Steve Koonin

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ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club today announced that General Manager/Head of Basketball Operations Travis Schlenk will be featured on a weekly segment this season on SportsRadio 92-2 The Game, the team’s official sports talk partner and flagship station. Schlenk was hired on May 25, 2017 after spending 12 seasons with the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors.

With weekly segments featuring Head Coach Mike Budenholzer and CEO Steve Koonin returning once again to the station, Hawks leadership will be featured on the Hawks’ radio flagship on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays during the season.

"We are very pleased to continue our great relationship with the Atlanta Hawks,” said Terry Foxx, Program Director at SportsRadio 92-9 The Game. “Having Coach Bud along with CEO Steve Koonin and now the new GM of the Hawks, Travis Schlenk, will further enhance our overall coverage of the Hawks. When you add the legendary voice of the Hawks, Steve Holman, we have a continued amazing partnership with the Hawks and our fans.”

Schlenk will appear on Tuesdays at 8:20 a.m. with John Fricke and Hugh Douglas on “The Game Mornings.” His segment will premiere on Oct. 17.

For the fourth year, Budenholzer will return for his weekly “On the Court with Coach Bud” segment, beginning Oct. 19. It will air each Thursday at 10:22 a.m. during the “Midday Show” with hosts Rick Kamla and John Michaels.

In its third season, the Koonin weekly segment will air every Friday at 4:42 p.m. during the “Dukes and Bell” afternoon show with Carl Dukes and Mike Bell.

Every Hawks game this season will air on SportsRadio 92-9 The Game, as well as partner stations on the Atlanta Hawks Radio Network, with “Voice of the Hawks” Steve Holman on the call.

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Hawks Leadership to Be Featured Weekly On 92.9 The Game

Statement from Hawks CEO Steve Koonin on behalf of the Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club:

Statement from President of Basketball Operations/Head Coach Mike Budenholzer:

The Hawks will pay tribute to Sager with a moment of silence and special video presentation prior to Saturday’s game at Philips Arena versus the Charlotte Hornets. The game will begin at 7:30 p.m.

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Koonin, Budenholzer Release Statements On Passing of Craig Sager

The Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club and its CEO Steve Koonin received some pleasant news Wednesday.

Creative Loafing Magazine in Atlanta published its 2015 Best of Atlanta awards this week.  Koonin got recognized for best job turning around a pro sports franchise.  From the mag:

The Hawks also got the magazine's honor for best local sports team.

All Best of Atlanta awards are voted on by the magazine's readers.

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Hawks, CEO Steve Koonin Recognized In Creative Loafing's "Best Of Atlanta"

ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Chapter of Women in Sports and Events (WISE) will host its 11th Annual Anniversary Luncheon at Philips Arena on July 23 from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., featuring Hawks CEO Steve Koonin as the keynote speaker and ESPN reporter Niki Noto Palmer as emcee.

The luncheon, to be held in the Philips Experience area of the arena, will include a raffle with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the Atlanta Hawks Foundation. Tickets for the event are available to be purchased by the general public at a non-member price of $75 and a $50 student rate from atlanta.wiseworks.org. 

A non-profit organization, WISE is the leading voice and resource for professional women in the business of sports and events. Through ongoing meetings, special events and mentoring programs, WISE offers its members the opportunity to gain valuable insights and connections that can provide them a competitive advantage in their current position and as they advance in their careers.

Media members are invited for the purpose of covering the event and must RSVP in advance to Kelly Barnes at KBarnes17@gmail.com.

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Atlanta Chapter of Women in Sports and Events Tabs Hawks CEO Steve Koonin to Deliver Keynote Speech at 11th Annual Anniversary Luncheon on July 23

ATLANTA -- FOX Sports South and SportSouth senior vice president and general manager Jeff Genthner, and Atlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin, today announced a new long-term television rights agreement. The new agreement goes into effect with the 2015-16 NBA season. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Under the new agreement, SportSouth – a FOX Sports regional network – will remain the exclusive regional television partner of the Atlanta Hawks and will produce all locally-available regular season games not exclusively selected by a national network. The regional network will also televise three preseason games, select Hawks Playoff games and produce 10 hours of Hawks-themed original programming each season.

"We are excited to extend our partnership with SportSouth and build off the record-setting ratings that we established during our thrilling playoff series last season," Koonin said. "The broadcast of live sports is crucial to our business and we are fortunate to have a great partner with such a large footprint to grow our fan base."

“SportSouth is pleased to continue its longstanding relationship with the Atlanta Hawks,” said Genthner. “As the exclusive TV home of the Hawks, we look forward to televising every regular season game plus select preseason and postseason games for many years to come.” 

During the 2014-15 NBA season, 75 regular season Hawks games will be televised on SportSouth. Hawks games on SportSouth are available to more than 5.1 million households across Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. Play-by-play announcer Bob Rathbun enters his 19th season as the voice of the Hawks and will be joined by Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins, returning for his seventh season as analyst. Andre Aldridge returns for a fifth season as sideline reporter. New to the broadcast team is Olivia Harlan, who will also handle sideline reporting for select games.

SportSouth’s Emmy-award winning production team will continue to provide comprehensive coverage surrounding the team with 30-minute Hawks LIVE! pregame and postgame shows before and after every game. Jerome Jurenovich and Mike "Stinger" Glenn will host Hawks LIVE!, along with contributions from Aldridge and Harlan.

