal). Not the case. Again, insensitive but I don't find him racist.
Danny Ferry, on the other hand, said something that was fucking vile.He is a good guy overall. But he is not perfect. He's got some African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way, but he's like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell your counterfeit stuff out of the back.
Now that's racist. And he should be fired and banned from the NBA. Fuck Danny Ferry and what he said. And of all fucking players, he says it about Luol Deng?
I think Levenson wants out. Hasn't he wanted that for a while but the whole Atlanta ownership situation has been a clusterfuck?
edit: FWIW, until the Braves moved into the new stadium (I believe last year) they had the same problem putting fans in the seats, even as they won like 11 division titles in a row, went to a few World Series, one a title, etc. People there don't want to go. I have a cousin that just finished living out there for a few years and she said she was taken aback most by how racist numerous people were out there (mostly white). that's just anecdotal, though.
He basically said he wanted less black at games and because there were blacks there were less father and sons and blacks don't cheer as loud…
It's not KKK material but it's pretty shitty
Yeah Danny Ferry is about a 7-8/10 on the racist scale. WTF.
And yes, I said that Levenson trying to cash-out on Sterling because that franchise is difficult to make profitable. But I guess my blocks 'o text were too long.
I wouldn't doubt that it's possible to substantiate the lukewarm receptions that the predominantly black Atl crowd offers compared to other places around the league. Allegorical, but I can't recall any vivid images of black people going buck wild in the crowds to cheer on their teams even though I'm sure that some do at some point. I personally I wouldn't. There's umpteen thousand more ppl and losing my vocal cords ain't worth an extra 0.0000000000000001 decibel.
I don't blame him for that line in bold though. The fact that 72.2% of black kids are born out of wedlock, black men spending time with their kids than white men in the same predicament of not being married to their children's mothers is cutting-edge research. Like, stats published just this year. I'm still baffled by the discrepancy myself, but that's a discussion for another day/topic.
I don't blame him for that line in bold though. The fact that 72.2% of black kids are born out of wedlock, black men spending time with their kids than white men in the same predicament of not being married to their children's mothers is cutting-edge research. Like, stats published just this year. I'm still baffled by the discrepancy myself, but that's a discussion for another day/topic.
Make another topic then. It's a worthwhile discussion to have that might not be apropos for this thread.
I don't blame him for that line in bold though. The fact that 72.2% of black kids are born out of wedlock, black men spending time with their kids than white men in the same predicament of not being married to their children's mothers is cutting-edge research. Like, stats published just this year. I'm still baffled by the discrepancy myself, but that's a discussion for another day/topic.
Make another topic then. It's a worthwhile discussion to have that might not be apropos for this thread.
TBQH I lack the charisma. My personality does not translate very well over mouse and keyboard and I just tend to sound condescending towards others. So I keep the topic creation to other folks. I chime in.
I don't blame him for that line in bold though. The fact that 72.2% of black kids are born out of wedlock, black men spending time with their kids than white men in the same predicament of not being married to their children's mothers is cutting-edge research. Like, stats published just this year. I'm still baffled by the discrepancy myself, but that's a discussion for another day/topic.
Make another topic then. It's a worthwhile discussion to have that might not be apropos for this thread.
TBQH I lack the charisma. My personality does not translate very well over mouse and keyboard and I just tend to sound condescending towards others. So I keep the topic creation to other folks. I chime in.
I think you are underestimating your thread creating abilities here lol. Give it a try, at worst only a few people reply and nod heads, and at best you start a healthy discussion with some opinionated and educated people.