Report is Gearon Junior keeps a percentage

[Guest]

FFFFFFFFFFFF*****************************************************************************************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Billionaire philanthropist Antony Ressler leads a group that has reached an agreement to purchase the Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena for an amount believed to be less than $1 billion, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has confirmed.

Ressler, 55, is a co-founder of two private equity firms, Apollo Global Management and Ares Management. He is also a minority owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. According to Forbes, he is worth approximately $1.43 billion dollars.

According to several people familiar with the situation, the ownership group also includes former NBA player Grant Hill, co-founder of Marquis Jets Jesse Itzler and his wife Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanxx. Current co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. will also retain a small percentage of the franchise. The group will also include several other minority investors. Itzler is a season-ticket holder for the Hawks and has done consulting work for the organization.

The Hawks and the NBA have not confirmed the agreement, which is expected to be announced in the next day or two. The office of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed would not comment on the pending sale.

The sales process began in September when controlling owner Bruce Levenson announced his intention to sell his stake as part of a firestorm of controversy that engulfed the franchise.

The Washington-based group, led by Levenson, announced that it would sell its 50.1 percent stake following the discovery of a racially inflammatory email. An independent investigation discovered an e-mail Levenson wrote in 2012 that included racist remarks about the fan base and game operations. Levenson’s partners Ed Peskowitz and Todd Foreman are also stakeholders in the original group known as the Atlanta Spirit.

Several months later, the remaining ownership groups agreed to sell their shares in the franchise. The Atlanta-based group of Michael Gearon Jr. and Sr., Rutherford Seydel and Beau Turner will sell their combined 32.3 percent of the franchise. In addition, the New York-based group, led by Steven Price, has agreed to sell its 17.6 percent stake.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed at the NBA All-Star Game in February that the league recently changed its rules concerning team ownership. In a rule passed by the Board of Governors, ownership groups cannot be comprised of more than 25 individuals. Also, each individual must own at least one percent of the team.

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/basketball/hawks-finalizing-sale-with-billionaire-antony-res/nkzxP/

Edited April 22, 2015 by AHF

[AHF]

Edited the profanity but couldn't agree more with the sentiment.  M#$*#$F&#*$#43

 

Clean sweep these fools.

[NJHAWK]

Id rather give his % to Belkin.

[AHF]

[curtmcgirt]

I hope its that 1-2% you get a seat at the table,but cant say anything range.

[NJHAWK]

What the hell is his motivation for hanging around. It cant be money since I believe they would give more to get rid if him. He cant possibly think he will somehow become a face of the franchise again. He has to know anyone with some knowledge of the situation think of him as a spoiled brat, backstabbing, meddling little dork who cant get his own way.    So why, why, why, does this clown hang around?

Edited April 22, 2015 by NJHAWK

[High5]

I hope its that 1-2% you get a seat at the table,but cant record anything range.

 

Fixed

[Guest]

Probably best case scenario.  Hard to get rid of the scourge all at once.  Hopefully a year or two of having cheap seats and being forced to take down that ridiculous banner will convince him to seek a quiet exit.

[AHF]

What the hell is his motivation for hanging around. It cant be money since I believe they would give more to get rid if him. He cant possibly think he will somehow become a face of the franchise again. He has to know anyone with some knowledge of the situation think of him as a spoiled brat, backstabbing, meddling little dork who cant get his own way.    So why, why, why, does this clown hang around?

 

So he can say he is an NBA owner.

[NBASupes]

Gearon does love the Hawks regardless of all else that's said.

[AHF]

Gearon does love the Hawks regardless of all else that's said.

 

Less than he loves his ego.  We know which he puts first.

Edited April 22, 2015 by AHF

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

Find a cage for him in the basement of the Philips and lose the key.

[Guest]

Find a cage for him in the basement of the Philips and lose the key.

 

Call it the Gearon Suite.

