It may not have been the speediest of processes, but the Atlanta Hawks are now officially for sale. For the last few months it has been common knowledge that part of the team was going to be up for sale, but with news now emerging that 100 percent of the franchise is available for purchase, expect talks to intensify very soon.
The different factions that make up the Atlanta Spirit Group, the team’s current owners, have spent the months since majority shareholder Barry Levenson announced his intention to sell in deliberation. On Friday, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution was to man to reveal that the rest of the owners had come to a decision:
"“The Hawks are for sale – as in 100 percent of the franchise.According to person familiar with the situation, agreements have been reached between all three ownership groups to sell their complete stakes in the team. Those agreements have been approved by the NBA.The team will be officially on the market next week, according to a league source. The investment banking firm Goldman Sachs and Inner Circle Sports has been retained to handle the sale process. The firm can now begin the process of gathering and vetting prospective buyers. Estimations are the franchise could be sold for upwards of $600 million dollars.”"
The timing of this decision couldn’t be much better either, as the team goes on the market as the No. 1 ranked team in the Eastern Conference. On the court, the Hawks have been on fire, and are currently on track to have their best season since the mid-1990s.
Perhaps that’s what makes the sale of the Atlanta Hawks all the more intriguing too. Sure, there’s talk of what sort of price the team will fetch, and whether they’ll approach the billion dollar mark, but with the organization currently gelling so well, it’s much more important for Hawks fans just what kind of owner they end up with.
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Really the worst possible thing that Atlanta could have happen now is if they were to get an owner who were hands-on to the point of meddling. Aside from the ownership, the Hawks organization is currently being run by some of the smartest people in basketball, and it would take a fool to interfere with that.
Due to the race scandals that brought about the sale process of the team, there will of course be decisions to be made by the new ownership, but the bravest possible move for them would actually be to stand pat, and retain some of the franchise’s key figures.
Hawks general manager Danny Ferry is currently on a spell of indefinite leave following distasteful comments he made about Luol Deng in a Hawks’ scouting meeting during the summer. In the time since, Ferry has apologized with what appears to be genuine sincerity and has gone through an education process on the delicate nature of race relations.
Equally significant is how Ferry’s team has come together and clicked in the last few months though. Without a massive wage bill, or the acquisition of a superstar, Ferry has constructed a culture in Atlanta, and a team that is starting to look like a surprise contender. Team-building of that caliber isn’t something that you see every day in the NBA, and as a result, the new owner would have to consider giving Ferry a second chance.
On the sidelines, Atlanta is also incredibly lucky to have a man who must now be the standout candidate for Coach of the Year. Mike Budenholzer has got his team playing outstanding basketball, and clearly learned a lot in his lengthy spell working alongside Gregg Popovich. If anything, Budenholzer has become the Hawks’ most valuable asset, and a man they must retain.
Last but definitely not least is Steve Koonin. Those of you who aren’t Hawks fans may not be familiar with Koonin, but having taken over as CEO last April, he has had to shepherd the organization through a very rocky spell. It’s hard to give him enough credit for the job he’s done too.
It became Koonin’s mission to build bridges between the Hawks and the city of Atlanta following the race controversies, and through his sincerity and business smarts, he’s done that and far exceeded expectations.
In fact, the Hawks haven’t been quite this popular for a number of years. The team has gone up for sale off the back of three straight sell-outs in Philips Arena, a refreshing sight compared to recent seasons. In fact, attendance for Hawks home games has increased by an average of 2,200 per game this season too.
As you can see, there’s so much positive change around the Atlanta Hawks at the moment, that the timing of the ownership couldn’t be better, as long as they find the right person to take over.
What Atlanta needs is someone who understands basketball enough to let the basketball people do their jobs, and not someone who only thinks they understand the game and tries to start their own revolution.