Owner Bruce Levenson selling Atlanta Hawks after racist email
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An internal and unexpected chain of events stemming from a June conference call looking ahead to free agency led to Atlanta Hawks owner Bruce Levenson putting controlling interest in the team up for sale Sunday, multiple officials told ESPN.com.
A racially insensitive email written by Levenson more than two years ago came to light only after one of his co-owners called for an investigation because of something that was included in a background report on free-agent target Luol Deng that was read aloud by team general manager Danny Ferry, who did not fully edit the remark as he read it off the report, according to multiple sources.
Hawks CEO Steve Koonin, who has assumed day-to-day control of the team while sale proceedings begin, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday that Ferry will also be disciplined for his role in the situation. The nature of the discipline was not disclosed by the team.
Sources say that, as of Monday, Ferry was in line to remain as Hawks general manager.
Koonin told the Journal-Constitution that the Hawks held a meeting in early June to discuss potential free-agent targets. According to Koonin, Ferry cited a background report that included an "offensive and racist" remark about a player.
"Instead of editing it, he said the comment," Koonin said.
Earlier Monday, ESPN.com's Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne first reported that the player referred to was the Sudan-born Deng, who is among the most respected veterans in the league and was named in April as the winner of the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award presented annually by the Professional Basketball Writers Association for his off-court charity work.
Yahoo! Sports and the Journal-Constitution, in subsequent reports Monday, quoted Ferry as saying of Deng: "He is still a young guy overall. He is a good guy overall. But he is not perfect. He's got some African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way."
The Hawks, sources said, were reluctant in July to make a multiyear commitment to Deng, who ultimately landed a two-year deal from the Miami Heat worth $20 million after LeBron James left the Heat to return to his home-state Cleveland Cavaliers.
Without identifying Deng or revealing specifics about what was said, Koonin told the Journal-Constitution that the comment troubled others on the conference call, saying, "This is wrong. This should not be said. It's not appropriate in any world but not a post-Sterling world."
"I support Steve's leadership and greatly appreciate his support," Ferry told the newspaper Sunday. "I look to learn from this situation and help us become a better organization."
Yahoo reported Monday that Ferry has met with Hawks coaches and players to apologize. Koonin, meanwhile, told the Journal-Constitution that the Hawks were not in a position to discipline the author of the background report for the comment because it originated with an employee of another team.
"It was word of mouth," Koonin said. "It was background information. Something was shared with Danny that was shared with the group."
The meeting took place less than two months after NBA commissioner Adam Silver banned Donald Sterling, the Los Angeles Clippers' former owner, for life and started proceedings to force him to sell the team when racist comments he made became public. Levenson had been one of the most outspoken owners against Sterling's actions.
After the meeting, one of the Hawks' stakeholders called for an internal investigation based on the remark being in the team's research of a player.
The team hired an Atlanta law firm to perform an investigation, which included 19 interviews and a review of more than 24,000 documents, according to the team.
It was in the review of those documents that Levenson's email was discovered.
The email, which was sent to Ferry and copied to several of Levenson's partners, had numerous comments that could be considered racist when discussing the atmosphere at Hawks games. In it, Levenson suggested changes that he thought would potentially attract more white ticket buyers. It included the following passages:
"I think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority" and "I have been open with our executive team about these concerns. I have told them I want some white cheerleaders and while I don't care what the color of the artist is, I want the music to be music familiar to a 40 year old white guy if that's our season [tickets] demo. I have also balked when every fan picked out of crowd to shoot shots in some timeout contest is black. I have even [complained] that the kiss cam is too black."
The Hawks' ownership group has a cluster of owners based in Atlanta and a cluster based in Washington, D.C., that includes Levenson. The group, which operates as Atlanta Spirit LLC, has been divided frequently since it bought the team in 2005.
There have been lawsuits among owners over personnel decisions, a failed sale attempt of the Hawks in 2011 and Atlanta Spirit's sale and relocation of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, Manitoba, that same year.
After Levenson's email was found, the Hawks informed the NBA, which launched its own investigation. Within the past week, sources said, the details of the email became known to several other owners and league officials as Silver discussed the league's options.
Although no punishment decision had been reached, Levenson chose to sell the team on his own, several sources told ESPN. Convinced the email was going to become public eventually, Levenson believed there would be damage done to the team's business if he stayed on as controlling owner and informed Silver that he intended to sell.
