C-Viv: Gearons and Seydel each own 0.33% of the Hawks

[sturt]

...The ownership group also includes former owners Steven Price and Bob Goodman from the New York-based group. Michael Gearon Jr. and Sr. and Rutherford Seydel of the Atlanta-based group will retain a small investment of one percent combined. They were grandfathered in from the new NBA rule that requires an individual owner have at least a one percent share in a team. There are others with a small share in the franchise and Philips Arena. Ressler is the clear majority owner with a nearly 50 percent stake....

 

 

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/basketball/ressler-takes-over-as-atlanta-hawks-officially-cha/nmkT2

[DJlaysitup]

"Ressler is the clear majority owner with a nearly 50%".... I wish it was 51%.

[Guest]

Safe to say Nique isn't an owner anymore? Surely C-Viv would have reported on that if it were the case.

[Guest]

Nearly 50%...mmmmm.

[AHF]

At least the Gearons have just about the absolute minimum contribution.  They have to have been read the riot act that they are not real owners and will only be there for occasional PR shots and free game tickets.

[MaceCase]

I hope they all lost their parking spots.

[Guest]

I hope they all lost their parking spots.

 

And their seats too.

 

Need to pull onea these on Gearon and his cronies ...

 

[MaceCase]

They can keep their seats......as long as they pay market price.

[DJlaysitup]

I hope they all lost their parking spots.

 

 

Haha!  That would be great!

 

Attendant:  "I'm sorry Mr. Gearon, your spot has been moved, it's on the other side of the dumpster now"

 

Gearon:  "What!  I'm an OWNER !!"

 

Attendant:  "Well sir, that's what they told me, and be careful, that's the dumpster where they put the excess food"

 

Gearon:  "What does THAT mean!"

 

Attendant:  "Well sir...just look out for the rats and have a nice evening :^)"

[Guest]

In an ironic turn of events, they should put Gearon Junior in charge concessions in the arena. Specifically, he needs to manage the pizza stands in and around Philips.

[DrReality]

Put him in charge of parking in the rain

[sturt]

In an ironic turn of events, they should put Gearon Junior in charge concessions in the arena. Specifically, he needs to manage the pizza stands in and around Philips.

 

 

Yeah. But remember, he's got a little European in him. Gotta be careful that he's not selling things out the back.

[Guest]

Yeah. But remember, he's got a little European in him. Gotta be careful that he's not selling things out the back.

Man, I wish I could find the absolutely dopey quote from Gearon Junior about how he "doesn't believe in dress codes" and that "we've been wearing jeans before Silicon Valley" and whatnot. Just an absolute eye-roller of a comment from that prick. He's the same motherlover who at one point claimed he was a "self-made" entrepreneur in his Bio for yeeeaars:

 

Miichael Gearon is a self-made entrepreneur who founded a successful telecommunications company at the age of 24. In 1997, INC Magazine cited his enterprise, Gearon Communications, as one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States. In 1998, Gearon merged his company with American Tower Corporation (NYSE), one of the largest independent providers of communications towers in the world. He is currently vice chairman of the company as well as president of American Tower's International Division.

http://www.nba.com/media/hawks/front_office_guide_0506.pdf

(that was from 2005--06, and yes the Miichael is how it is typed.)

But then at some point (I'd guess around 2007ish), his Bio substantially changed:

A native of Atlanta, Gearon started the successful telecommunications enterprise Gearon Communications in 1990 at the age of 25. After growing the site acquisition company into a multi-million dollar business with more than 150 employees in five years, he sold his company to American Tower, one of the largest providers of communications towers in the world, in 1998. A graduate of Georgia State University, Gearon is an avid lifelong Hawks fan. He resides in Atlanta with his wife and three children.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100321202133/http://www.nba.com/media/hawks/0708mg_001-024_FrontOffice.pdf

(This is the 2007-2008 media guide)

Notice, he removes the bit about "self-made entrepreneur" AND he changed the age at which he started his company AND changed the American Tower transaction in 1998 from "merger" to "sold?" Well that piece of shit then finally ditched all of his inaccuracies later on:

Michael Gearon, a native and lifelong resident of Atlanta, started a telecommunications enterprise after college and sold the business several years later to American Tower, one of the largest providers of communications towers in the world. He is currently involved with several businesses internationally. A graduate of Georgia State University, Gearon is an avid lifelong Hawks fan. He resides in Atlanta with his wife and three children. Gearon also serves as the Hawks' alternate NBA governor.

https://atlantahawkspr.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/1314_atlanta-hawks_mediaguide.pdf

(the 2013--14 media guide)

I know this wasn't what you're expecting as a response, but for some reason your joke triggered some memories about Gearon Junior being a f*** that led to an angry response from me...

