Hawks Owners pull out of selling team

[capstone21]

Hawks Ownership Group Pulls Out Of Talks To Sell Team

May 23, 2011 4:08 PM EDTThe Atlanta Spirit ownership group is on the verge of selling the Thrashers, but it will be holding on to the Hawks at least for a while.

The Spirit and outgoing San Diego Padres owner John Moores agreed Friday to terminate Moores' exclusive negotiating period on a possible purchase of the Hawks, Spirit partner Michael Gearon Jr. confirmed.

"We no longer have an exclusivity," Gearon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "It was ended by mutual agreement after preliminary discussions."

It is not clear how long Moores' exclusive period had been in effect.

Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/213829/Hawks_Ownership_Group_Pulls_Out_Of_Talks_To_Sell_Team#ixzz1NES5zuYl

[TRUEINTELLECTPLAYA]

Good, we need some real owners or a real owner because I don't think Moore would have been much of a upgrade.

[Admin]

Sounds like great news to me!

[ViperXX79]

They were never going to sell anyway. It was just a way to stop local people from stepping up and buying the Hawks, Thrashers and the arena together. It was all just a big F U by the ASG to rid themselves of a hockey team they never wanted. Pricks.

[WraithSentinel]

I don't like ASG. I also didn't like the sound of this John Moores guy either. At least ASG has shown they are willing to spend almost to the luxury tax. It would be nice if we could get another owner similar to Arthur Blank. No, I don't expect Blank to buy the Hawks nor should he. His plate is full with the Falcons and getting a new stadium.

[Sothron]

They were never going to sell anyway. It was just a way to stop local people from stepping up and buying the Hawks, Thrashers and the arena together. It was all just a big F U by the ASG to rid themselves of a hockey team they never wanted. Pricks.

I don't know if they really want to sell the arena and Hawks but they absolutely did this to screw local ownership groups from trying to keep the Thrashers here. The potential local Thrasher owners would have no arena to play in because the ASG kept the arena off the table. It is disgusting. I'll never spend a penny on anything the ASG owns until they are gone.

[NJHAWK]

This is good news. ASG should call up the owner group of Manchester City soccer team. In their 1st full year as owners they spent 250 million euros to improve the team and are prime to spend more this offseason.

Edited May 24, 2011 by NJHAWK

[NineOhTheRino]

Guys it is what it is. This is America. If ASG feels they can make more money from concerts, the circus, and wrestling events then who are we to question them. This is barley a NBA town. Just think it's a little out of bounds to ask these people to subsidize our sports teams.

I do think you guys are spot on in your assessment. ASG had no interest in selling the Hawks and the Arena. Smokescreen! They wanted the Thrashers gone to use the open arena dates for other events.

Edited May 24, 2011 by NineOhTheRino

[capstone21]

People are mad that they sold the Thrashers. Did you go out and watch them play? They were losing a lot of money on the team and no one was going to their games. They had one of the worst attendance records in the league. Its hard to justify keeping a team that people do not support.

[Sothron]

People are mad that they sold the Thrashers. Did you go out and watch them play? They were losing a lot of money on the team and no one was going to their games. They had one of the worst attendance records in the league. Its hard to justify keeping a team that people do not support.

Completely wrong. Thrasher attendance for a team that never won a playoff game in 11 years and whose owners literally kept them at the league MINIMUM payroll was good. Not once did the Thrashers finish last in attendance. And yes, speaking personally and for others here I know we went to the games and bought products.

[capstone21]

Completely wrong. Thrasher attendance for a team that never won a playoff game in 11 years and whose owners literally kept them at the league MINIMUM payroll was good. Not once did the Thrashers finish last in attendance. And yes, speaking personally and for others here I know we went to the games and bought products.

They were not the worst...but they were still the 3rd worst

http://www.mynhltraderumors.com/2011/03/14/nhl-attendance-for-each-team-after-30-home-games/

[Sothron]

They were not the worst...but they were still the 3rd worst

http://www.mynhltraderumors.com/2011/03/14/nhl-attendance-for-each-team-after-30-home-games/

Yes, so what? My point still stands. It has been obvious ever since the ASG bought them that they had no interest in hockey or having a competitive team. You expect people to pack the stands for a team with zero playoff wins and only one playoff appearance in franchise history? The ASG got the diehards and since they wouldn't spend to keep good players or sign them or trade for them they failed to bring in casual fans like other markets can do.

[MrRyda]

People are mad that they sold the Thrashers. Did you go out and watch them play? They were losing a lot of money on the team and no one was going to their games. They had one of the worst attendance records in the league. Its hard to justify keeping a team that people do not support.

It's hard to justify supporting a team that the owners don't care to fix. It worked both ways. When there was viable product on the ice, attendance was not a problem.

[NekiEcko]

I have to agreed with what Sothron saying, besides the Thrashers was a expensive tax-write off for ASG like the Braves with Libery Media.

They didnt tried to bring a competitive team (like another team we all, but they spend more money on the wrong players, etc etc etc) with Bare MINIMUM and they had three young Superstar type players that came in and how many did they keep? None of them at all. Heck, we cant even draft them or trade for those type of players.

ASG have already put one foot in the grave, and they know now that attendence is going to drop even further because of this. I say, get out of the game now.

**I didnt heard anything about why they even put the Hawks for sell team if they was going to keeping them in the first place. :roulette: ** Those fools

[sturt]

Just a point of clarification... I've not read anywhere that they're "pulling out of selling the team," but just that evidently they aren't going to be selling to Moores anytime soon. But have I missed something?

[AHF]

Just a point of clarification... I've not read anywhere that they're "pulling out of selling the team," but just that evidently they aren't going to be selling to Moores anytime soon. But have I missed something?

That is all I have seen too. This just ends the exclusive negotiations with Moore - it actually means they can now pick up the phone and talk to 5 different prospective buyers today.

[DJlaysitup]

I figure the ASG realize that the Thrashers are an asset with limited value. The smart thing to do is get as much as they can for them now and finish the deal. That should also be an influx of cash to the group to pay for the yachts and stuff.

As far as the Hawks and Phillips - I think they will overprice those assets bigtime (at least early on) and try to get healthy off of their decent assets.

My gut feeling is that the ASG will be more than happy to sell the Hawks...if they can get top dollar.

[Sothron]

Another factoid to keep in mind about this potential betrayal of Atlanta.

Over a 17 season period when Winnipeg moved to the NHL they averaged 13,010 fans per game for a team that made the playoffs 11 out of those 17 years.

The Thrashers averaged 14,863 fans over 11 season and made the playoffs only once. That is a difference of 1,873 per NHL game.

Look at those numbers. The "hockey mad" Canadians had almost 2000 LESS fans per game than Atlanta. And the Jets were a good team versus the laughable mess the ASG put on the ice. Can you imagine how much better Atlanta's numbers would be if they had the Jets winning tradition? Even with that tradition Winnipeg barely average 13k fans over seventeen years. And THAT is supposed to be a "better" market? LOL.

[wfhawkfan]

This is good news. ASG should call up the owner group of Manchester City soccer team. In their 1st full year as owners they spent 250 million euros to improve the team and are prime to spend more this offseason.

Thank You Based Sheikh Mansour :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

A Billion pounds in 3 years

Edited May 25, 2011 by wfhawkfan