In the wake of the announcement, the Hawks reached out to their players to explain the developments. In general, sources said, the players were upset by Levenson's comments. He was well-liked by players and around the league as a whole.
Even as the investigation progressed during the summer, Levenson discussed his optimism for the upcoming season with friends and associates and gave no indication that he planned to sell the team in the short term, sources said.
It will be the NBA, not Levenson, that takes the lead on the sale, which could move reasonably quickly. There was strong interest in the Milwaukee Bucks, who sold for $550 million earlier this year, and multiple bids for the Clippers, who ultimately sold for $2 billion this summer.
There are several deep-pocketed groups that have made their interest in buying a team known to the NBA, making it likely that a controlling interest in the Hawks will have high demand.
The team has made the playoffs in each of the past seven seasons, the longest current streak in the Eastern Conference and second-longest in the NBA behind the San Antonio Spurs' 17. The team is in position to have more than $30 million in salary-cap space next summer.
However, the Hawks finished 28th in attendance last season.
They have a lease with Philips Arena that runs through the 2017-18 season.
Come to find out this dude didn't snitch on himself. The results of an internal investigation he knew about was about to be made public and damaging to his reputation so he jumped out in front of it to try and play damage control. -
I'll post exactly what i put on Probastketball.comthe problem with it is this simple… how about build a contender? the issues isnt putting more white faces in the stand or having white cheerleaders etc etc etc.. If you win people will come (dont quote me but when the pistons was winning.. in broke detroit.. we still had nearly a ten year run in the 2000s of selling out every home game).
But no his thoughts, as a businessman is that we arent doing enough things to get a bigger white crowd. Instead of addressing the REAL issue. ATL has been a mediore team for YEARS.. Danny Ferry said before the playoffs last year they werent concerend with even making it.
So i dont find it overly racist ala Donald Sterling, but his email was misdirected with bigotry Oh “the culture of the hawks is too balck.. thats the problem”… no you idiot.. its because your team has been mediocre (not terrible just CONSTANLY mediocre) for years.. thats the issue, but he blames it on having a too black crowd.. naw he aint fooling me.
cuz on sum ? ..and trying to cash in like Sterling did, but that ? was whack -
Kareem writing on Time.com that the owner was right. Not going to call the KAJ names, he's been through a lot of racist ? in his life and is conscious of it.
But I wonder if sometimes that generation is so disappointed with black progress that they've developed apathy for black youth and working class? -
Speaking from a general standpoint, the older generation is out of touch. It's up to us to take the fight forward. They've become too complacent.
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The Lonious Monk wrote: »Most white people I know dont like the NBA. They tell me all types of reasons why. then the kicker: "I loved the 80s and 90s basketball games over the current game." Translation: I loved it when there were white superstars I could at least root for.
They give me all this ? about the players being too thuggish and ? like that when They had the bad boys and blatant flagrant fouls. I argued with this dude for about a hour on how the current game is more fast paced and organized. This mfer talking about fundamentals and ? .
Like another poster said they would rather watch Duke vs Creighton to see a white dude play.
DisclamerAs I type this aint that the same reasoning behind why some black people don't watch baseball. Which has been concluded to be wrong and baseless.
Let's be clear. There is nothing wrong with the bold. If a white person just came out and told me that, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Hell, Larry Bird himself came out not too long and said something to the same effect. There is nothing wrong with wanting to see someone like yourself in something you support.
but why make other reasons?
they should just say it, but then they cant complain when black people ask to see more black people somewhere -
The Lonious Monk wrote: »Most white people I know dont like the NBA. They tell me all types of reasons why. then the kicker: "I loved the 80s and 90s basketball games over the current game." Translation: I loved it when there were white superstars I could at least root for.
They give me all this ? about the players being too thuggish and ? like that when They had the bad boys and blatant flagrant fouls. I argued with this dude for about a hour on how the current game is more fast paced and organized. This mfer talking about fundamentals and ? .
Like another poster said they would rather watch Duke vs Creighton to see a white dude play.
DisclamerAs I type this aint that the same reasoning behind why some black people don't watch baseball. Which has been concluded to be wrong and baseless.
