Is the current ownership less popular than TW?

[WraithSentinel]

[AtLaS]

OMFG yes.

[coachx]

To me the worst possible ownership group is a publically traded corporation. Any corporation that is publically traded has the same #1 priority. Do what is in he best interest of their stockholders (meaning profit is alwayse more important then puting he best product on the floor).

So for me , ? I dislike TW more then the ASG.

I like the ASG, I just don't like Belkin.

[Packfill]

No doubt.

The team actually won some games during the TW era and wasn't the laughing-stock of the league.

[roezag]

Please clue me in briefly on why Belkin is the "bad guy". I thought he said he wanted JJ too in that fiasco, he just didn't want to give up quite so much to get him. Nothing wrong with that, but I'm sure there's a lot more to the story that I don't know. I was just becoming a Hawks fan when all that went down. I'm a transplant.

[AtLaS]

Quote:

---

Please clue me in briefly on why Belkin is the "bad guy". I thought he said he wanted JJ too in that fiasco, he just didn't want to give up quite so much to get him.

---

That's because he knew PHX wasn't letting JJ go for nothing, so he just said that so he wouldn't look bad. JJ has even said this AFTER the trade happened that PHX sat him down and asked him if they wanted them to match. He said no, and they said they weren't letting him go for nothing. Belkin is a cheapskate Boston fan who gives 2 shits about the Hawks. (Sorry for the language).

[Hatertots]

I'd say Time Warner is less popular as far as ownership groups go, for two reasons. First, they had to follow up Ted Turner, probably the best owner of any team in Atlanta sports history, certainly the most successful. So when they slashed payroll and emphasized profit over winning, turning a perennial World Series contender into a postseason afterthought while raising ticket prices year after year, that generated a substantial backlash and led fans to mutter "If Ted still owned the Braves..." The second is that the 1990s Braves were the most popular team in Atlanta history. Even the Falcons in the inaugural Vick campaign with $100 season ticket prices or the Super Bowl year didn't come close to matching the excitement of the 1991 World Series run. So basically, Time Warner came in and turned gold into crap and Atlanta sports fans hated them for it with the fire of 1000 suns.

When ASG bought the Hawks and Thrashers from Time Warner, the worst they could do was continue a downward spiral into mediocrity for the Hawks, as they had the "luxury" of only being compared to the Babcock era. And as far as the Thrashers go, no one will care regardless of how they play. They could go undefeated or winless and the reaction would hardly change.

ASG is certainly more incompetent than Time Warner, or at least maybe it seems that way since TW could just give JS X millions of dollars and let him work his GM magic. But if we're just talking about "which Hawks owner has been the worst?" then ASG is running away with the title.

[Lascar78]

Is Belkin included? If so, yes. This thing is a mess. If not, no.

[HawksFan87]

They will be if both Smoove and Chill are not resigned...

[Lacsho]

No Doubt, they go toe to toe with TW, both parties can be considered horrible.

[Vol4ever]

In my book they are a bunch of unprepared bumbling idiots who don't have a legal clue. I do not know them personally or do I know Steve Belkin personally but I can cay that Belkin is making them look pretty incapable at this point. I would glady trade what we have now for the Babcock era, we cannot win and at least the team was entertaining back in the late 1990s and made the playoffs.

[bfwolf]

How in the world can you even compare the two? TW was tremendously successful managing the Braves. They were very clear about their salary limit and profit expectations and then let Schuerholz do his thing. There's nothing wrong with wanting to turn a profit on a sports team--sports teams are For Profit entities just like IBM and Microsoft. ASG is the one of the worst ownership disasters in the history of sports. I can't believe we're even talking about them and TW in the same breath.

[Popeye]

I was too young to know anything about TW, but they can't be worse than these guys. Spirit has hit the rock bottom, there is nothing that will suprise me anymore.

[Diesel]

I think you have to look at each case and look at the various outcomes.

1. Which group gave the GM free reign without restriction.

2. Which group couldn't make decisions because there were too many different sides.

3. Which group was trying it's best to save money and wouldn't spend as the team needed it?

I think when you find that the answer to all three of these questions is BOTH...

You have to say that in practice, there's no difference.

So even though, we now know the names of the owners, it doesn't mean as much if we have the same problems!