Bruce Levenson

atljtaylor

ATLANTA, GA –-- The following statement was released by Hawks President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Danny Ferry:

“In regards to the insensitive remarks that were used during our due diligence process, I was repeating comments that were gathered from numerous sources during background conversations and scouting about different players.   I repeated those comments during a telephone conversation reviewing the draft and free agency process.  Those words do not reflect my views, or words that I would use to describe an individual and I certainly regret it. I apologize to those I offended and to Luol, who I reached out to Monday morning.   

In terms of the email that Bruce sent, the situation is disturbing and disappointing on many levels and I understand Bruce's words were offensive.  I am committed to learning from this and deeply regret this situation. I fully understand we have work to do in order to help us create a better organization; one that our players and fans will be proud of, on and off the court, and that is where my focus is moving forward.”

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Hawks GM Danny Ferry's Statement Regarding Investigation

Micah Hart

From: Bruce Levenson  To: Ferry, Danny CC: Foreman, Todd (ucg.com); Peskowitz, Ed (ucg.com)Sent:  8/25/2012 11:47:02 PM Subject: Re: Business/Game ops

1.  from day one i have been impressed with the friendliness and professionalism of the arena staff -- food vendors, ushers, ticket takers, etc.  in our early years when i would bring folks from dc they were blown away by the contrast between abe pollin's arena and philips. some of this is attributable to southern hospital and manners but bob and his staff do a good job of training. To this day, I can not get the ushers to call me Bruce yet they insist on me calling them by their first names.

2. the non-premium area food is better than most arenas, though that is not saying much.  i think there is room for improvement and creativity. Levy is our food vendor so we don't have much control but they have been good partners. i have wished we had some inconic offereing like boog's barbeque at the baseball stadium in balt.

3. our new restaurant, red, just opened so too early for me to give you my thoughts.

4. Regarding game ops, i need to start with some background. for the first couple of years we owned the team, i didn't much focus on game ops.  then one day a light bulb went off.  when digging into why our season ticket base is so small, i was told it is because we can't get 35-55 white males and corporations to buy season tixs and they are the primary demo for season tickets around the league. when i pushed further, folks generally shrugged their shoulders.  then i start looking around our arena during games and notice the following:

-- it's 70 pct black-- the cheerleaders are black-- the music is hip hop-- at the bars it's 90 pct black-- there are few fathers and sons at the games-- we are doing after game concerts to attract more fans and the concerts are either hip hop or gospel.

Then i start looking around at other arenas. It is completely different. Even DC with its affluent black community never has more than 15 pct black audience.

Before we bought the hawks and for those couple years immediately after in an effort to make the arena look full (at the nba's urging) thousands and thousands of tickets were being giving away, predominantly in the black community, adding to the overwhelming black audience.

My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a signficant season ticket base. Please dont get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arean 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. On fan sites i would read comments about how dangerous it is around philips yet in our 9 years, i don't know of a mugging or even a pick pocket incident. This was just racist garbage. When I hear some people saying the arena is in the wrong place I think it is code for there are too many blacks at the games.

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 tixs demo. i have also balked when every fan picked out of crowd to shoot shots in some time out contest is black. I have even bitched that the kiss cam is too black.

Gradually things have changed. My unscientific guess is that our crowd is 40 pct black now, still four to five times all other teams. And my further guess is that 40 pct still feels like 70 pet to some whites at our games. Our bars are still overwhelmingly black.

This is obviously a sensitive topic, but sadly i think it is far and way the number one reason our season ticket base is so low.

And many of our black fans don't have the spendable income which explains why our f&amp;b and merchandise sales are so low. At all white thrasher games sales were nearly triple what they are at hawks games (the extra intermission explains some of that but not all).

Regardless of what time a game starts, we have the latest arriving crowd in the league. It often looks and sounds empty when the team takes the floor.

In the past two years, we have created a section of rowdy college students that has been a big plus. And we do a lot of very clever stuff during time outs to entertain the crowd. Our kiss cam is better done than any in the league.

We have all the same halftime acts that other arenas have but i question whether they make sense. people are on their cell phones during half time. i wonder if flashing on the scoreboard "$2 off on hot dogs during halftime tonight" just as the half ends would be a better use of our halftime dollars and make the fans happier.

We do all the usual giveways and the fans are usually their loudest when our spirit crew takes the floor to give away t-shirts. It pisses me off that they will yell louder for a t-shirt then for our players.