Let's be clear. There is nothing wrong with the bold. If a white person just came out and told me that, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Hell, Larry Bird himself came out not too long and said something to the same effect. There is nothing wrong with wanting to see someone like yourself in something you support.
but why make other reasons?
they should just say it, but then they cant complain when black people ask to see more black people somewhere
Hey, I just said that particular statement wasn't out of line. I didn't say the people thinking it aren't still ? . -
The way I took it initially is he wants the blacks not sitting and dining in the restaraunt but go to the back porch to eat type.....
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Typical Jason Whitlock column on ESPN. He doesn't disappoint.
Next time the fat ? goes to a restaurant, the host should tell him, "sorry sir, I've been instructed to tell you, we're at our black quota, we don't want our preferred clientele to think this is a soul food joint, plus you guys don't tip well, and our portions are....too small someone with your waist line" -
fortyacres&amule wrote: »i will not see Seth Rogen and the White twitter community going ape ? over this , they are busy calling black people Ray Rice a ? ...
why do ? bring up ray rice when it comes to other racial things? ? ray rice got one of the best breaks any black man has ever got by the law. ray rice is a ? and a ? ? . not to mention this atlanta hawks email ? isn't really racist. should it have maybe not been said? possibly but ? is not really racist.
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So the minority shareholder wrote to Bruce about his concerns about Ferry's comments, then mentioned the demographic of the bball operations staff looks a lot different since Ferry took over.
This opens them up to some possible lawsuits - non white cheerleaders that were cut, non white basketball operations employees that were let go.
A good lawyer could go in. -
http://m.ajc.com/news/sports/letter-written-by-michael-gearon-jr-to-bruce-leven/nhJSH/
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The following is the two-page letter written by Hawks’ co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. to majority owner Bruce Levenson in June requesting that GM Danny Ferry be asked to resign or fired for cause for racial slurs made during a conference call:
To: Bruce Levenson
From: SSG Group, LLC
Date: June 12, 2014
Re: Danny Ferry
As you know, last Friday there was a conference call attended by numerous persons including Hawks management and ownership. We believe that you and Ed Peskowitz were on the call, but we are not sure whether you were listening the whole time. During the call, which was recorded so that notes could be made for our partners unable to participate live, our GM Danny Ferry discussed player personnel issues at some length. With respect to one potential free agent, a highly-regarded African-American player and humanitarian, Ferry talked about the player’s good points, and then went on to describe his negatives, stating that “he has a little African in him. Not in a bad way, but he’s like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back.” Ferry completed the racial slur by describing the player (and impliedly, all persons of African descent) as a two-faced liar and cheat.
We are appalled that anyone would make such a racist slur under any circumstance, much less the GM of an NBA franchise on a major conference call. One of us can be heard on the tape reacting with astonishment. Our franchise has had a long history of racial diversity and inclusion that reflect the makeup of our great city. Ferry’s comments were so far out of bounds that we are concerned that he has put the entire franchise in jeopardy.
As a minority partner with no effective say in decision-making, we were somewhat at a loss what to do next. So we consulted this week with two attorneys, one a very well-known and highly respected African-American former judge in Atlanta, and the other a highly regarded employment discrimination lawyer. They confirmed our fears and then some. The former judge put it pretty succinctly, saying that any African-American who heard the comments would interpret them as meaning “all blacks are two-faced liars and cheats.” The employment attorney opined that we as a team face significant exposure, possibly in the courts, but certainly in the court of public opinion, and, as we all know, within the league. She described the possible fallout as “devastating.” We agree.
Bruce, we are all too familiar with the current environment in the NBA and in the country generally from the fallout of Donald Sterling’s offensive comments. You have been on national television condemning Sterling and preaching zero tolerance of racial prejudice. We believe these comments by Ferry were far worse than Sterling’s because they were not from a private personal conversation – they were in a business environment on a business matter in front of a dozen or more people. If Ferry would make such a slur in a semi-public forum, we can only imagine what he has said in smaller groups or to individuals. We also note that the racial diversity of our management team has changed for the worse since Ferry took over. The media (and any savvy lawyer) would have a field day with that fact.
If Ferry’s comments are ever made public, and it’s a safe bet to say they will someday, it could be fatal to the franchise. All of our partners have worked and spent a lot of money not just to make the Hawks winners, but to make our city and region proud of the organization. As lifelong Atlantans with a public track record of diversity and inclusion, we are especially fearful of the unfair consequences when we eventually get thrown under the bus with Ferry.