[RandomFan]

Keep in mind, this is the same prick who blamed the fans for not showing up. What business on earth blames their customers for poor performance?

And keep in mind, this is the same prick that has always been against Ferry from the beginning. This is just terrible. And it really hurts the chances of Ferry coming back. For one thing, Johhny Douchebag (a.k.a. Gearon) will be whispering in the new owners ear how terrible Ferry is; and second, if Johhny Douchebag is still a part of the ownership group, I'd highly doubt Ferry would even WANT to remain with the organization.

 

This should be proof to every last one of you --- there is no god...

[RandomFan]

http://jeffschultz.blog.ajc.com/2015/04/22/hawks-sale-positive-but-does-gearons-role-ensure-ferrys-exit/

 

Jeff Schultz

 

New owners. New hope?

 

After killing a hockey franchise and providing Atlanta with one of the worst ownership tenures in (semi-)professional sports history, the former partners of the Atlanta Spirit have agreed to sell the Hawks and operating rights to Philips Arena to Antony Ressler, a co-founder of two private equity firms and minority of the Milwaukee Brewers.

He’s also billionaire, but that was pretty much a given.

 

Nobody knows if Ressler will be a great owner. We can only safely assume he won’t be the clown show that his predecessors were. Even when the Spirit partners did something right by hiring Danny Ferry as general manager, they managed to have that decision unravel into a national embarrassment: The regrettable Ferry scouting call, the Levenson race-infused email, the ensuing indefinite “leave of absence” (wink, wink) by Ferry and sudden decision to sell (wink, wink) by Levenson.

 

The sale price reportedly is $800 million. Hawks’ executives hoped the team would sell for more than $1 billion. They’ll live.

Ressler’s arrival should be cause for celebration in Atlanta sports.

 

Only two obstacles stand in the way that:

 

• Final approval: We were down this road before with California developer and pizza boy Alex Meruelo, who thought he had a deal for the Hawks in October of 2011. Then it turned out Meruelo didn’t have enough money. That can be a problem in pro sports league, except possibly the NHL.

 

• The Gearon Factor: According to Chris Vivlamore’s story, Michael Gearon Jr. will retain a minority stake in the team. This can’t be good, unless he is tied in a corner with his mouth duct-taped shut.

 

Now, it’s certainly possible that in a group including Ressler (billionaire), former NBA star Grant Hill (high profile, high character, potential face of ownership), Marquis Jets  co-founder Jesse Itzler and his wife, Spanxx founder Sara Blakely, Gearon will be mere a speck on the spreadsheet.

 

But could there possibly be a louder and more intrusive speck?

 

The issue here is Ferry? I’ve never had a strong sense the Hawks will bring him back. Hill’s presence, as another former Duke player, could bode well for Ferry.

 

But if the Hawks decide to keep Ferry, how would Gearon feel about it? Would he make noise again, as he did when a member of the Levenson group tried to orchestrate Ferry’s return this season?

 

Gearon’s presence is the lone fly-in-the-ointment in this thing. Otherwise, there’s no reason to believe Atlanta can’t officially move on from one of the ugliest and most painful chapters in the city’s sports’ history. And the angels sing.

There will only be a black hole where an NHL team used to exist.

 

Shultz be hatin' on some Gearon, and for good reason. I'm drawing a blank on the bolded part. Does anyone else remember this happening? I don't remember anyone trying to bring him back this season so far. 

[Guest]

I just died a little inside....AAAAHHHHHH...

[Dejay]

In the words of Darth Vader...

'Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

[MaceCase]

Just keep him off of conference calls and they should be fine.  Keep him out of every decision and meeting actually, just let him keep his courtside seat.....but charge him market rate for it.  And no free refills on concessions either.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

In the words of Darth Vader...

'Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

 

http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com/

[Randy]

Gearon has become something like an incurable disease.  They did a brain transplant on the patient, but they implanted the tumor from the old brain as well.