Sources: Sale of Hawks Off - ASG Owns Team

[HalfHawk]

http://espn.go.com/n...rdy-sources-say

For the love of... Are you kidding me? Just when we thought it was all over..

Edited November 4, 2011 by AHF

[hawkman]

http://espn.go.com/n...rdy-sources-say

For the love of... Are you kidding me? Just when we thought it was all over..

These ARE the Hawks we're talking about here. Stuff happens with the Hawks that doesn't seem to happen with any other team in the league. This is a bad start, and I wouldn't mind if Meurelo doesn't get the Hawks after reading the latest on this. Either you have the money or you don't. No more fakers.

[Wurider05]

Damn just damn. Why does this always happen to us? This guy probably doesn't have the money to buy the team. There's no telling how much he has lost in this economy. Damn!!!

[Plainview1981]

These guys are colossal idiots. They're like a woman who can't keep from picking the worst boyfriends they can find. Everything that surrounds these people turns out to be a huge dramatic issue. Are all rich businessmen extremely smart? Obviously not.

[DJlaysitup]

AJC says sale is OFF.

[AHF]

http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks/hawks-sale-to-meruelo-1217751.html

Los Angeles businessman Alex Meruelo's deal to buy the Atlanta Hawks is off.

The agreement between Meruelo and current

Hawks owner Atlanta Spirit Group, signed in early August and contingent on NBA approval, was terminated by mutual agreement Friday.

The development came after the deal stalled in the NBA approval process over the past month, as previously reported by the AJC.

This means Atlanta Spirit –- a group led by Bruce Levenson, Ed Peskowitz and Michael Gearon Jr. -– remains as owner of the

Hawks.

UPDATE 4:55 P.M.: The Spirit says its current plan is to hold on to the franchise indefinitely. "The Atlanta

Hawks are no longer for sale," Levenson said in a statement. "We're excited to remain as owners of the Hawks and are committed to building on our string of four straight playoff appearances."

[Eddielives]

Well. I don't see much reason to be a fan of this franchise any longer. The lockout, the Spirit remaining as owners, Joe and Marvin's contract. Why should I torture myself.

[swanlee]

screw this team, until they are sold they might as well not exist. Sad sad sad

[TheTruth]

This is terrible! Thank GOD we have the Falcons and Braves as franchises who are at least committed to winning and run by competent owners and front office personnel

[WraithSentinel]

The worst possible news we could have.

[JTB]

DAMN! DAMN! DAMNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!

[sturt]

Dunno, guys. Sounds like some of the financials weren't sufficient. May have averted ASG the Sequel. At least ASG the Original still will likely sell the team sooner rather than later.

[Gray Mule]

Sturt is correct. Better a "No sale" and we keep the current owners

than be sold to someone who can't pay the bills.

First, this mess that is holding up play must be concluded. Both sides

need to wake up.

Sure, we all want new owner or owners that will turn Atlanta around and

bring us to a championship. There is a lot of hate, and some of it deserved,

for the current owners. As bad as things are, they could get a lot worse

with the wrong ownership.

[lethalweapon3]

Trademarking MERUELOGEDDON. LOL

So will Stern step in, a la N'Awlins?

~lw3

[DJlaysitup]

Sturt is correct. Better a "No sale" and we keep the current owners

than be sold to someone who can't pay the bills.

This guy was worse than that GM....pure fast buck fella who said all the right things to the media...and wanted to move the franchise to Nevada.

Shows that our ASG is not only foolish - but gullible to a fault. They just want out and *#&$ whoever is standing in their way. They will take any offer that sounds decent...or indecent...to get out from under this anti-cash cow mess.

ASG is the worst of the worse...once most of them couldn't get rub ups from the cool girls at the Hockey games - they gave up...lol...give me sh!t...but it's true.

Edited November 7, 2011 by AHF

[Brokentree]

I wonder if the pending sale was more of an out clause depending on how the CBA looked like it was going. If they felt it was unfavorable they'd sell the team. If they felt it was going to be favorable they'd find a reason to cancel it and see if they could make some money.

I am disappointed that the sale did not happen though. I thought that at the very least perhaps him being the first hispanic owner in the NBA would create more buzz and increase the fanbase. Maybe take away a few Heat fans that don't actually live in Florida. He seemed like a hard working individual that really felt driven to succeed based on his pride of being the first hispanic owner. Maybe have the inside track on some of the better hispanic players.

Besides, if the team is going to fail, we may as well be the best failures the NBA has ever seen. This mediocre failing is getting boring fast.

[Randy]

I am excited that the ASG is going to continue to own the Hawks. (Sarcasm - just to avoid any confusion.)

[lethalweapon3]

One more question... well, a multi-part one. Are the out-of-town members of this crew still down for the struggle as well? If Mr. "More than ample resources" Meruelo still dreams of being an owner, can't he just buy the non-ATLiens out first, then purchase the rest once he gets his financial **** together? I don't get how he can go from "I'm fully committed" to "Meh" like that.

~lw3

[DrReality]

If he didn't meet all the requirements of ownership its better we find out up front.

[capstone21]

Very dissappointing. Now our ownership situation is still a mess and free agents notice this when they are looking for places to sign.