We are calling on you, as majority owner and NBA Governor, to take swift and severe action against Ferry. Our advisors tell us there is no other choice but to ask for Ferry’s resignation, and if he refuses, to terminate him for cause under his employment agreement.
J. Michael Gearon, Jr.
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Will Hawks players wear their warmup shirts inside out too? has any players or coaches on the team spoke out about this yet?
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Kareem defended him in his new column.
Where you ? at that insist he was better than Jordan because MJ was a ? ? lol
Sure, there are assumptions he makes that are cringeworthy—but the questions about how to attract more white fans were entirely reasonable.
Well, the pitchforks are already sharpened and the torches lit anyway, so rather than let them go to waste, why not drag another so-called racist before the court of public opinion and see how much ratings-grabbing, head-shaking and race-shaming we can squeeze out of it? After all, the media got so much gleeful, hand-wringing mileage out of Don Sterling and Michael Brown.
The only problem is that Atlanta Hawks controlling owner Bruce Levenson is no Donald Sterling. Nor is his email racist. In fact, his worst crime is misguided white guilt.
I read Levenson’s email. Here’s what I concluded: Levenson is a businessman asking reasonable questions about how to put customers in seats. In the email, addressed to Hawks president Danny Ferry, Levenson wonders whether (according to his observations) the emphasis on hip-hop and gospel music and the fact that the cheerleaders are black, the bars are filled with 90% blacks, kiss cams focus on black fans and time-out contestants are always black has an effect on keeping away white fans.
Seems reasonable to ask those questions. If his arena was filled mostly with whites and he wanted to attract blacks, wouldn’t he be asking how they could de-emphasize white culture and bias toward white contestants and cheerleaders? Don’t you think every corporation in America that is trying to attract a more diverse customer base is discussing how to feature more blacks or Asians or Latinos in their TV ads?
Back when the original Law & Order first launched, there was a cast shake-up that added more women, reportedly in an effort to attract more female viewers. MTV shows like Finding Carter and Teen Wolf can’t get through an emotional scene without a pop song coming in to sing to the viewer what they should be feeling, because that’s what their demographic wants. Car companies hire specialized advertising agencies to create ads to appeal specifically to women, blacks and Latinos. That’s business.
Sure, there are a few assumptions he makes that make me cringe a little. For example: “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.” On the other hand, I have no evidence that he’s wrong on either count. Even if he is, the question still needed to be raised, because racism is a realistic possibility as to why whites in Atlanta may not be coming.
To Levenson’s credit, in that same paragraph, he dismisses fans who complained about the arena’s site as code for racist fear that “there are too many blacks at the games.” He further decries the white perception that even though the percentage of blacks in attendance had lessened, they still feel it’s higher and therefore somehow threatening. His outrage seems authentic.
Businesspeople should have the right to wonder how to appeal to diverse groups in order to increase business. They should even be able to make minor insensitive gaffes if there is no obvious animosity or racist intent. This is a business email that is pretty harmless in terms of insulting anyone — and pretty fascinating in terms of seeing how the business of running a team really works.
The thing that makes me mad is that Levenson was too quick to rend his clothing and shout mea culpa. In his apology, he wrote, “By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans.” But that’s not the message in the email at all. If the seats had been filled, even if by all blacks, the email wouldn’t have been written. He wasn’t valuing white fans over blacks; he was trying to figure out a way to change what he thought was the white perception in Atlanta so he could sell more tickets. That’s his job.
http://time.com/3296175/bruce-levenson-atlanta-hawks-racist-email-kareem-abdul-jabbar/
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anybody find something strange about this picture?
everyone focused but 1
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I'm not mad, dude runs a business. He saying we gotta cater to other ppl too. He never said he didn't want blacks at the game or he owns the players. He tryna make his business more profitable.
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Swiffness! wrote: »Kareem defended him in his new column.
Where you ? at that insist he was better than Jordan because MJ was a ? ? lol
Sure, there are assumptions he makes that are cringeworthy—but the questions about how to attract more white fans were entirely reasonable.
Well, the pitchforks are already sharpened and the torches lit anyway, so rather than let them go to waste, why not drag another so-called racist before the court of public opinion and see how much ratings-grabbing, head-shaking and race-shaming we can squeeze out of it? After all, the media got so much gleeful, hand-wringing mileage out of Don Sterling and Michael Brown.