New this season, SportSouth will give fans more chances to watch the Hawks play by televising same-day re-airs of all Hawks games at 11:00 p.m. ET. Re-air times are subject to change for west coast games and programming conflicts. Each re-air will be a two-hour condensed version of the live game seen earlier in the evening. Hawks LIVE! pregame and postgame shows, and halftime segments will not be re-aired. 

The FOX Sports regional networks serving the Southeast – FOX Sports South, FOX Sports Tennessee, FOX Sports Carolinas and SportSouth – collectively reach more than 13 million cable and satellite households in seven states across the Southeast.  They are the television home of the Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Dream, Atlanta Hawks, Carolina Hurricanes, Charlotte Hornets, Charlotte Hounds, Memphis Grizzlies, Nashville Predators, Cincinnati Reds, Indiana Pacers, New Orleans Pelicans, and St. Louis Cardinals, as well as the Atlantic Coast Conference, Conference USA, Southeastern Conference, and Big 12 Conference.  Combined, the four networks produce more than 750 live local events and televise more than 1400 live local events each year. For more information, please visit FOXSportsSouth.com, FOXSportsTennessee.com, and FOXSportsCarolinas.com.

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SportSouth, Atlanta Hawks Announce New Long-Term Rights Agreement

ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena today announced plans to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Philips Arena and will construct a larger-than-life-size statue of Hawks’ legend Dominique Wilkins. The statue, which is to be unveiled at a special ceremony at Philips Arena on March 5, 2015, will be a symbol of the Hawks’ legend’s success as a player both on and off the court.  Details of the statue and the ceremony will be released at a later date.

Additionally, the Hawks have named Wilkins as Special Advisor to CEO Steve Koonin and signed the legend to a new long-term partnership. He will also continue in his role as Vice President of Basketball.

“Being honored by the great City of Atlanta and my beloved Hawks team is incredibly humbling, I have to thank all the fans, the community and the Hawks organization, in particular the Gearon family, Rutherford Seydel and Tommy Dortch, who have been close friends and important figures since the day I was drafted,” said Wilkins. “I look forward to continuing my partnership with the team and the City for many years ahead.”  

"There is no player more deserving of such an honor than Dominique for his continued commitment to the Hawks and the City of Atlanta. Beyond his amazing play on the court during his Hall-of-Fame career, he has been an ambassador for this franchise and the city for three decades," Koonin said. "For all he has accomplished and continues to do for the Hawks franchise and the City of Atlanta, we are proud to bestow this permanent recognition of his legacy."

Wilkins is the Hawks’ all-time leading scorer, ranking second in team history in steals, fourth in rebounds, sixth in blocked shots and seventh in assists. The 12th-leading scorer in league history is also a nine-time NBA All-Star and two-time Slam Dunk champion (1985, 1990).

Nicknamed ‘The Human Highlight Film’, Wilkins is one of three players in franchise history to have his uniform number (#21) retired, joining Bob Pettit and Lou Hudson. He was named to seven All-NBA teams and won a Gold Medal as a member of the United States World Championship team in 1994. Wilkins starred collegiately at the University of Georgia where he ended his career as the all-time scoring leader with averages of 21.6 points and 7.5 rebounds. A three-time All-SEC performer and Most Valuable Player of the 1981 Southeastern Conference Tournament, he was selected third overall in the 1982 NBA Draft.

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Philips Arena Celebrates 15th Anniversary By Announcing Plans To Build Dominique Wilkins Statue

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

"No words can adequately describe my remorse for the hurt that I have caused many people through the statements I repeated, most importantly Luol Deng.

Luol is a good man who I have known for many years and he has done a tremendous amount of good for his country and around the world.  I apologize to Luol and I apologize to all that I have offended. As I have said, while these were not my words, I deeply regret repeating them.  Almost all the background information I provided during the lengthy presentation regarding Luol was positive and my personal and professional recommendation during the call was very much in favor of adding Luol to our team but I never should have uttered those offensive remarks and for that I apologize.

My focus moving forward is to tirelessly work to rebuild trust with this community and with our fans. I realize that my words may ring hollow now and my future actions must speak for me.  I will maximize my time during this leave to meet with community leaders and further educate myself and others on the extremely sensitive issues surrounding race, diversity, and inclusion. I will find a way to make a positive difference in this area, and further learn from the sensitivity training that I will go through.”

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Danny Ferry Takes Leave of Absence; Releases Statement

ATLANTA, GA –--  The following statement was released by CEO Steve Koonin:

“This afternoon, Danny Ferry requested, and I have approved, taking an indefinite leave of absence, effective immediately.  This has been an incredibly difficult time for him and his family and it is my hope that this time away from the Hawks organization allows him the privacy he needs to listen to the community, to learn about his mistakes, and to begin the long process of personal healing.  As a human being, manager and friend, I wish him well as he undergoes this process.

While the issues related to race are deeply troubling, at the heart of this dispute is an unfortunate disagreement amongst owners. That said, we have taken several steps to address what we can do as an organization to be better and stronger, including working with a diversity consultant to examine us and to train us to ensure something like this never happens again, we are committed to hiring a Chief Diversity Officer, and we have and will continue to meet with community leaders in an ongoing way to ensure our values reflect the community in which we play and work.  The process of selling the team, which is to remain in Atlanta, is already underway.

Effective immediately, our Head Coach, Mike Budenholzer, will assume oversight of the basketball operations department.  He will report directly to me.

I am deeply saddened and embarrassed that this has put a blemish on our team and our city, which has always been a diverse community with a history of coming together as one.  We should build bridges through basketball, not divide our community or serve as a source of pain.”