phoostal Posted July 18, 2007 Report Share Posted July 18, 2007 What the next steps are in this ownership battle? I know we are waiting on the appeals ruling, but do we have a timeline of when it is going to be ruled on. Also, can it be appealed by Belkin if he loses. If so, how long is this going to take? P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AHF Posted July 19, 2007 Moderators Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 There are many threads on this already but the short answer is: (1) there is no defined timeline; (2) if Belkin loses he can probably appeal - if the ASG loses they can definitely appeal; (3) this could take years to resolve even after all the time that as already gone by. It looks like the best possible outcome is that a ruling by the appellate court hearing the case right now will motivate the parties to settle their differences with a check to Belkin. As of now, it looks like the ASG and Belkin are too far apart in terms of their #s to do anything but wait for the Court's ruling and see how it affects their position in the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packfill Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Best case scenario is that the entire team is sold to a third party. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AHF Posted July 19, 2007 Moderators Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Quote: Best case scenario is that the entire team is sold to a third party. As long as the third party isn't ASG or Donald Sterling version 2.0. I would be willing to take my chances as of now just to get out from the legal restrictions and get this team operating on a level playing field again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrReality Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 I got the impression from the article posted from a law journal that Belkin may not want to draw this thing out because of the cash he's got invested. Is that accurate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packfill Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Quote: Quote: Best case scenario is that the entire team is sold to a third party. As long as the third party isn't ASG or Donald Sterling version 2.0. I would be willing to take my chances as of now just to get out from the legal restrictions and get this team operating on a level playing field again. Since the Hawks currently have the worst ownership situation in professional sports history it is hard to believe and new owner could be worse. Donald Sterling would be an improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesheedera Posted July 19, 2007 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Is a sale to a 3rd partly at all likely given the circumstances? It seems to me that you nearly have a stalemate, or at least a situation that could be appealed and reappealed until the end of time (I'm clueless on litigation like this). Neither side is willing to sell to the other unless it's at a huge premium. Is the only way for both sides to win a sale so that neither loses their shirt to the other? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AHF Posted July 19, 2007 Moderators Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Quote: Is a sale to a 3rd partly at all likely given the circumstances? It seems to me that you nearly have a stalemate, or at least a situation that could be appealed and reappealed until the end of time (I'm clueless on litigation like this). Neither side is willing to sell to the other unless it's at a huge premium. Is the only way for both sides to win a sale so that neither loses their shirt to the other? I think saleto a third party is extremely unlikely until a new ownership group goes to take over the team after the completion of the litigation. For example, if Belkin wins and acquires the Hawks and Thrashers, the odds of a forced sale increase if he isn't able to financially meet the league's requirements for an owner without the financial resources of the rest of the ASG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AHF Posted July 19, 2007 Moderators Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Quote: I got the impression from the article posted from a law journal that Belkin may not want to draw this thing out because of the cash he's got invested. Is that accurate? I think that is inaccurate. If he actually wants to take over the teams, he has a fairly small amount invested (a little over 11 million) and is not paying any of the expenses for operating the Hawks and Thrashers while the litigation proceeds. Belkin had a chance to speed the litigation up by taking the appeal directly to the state supreme court and refused to agree to do this. Instead, he chose to lengthen the time and expense involved in the ligation by going through the intermediate step of appealing to the state appellate court prior to an appeal to the state supreme court. As time progresses, the harm from Belkin's restrictions on the team as well as the costs of litigation become more and more burdensome on the rest of the ASG which theoretically raises the price of a buyout. As time progresses if Belkin wants to end up owning the team, he gets to purchase the team for the price the other owner's paid in under the contract and (a) the value of that money decreases over time (meaning the price drops for Belkin) and (b) he inherits a more valuable team whose expenses have been paid through the tough rebuilding years by the ASG. The article took a statement by Belkin's lawyer trying to raise his purported damages at face value. Belkin's behavior has been to use the delay to his advantage, IMO, not to try to shorten the litigation process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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