Under Contract --- What if ?????

[Gray Mule]

Just suppose ----

Someone buys a pro sports team, and for a lack of a better

name, let's just call them the Hawks.

Then, this someone discovers he can't get the ownership

approved for two months.

This person is sure that, in two months, he will be the new

owner, but strange things can and do happen. Something

weird might happen. He might not get the necessary

approval, but he can't see any reason for it not being

approved.

Now, just suppose that this new owner of this imaginary

team we are calling the Hawks, wants someone as head

coach for this team, providing that the sale is approved.

Are you with me so far???

What is to stop this new owner from signing his desired

head coach to a "Personal Services Contract?"

The potential new head coach signs a contract to work for

the person who, hopefully, becomes the new owner. The

contract agrees to pay this new coach X number of

dollars for X number of years.

This ties up the coach for the desired length of time and

for the desired amount of money.

One problem. If the potential new owner does obtain the

approval of the purchase, all he has to do is say, "I now

own the Hawks. Go, coach my team." But, if the sale

is somehow aborted, the person who thought he would

own the team now has a head coach under contract for

X number of years for X number of dollars and nothing for

him to do but draw his salary.

You can't hire a coach for a team you don't own but I

believe you can hire a person to a "Personal Services"

contract.

Suppose this happens ----

Could it be ???????

[chillzatl]

seems perfectly logical to me. But the NBA could have some sort of guidelines on such things.

Personally I think that AOL is hurting the team by dragging this out for so long. Get it over with already and let the man run the team!

[TheDude]

you guys are evil....sounds pretty good to me but you know the nba has got to have something to prohibit that..plus the coach being signed would really have to like said team(hawks) to take himself off the market in an iffy situation...next thing you know they'll be taking our draft picks(which doesn't matter cuz lon kruger has basically been doing that for awhile now)...

but hey, sounds good to me.... let's just get this sale thru... you know AOL can kiss my azz....they're killing our team even now.

[Gray Mule]

N.B.A. might not like it but, no way can it be illegal for

one individual to sign a contract with another individual

and agree to take or give money for "Personal Services"

as long as the contract stipulated that there would be no

requirement to preform illegal services. {No killing another

person, not selling drugs, this sort of thing.}

I agree. Why can't the N.B.A. get on with this. The owner

now wants to sell. The buyer wants to buy. They have

both apparently agreed on the details of the contract.

As far as we know, the only thing missing is the approval

of the N.B.A. A simple yes or no. That's all we want.

If it is yes, fine. If it is no, then we would want to know

why.

[Guest]

I'm not a Thrashers fan really, simply cause I don't really follow hockey. But I think y'all forget sometimes that he has to get approval from the NHL as well, and I have no idea if that could be the holdup. He's buying both teams.

[KB21]

Plus Philips Arena.

I think it is a possibility that McDavid may be recruiting investors so he can pare down his percentage of ownership to about 51%, where he is still the majority owner.

As of right now, this team is still property of AOL/Time Warner, and they have probably put the kabosh on any move that the front office could make. I hear that Billy Knight has been told to work strictly on the draft.

[JaHawk10]

"As of right now, this team is still property of AOL/Time Warner, and they have probably put the kabosh on any move that the front office could make. I hear that Billy Knight has been told to work strictly on the draft."

Well if that's the case, that really sucks. I don't have a good feeling about us waiting around for this ownership deal to finalize and watching other teams lure these top coaches. I feel a decision should've been made on Stotts right after the season. Was he in or out? I know we could've at least done that. Now if we want a new coach, we'll have to wait for the sale of the team. That's what's holding up everything. And that's why ESPN and these other networks are not mentioning us in the coaching moves. If McDavid takes over the team(s) I hope he studies guys like Mark Cuban and Arthur Blank. They took dead organizations and brought life..and fans back. The Hawks need both, BADLY. The franchise needs a facelift in the worst way. That being said, let's get this thing rollin. I'm tired of the waiting game!

[Catapult]

Regarding the ownership talk:

Are there any franchises that have gone public?

Many european football (soccer) clubs are listed in stock exchange are there any in US?

[Diesel]

Greenbay and Cleveland in Football....

BUT

I don't think Stern is having that kind of thing. The NBA is funny. They are a money making machine for an owner and it's exclusivity that's the order of the day. Bob Johnson just bought Charlotte for about 100 million more than the going rate for any Franchise that has been sold recently. IN fact, I'm interesting to see how much the Bucks sell for. In the money that Bob Johnson spent, the owners griped because they would now have to give up 1/30th of their profits to Johnson. I understand greed and all, but I think that expansion is not happening because of $$$ and the profit sharing. Surely, the NBA can find 5 more markets by 2010. I mean, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Jacksonville (??), Cincinatti or Pittsburgh, Hartford.. These are all places that would be money cities for the NBA... Not to mention the thoughts of being Global... However, I don't think that's likely. Maybe another Vancouver team, maybe a Montreal team....