What the hell is taking Stern so long?

[hotboyj]

This should be a no-brainer.

I mean you have one guy against the entire Hawks organization.

Everyone else wants it done, and one guy doesn't.

He is abusing his power, and making a mockery of the franchise.

I hope Stern is in Vegas finishing paperwork on the all-star game, or has something very important going on.

If not he is seriously contemplating whether or not to remove Belkin as governor.

I can only hope that he does what he is supposed to and removes Belkin.

Any idiot can see there is clearly something wrong when one man can stop the wishes of an entire group.

[Nurlman]

My guess is he's working through his reasoning so that Stevie-boy and his lawyers have a hard time attacking his ruling. Patience.

Heh.

[skaughtybee]

Quote:

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My guess is he's working through his reasoning so that Stevie-boy and his lawyers have a hard time attacking his ruling. Patience.

Heh.

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I totally agree with this. If he were going to rule pro-Belkin - it wouldn't take very long (I deny this request due to lack of authority, or the precendence of the governing contract, etc.) Time is on our side.

The longer this takes, the more likely that Stern is building a solid justification for removing Belkin.

[DominiqueWilkins]

Belkin's the majority owner, so what do you not understand?

[CBAreject]

No he's not. He owns 30% of the team.

[NickJYD]

I love it when people make incredibly strong statements that imply that everyone else is an idiot when they are the ones that are wrong. Belkin is NOT the frickin majority owner. Go read Marc Steins article to enlighten yourself. He only owns 30% of the team which is less than 70% and is also less than the 40% that the washington group owns.

[AHF]

I think he was being sarcastic guys. He knows Belkin isn't he majority owner and doesn't even like Belkin.

[Inside_Man]

Quote:

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Belkin's the majority owner, so what do you not understand?

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The team is not broken into 9 owners with each persons %. It's broken into 3 syndicate groups, each of which has one vote on ownership matters.

Though Belkin is the only member of his syndicate, he only has 1/3 of the ownership vote, and his is not the syndicate with the largest ownership position, that is the Wash DC guys with 40%.

[Diesel]

Who's going to do the buyout?

Will Atlanta Spirit buy out Belkin amoung the existing ownership (maybe to the point where it's 50/50?

Or will somebody like Kasten or Ted Turner be trotted in to buy 30% and become part of the Atlanta Syndicate.

Or Will another faction altogether be invited in...

[Final_quest]

Actually I think individually Belkin is the majority owner. I believe he owns the full 30%, and the other groups have shared ownership.

However, being the majority owner does not mean you have majority rule. If there were 99 owners and one owned 2% and the rest owned 1%, majority owner would mean very little.

[macdaddy]

I thought of Turner too, but Turner is a good businessman and he's made it clear in the last few that he's not interested in overpaying for anything at this point. And, buying out Belkin will mean overpaying. The prick is not going to sell and lose money if he sells at all.

[Final_quest]

It remains to be seen if Belkin will sell. The other owners have said there is no way they will sell, and this may be Belkin's only chance to have NBA ownership. If he sells, he may never be an NBA owner ever again.

[Diesel]

TBS is already making 15% of the profits that come fourth from Atlanta Spirit. Atlanta Spirit LLC made a profit last year (even with Hockey being out) simply because of the Arena. Mullin has made that Arena make MONEY... And that's with many black dates.

Turner could buy up the 30% and make the 15% profit PLUS make owners yield...

However, I doubt that he does it. He might just allow his son to buy more shares!

[Diesel]

I think that part of being an owner for Belkin is having control. If he loses control, like most people who make that kind of money, he will lose interest. This whole fight was really a fight about money and control. Stern will show ultimate control in a couple of days and it may be too much for Belkin to sit idlely by while somebody else makes decisions with his money.

[hawkster411]

has anyone seen ESPN's picture of Belking attempting the shake Billy Knight's hand?

Billy Knight is the man. To stand up and refuse to shake the man whose holding this franchise back from getting better, says a lot about a man. I respect that a lot about Billy Knight. He's bold about his decision (ala Johnson trade and a better future of the Atlanta Hawks).

Of course, the face of this franchise is in disarray and all we need is another man holding us down; however, with Billy Knight as GM, I have confidence in the Hawks future.

[Nicholasp27]

someone has obviously been away from hawskquawk for a few days...

[NickJYD]

Has anyone heard that Belkin is holding up the JJ trade?

[hawkster411]

Nicholasp27

I've been slaving away building this architecture model. I love being a Hawks fan