Edited June 25, 2015 by hawksfanatic

[RandomFan]

Whoa, Jeff Schultz just took a big shit right on the head of the Atlanta Spirit, Gearon and Levenson in particular.

 

http://jeffschultz.blog.ajc.com/2015/06/24/ressler-a-step-forward-if-only-because-his-name-isnt-levenson-gearon/]

 

Congratulations, Mr. Ressler: Here are the keys to your basketball team.

 

Now please change the locks.

 

The sale of the Hawks from the Atlanta Whining Toddlers on Parade to Tony Ressler was rubber-stamped by the NBA on Wednesday, thereby officially ending the reign of terror of possibly the worst ownership in the history of professional sports.

 

No more Washington group vs. Atlanta group. No more lawsuits. No more buffoonery, at least we hope.

 

There is no guarantee Ressler will be a great sports owner, or even a good one. But I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, merely because his name isn’t Levenson or Peskowitz or Foreman or Gearon or Sleepy or Dopey. I’ve never really had a problem with partner Rutherford Seydel. He always seemed a harmless enough guy who just happened to join forces with the wrong used car salesmen.

 

Nothing can undo the damage the Atlanta Spirit did. Atlanta lost its NHL team because those knuckleheads didn’t care about the sport, didn’t want the team, ran the franchise into the ground and then threw it onto the first northern-bound wagon they could find. Their actions before, during and after the Thrashers’ sale were nothing less than contemptible, right down to the day when Levenson — who orchestrated the whole thing — hid in his bunker when the team was moved to Winnipeg and wouldn’t deal with the backlash.

 

Nothing can reverse the blizzard of litigation between the two groups, or the backroom brawls or sandbox fights, or the fact that the Atlanta group — led by Michael Gearon Jr. — would have done anything to get former general manager Danny Ferry out of town, regardless of how many games the team won. Why? Because Ferry largely took his marching orders from Levenson, ignored Gearon as a major partner and burned bridges with Dominique Wilkins, Gearon’s pal and the franchise icon.

 

That’s not meant as a defense of Ferry — obviously he could have handled a lot of things better. But Gearon and his father have shown themselves to be spineless weasels with their actions. Never trust someone who when you shake hands with him, you only get four fingers back.

 

It’s appropriate that the unofficial end for the Spirit came because of shame — the Levenson email which played to racial stereotypes and use them as an excuse for small crowds. Among the wonderful excerpts:

 

“(The crowd is) 70 pct black … the cheerleaders are black … the music is hip hop … at the bars it’s 90 pct black … we are doing after game concerts to attract more fans and the concerts are either hip hop or gospel. … My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season ticket base. … I think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority.”

 

Strange. Crowds weren’t a problem this past season. Fans were white, black and every shade in between. Maybe because the team was winning.

 

But I don’t want to make a rash assumptions, like, “White fans won’t come to the game because they don’t like hip-hop.”

 

What a dolt.

 

The only mystery here is that Gearon will still  be a minority owner in this group, expected to retain about a one percent stake. Some New York-based Spirit partners also are expected to be “investors” in the new setup.

 

I don’t understand that. It would be better if Ressler started clean with all new faces and spines that weren’t the consistency of gummi worms. But if he’s really the only one with a vote in important matters and all of those dysfunctional conference calls among partners go away, it will be an improvement.

 

“We are pleased that the NBA’s Board of Governors has approved the purchase of the Atlanta Hawks by principal owner Tony Ressler,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.

 

Atlanta should be pleased as well. Because while we don’t know what the next regime will bring, at least it ends the last one.