Atlanta Hawks owner Bruce Levenson to sell team

Bruce Levenson, owner of the Atlanta Hawks has decided to sell his team before matters get ugly like in the case of Donald Sterling, former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers whose racially offensive statements in a conversation with his wife became public. NBA Commissioner made the made the annoucnement on Sunday.

The issue

In July, Levenson reported an email he had sent to team general manager Danny Ferry in August 2012 which he calls “offensive and inappropriate”.The league office launched an independent investigation after being made aware of the email.

In a statement, he mentions that the offensive comments came about as he worked on trying to bridge the racial divide among fans in Atlanta and increase the attendance numbers for Hawks games.

"In trying to address those issues, I wrote an e-mail two years ago that was inappropriate and offensive," he said. "I trivialized our fans by making clichéd assumptions about their interests (i.e. hip hop vs. country, white vs. black cheerleaders, etc.) and by stereotyping their perceptions of one another (i.e. white fans might be afraid of black fans). By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans."

"If you're angry about what I wrote, you should be," Levenson continued in the statement. "I'm angry at myself, too. It was inflammatory nonsense. We all may have subtle biases and preconceptions when it comes to race, but my role as a leader is to challenge them, not to validate or accommodate those who might hold them."

The E-mail

The email contains Levenson’s observations of the fan experience during the games.

"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,'' Levenson said in the email released Sunday by the Hawks.

"Please don't get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arena back then. I never felt uncomfortable, but I think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority.''

The full email can be read here.

The consequences

A full statement of Commissioner Adam Silver announcement can be seen here.

According to  Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, general manager Danny Ferry could also see some serious action coming his way. After Levenson made his intentions clear to Silver to sell the team, the sale will mean the Hawks are the third team to go out into the market during this year after the Milwaukee Bucks and the Clippers.

While the league office looks after the sale of the team, Hawks’ CEO Steve Koonin will oversee all team operations. 

Levenson came out quite harshly against Sterling when his remarks were made public and now that he is the same condition it would be wise of him to cooperate with the league during the team’s sale however he himself mentioning the email to the league office does make it look like this matter would be far less messy than the one in Los Angeles.