Our player intro is flat. We manufacture a lot of noise but because of the late arriving crowd and the fact that a lot of blacks dont seem to go as crazy cheering (another one of my theories) as whites, it is not great. Even when we have just returned from winnng four straight on the road, i am one of the few people in the arena standing and cheering when our team takes the floor. Bob has kicked around ideas like having the starters coming down aisles rather than off the bench during intros. Sounds cool but may highlight all the empty seats at the start of games.

Not enough of our fans wear hawks jerseys to games.  i have just begun to push for ideas like discount food lines for folks wearing jerseys, special entrances, etc. I think we need a committed and perhaps incentivized fan club. We need to realize atl is simply different than every other city. Just adopting nba best practices is not enough. we have to create our own.

I am rambling and could probably go on forever. If you have any specific areas you would like my thoughts on, let me know.

ps -- I have cc'd todd and ed so they can chime in with additional or different thoughts.

a-copy-of-bruce-levensons-email

A Copy of Bruce Levenson's Email

ATLANTA, GA –-- The following statement was released today by Atlanta Hawks Controlling Owner Bruce Levenson:

“Over the past several years, I’ve spent a lot of time grappling with low attendance at our games and the need for the Hawks to attract more season ticket holders and corporate sponsors. Over that time, I’ve talked with team executives about the need for the Hawks to build a more diverse fan base that includes more suburban whites, and I shared my thoughts on why our efforts to bridge Atlanta’s racial sports divide seemed to be failing.

In trying to address those issues, I wrote an e-mail two years ago that was inappropriate and offensive.  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. that white fans might be afraid of our 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. 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. 

I have said repeatedly that the NBA should have zero tolerance for racism, and I strongly believe that to be true.  That is why I voluntarily reported my inappropriate e-mail to the NBA.

After much long and difficult contemplation, I have decided that it is in the best interests of the team, the Atlanta community, and the NBA to sell my controlling interest in the Hawks franchise.

Hawks CEO Steve Koonin will oversee all team operations and take all organizational reports as we proceed with the sale process.

I’m truly embarrassed by my words in that e-mail, and I apologize to the members of the Hawks family and all of our fans.

To the Hawks family and its fans, you have my deepest gratitude for the past ten years. Working with this team and its extraordinary executives, coaching staff, and players has been one of the highlights of my life. I am proud of our diverse, passionate, and growing legion of Hawks fans, and I will continue to join you in cheering for the best team in the NBA.”  

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Hawks Owner Bruce Levenson Statement Regarding Team Sale

atljwilson

Several current and former Hawks players, executives and even mascots have accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge over the past few weeks.  You can see all of them individually above, but I thought I'd provide a recap of each anyway.  Some are more hilarious than others, but all are very good.

The Atlanta Hawks' majority owner got in on the action, completing the challenge while on a trampoline in Colorado.

Coach Bud accepted the Ice Bucket Challenge from Al Horford.

Muscala accepted the challenge from a few people, and among the folks he challenged was Imagine Dragons drummer and Hawks superfan Dan Platzman.

Teague's Ice Bucket Challenge involved everything you could possibly want...except the ice.  Watch for a Bill Clinton reference.

I'm not sure why you'd want to lean back while having ice water dumped all over you.  Millsap tried that, then quickly sat back up.

A 15-second Instagram video isn't enough to capture the reaction of being drenched with ice cold water, so Schröder documented the feat with two videos.  The second is the more entertaining of the two, and his reaction is priceless.

By far the most painful-looking of the bunch to date.  Adreian...why did you think it would be a good idea to have ice fall on your hairless head from two stories above?  At least it didn't end like this.

When the commissioner challenges you, you have to accept.  Mutombo seemed to be the most unprepared for how cold the water was, judging by his reaction.

The Hawks CEO stepped up and accepted Ryan Cameron's challenge.  Is that a stove pot with ice from the freezer?  Whatever works!  Another must-see reaction.

Harry was first in the Hawks family to accept after being challenged by University of Florida mascot Albert the Gator.  Next time we'll tell him to cool it on the caffeine.

Bruce Levenson

Hawks GM Danny Ferry's Statement Regarding Investigation

A Copy of Bruce Levenson's Email

Hawks Owner Bruce Levenson Statement Regarding Team Sale

Hawks Taking Part In Ice Bucket Challenge