The only problem is that Atlanta Hawks controlling owner Bruce Levenson is no Donald Sterling. Nor is his email racist. In fact, his worst crime is misguided white guilt.
I read Levenson’s email. Here’s what I concluded: Levenson is a businessman asking reasonable questions about how to put customers in seats. In the email, addressed to Hawks president Danny Ferry, Levenson wonders whether (according to his observations) the emphasis on hip-hop and gospel music and the fact that the cheerleaders are black, the bars are filled with 90% blacks, kiss cams focus on black fans and time-out contestants are always black has an effect on keeping away white fans.
Seems reasonable to ask those questions. If his arena was filled mostly with whites and he wanted to attract blacks, wouldn’t he be asking how they could de-emphasize white culture and bias toward white contestants and cheerleaders? Don’t you think every corporation in America that is trying to attract a more diverse customer base is discussing how to feature more blacks or Asians or Latinos in their TV ads?
Back when the original Law & Order first launched, there was a cast shake-up that added more women, reportedly in an effort to attract more female viewers. MTV shows like Finding Carter and Teen Wolf can’t get through an emotional scene without a pop song coming in to sing to the viewer what they should be feeling, because that’s what their demographic wants. Car companies hire specialized advertising agencies to create ads to appeal specifically to women, blacks and Latinos. That’s business.
Sure, there are a few assumptions he makes that make me cringe a little. For example: “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.” On the other hand, I have no evidence that he’s wrong on either count. Even if he is, the question still needed to be raised, because racism is a realistic possibility as to why whites in Atlanta may not be coming.
To Levenson’s credit, in that same paragraph, he dismisses fans who complained about the arena’s site as code for racist fear that “there are too many blacks at the games.” He further decries the white perception that even though the percentage of blacks in attendance had lessened, they still feel it’s higher and therefore somehow threatening. His outrage seems authentic.
Businesspeople should have the right to wonder how to appeal to diverse groups in order to increase business. They should even be able to make minor insensitive gaffes if there is no obvious animosity or racist intent. This is a business email that is pretty harmless in terms of insulting anyone — and pretty fascinating in terms of seeing how the business of running a team really works.
The thing that makes me mad is that Levenson was too quick to rend his clothing and shout mea culpa. In his apology, he wrote, “By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans.” But that’s not the message in the email at all. If the seats had been filled, even if by all blacks, the email wouldn’t have been written. He wasn’t valuing white fans over blacks; he was trying to figure out a way to change what he thought was the white perception in Atlanta so he could sell more tickets. That’s his job.
http://time.com/3296175/bruce-levenson-atlanta-hawks-racist-email-kareem-abdul-jabbar/
I don't agree fully w/ Kareem but he raise some good points.
They shouldn't be able to make insensitive/racist comments. But he couldn't ignore race when analyzing his profit margin. I see what he was gettin at and if we real about it we can't fake outrage at this. -
Will Hawks players wear their warmup shirts inside out too? has any players or coaches on the team spoke out about this yet?
They could but please believe that ain't gonna bring white folk to the games. -
has anyone ever been to a hockey game?
white people make you feel very unwelcomed.
i dont see black people making white people feel unwelcomed at basketball games.
they are all cheering on the home team and high fiving.
but go to a hockey game and watch how white people look at you. and the better the seat the more ignorant they are.
i have been asked soo many time why was i at the game or was i related to simmons. even the little kids used to stare.
so miss me with ? of whites being scared when they try to intimidate much more often.
but do we ever here the owners saying we would like to bring more black people in? -
Wish I could get my hands on NBA emails when they hired that strategist to rebrand (dress code (was needed), nba cares, marketing to whites) the league in the 2000s, who knows what they would reveal.
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What Ferry Said about Deng was beyond Racist. You're main focus of the Team as a Gm is to make your team better on the court. If there is a player that can enhance your team and they don't have some crazy on the court/off the court issues you bring him in. This guy is looking into his race more than his ball skills. You can't build a championship team like that.
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One of the best things about the digital age is that everything is recorded and can be leaked.
I love how no one else is mentioning the minority owner pointing out that the diversity of the front office has changed since Ferry was hired? Ok -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q4dNhqI2WIAtlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin on 92-9 The Game Discussing Danny Ferry and Bruce Levenson -
Will the Hawks eventually be moved some where else down the road? In like the next 5-10 years?
