|
 Hawks owner Bruce Levenson said fans have a right to be angry
about an internal email he wrote two years ago about the need to
boost arena attendance and how black and white fans differed in what
they preferred to see at Hawks’ games.
"In trying to address those issues, I wrote an e-mail two years ago
that was inappropriate and offensive," Levenson said in a statement
released by the team."If you're angry about what I wrote, you should
be. 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," he added.
His e-mail to team general manager Danny Ferry, which addressed ways
to boost the number of season ticket holders, delved into racial
makeup of fans at the Hawks arena and suggested that southern white
men might not be comfortable in an arena with a high percentage of
African American fans.
Levenson's announcement came just over four months after NBA
Commissioner Adam Silver, in an unprecedented move, banned then Los
Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the league and fined him
$2.5 million for making racist remarks.
Sterling had been heard, in taped private comments, imploring a
female friend not to associate with black people.
The Levenson episode was especially striking as it unfolded in one
of the nation's largest majority-black cities, a center of
African-American culture, wealth and political power and the
birthplace of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The Clippers saga ended last month when former Microsoft chief
executive officer Steve Ballmer took over as the new owner of the
franchise after completing a $2 billion purchase.
Prior to that sale, the Clippers were ranked by business magazine
Forbes as the 13th most valuable NBA team with a value of $575
million in January. By contrast, the Hawks ranked 27th among the 30
NBA teams, with a value in January of $425 million and total revenue
of $119 million.
HARMFUL MESSAGE
NBA Commissioner Silver said in a statement Levenson had notified
the league in July of his August 2012 e-mail, and the NBA then
launched an independent investigation into the circumstances of the
remarks.
"Prior to the completion of the investigation, Mr. Levenson notified
me last evening that he had decided to sell his controlling interest
in the Atlanta Hawks," Silver said.
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While he commended Levenson for reporting the e-mail and for cooperating
with the league in its investigation, Silver also criticized the remarks
themselves as in "stark contrast to the core principles of the National
Basketball Association."
Levenson, in describing his own remarks, said his words went against his
public views on racism, adding that by focusing on race he had sent an
unintentional and harmful message that white fans were more valuable
than black fans.
He said his e-mail also trivialized fans by making clichéd assumptions
about their interests in music and having black versus white
cheerleaders, and stereotyped their perceptions of one another in
suggesting white fans might be afraid of blacks.
Hawks’ CEO Steve Koonin, who will oversee team operations during the
sale process, said he would work in partnership with the NBA to ensure
"a new ownership team will be put in place that is united and committed
to the Atlanta community."
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed decried Levenson's published remarks as
contrary to "the city of Atlanta's history of diversity and inclusion"
and hailed the "NBA's efforts to enforce a no-tolerance policy" against
discrimination.
Civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton issued a statement encouraging
Silver "to continue vetting all (NBA) owners."
Last season, the Hawks finished eighth in the 15-team Eastern Conference
standings with a win-loss record of 38-44.
Their attendance record is among the lowest in the league. The franchise
won its only NBA championship in 1958 as the St. Louis Hawks.
(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City, Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los
Angeles, and Victoria Cavaliere in Seattle; Editing by Paul Simao,
Frances Kerry and Jeremy Laurence)
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