Hawks & Thrashers For Sale

[davefmcl]

http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks ... 49288.html

If we could get this deal done before free agency, maybe we will have an owner that won't mind spending into the luxury tax and will go hard to bring Dwight Howard back to his roots!

[Geaux_Hawks]

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!

[Harry10]

Arthur Blank...... maybe?

[betta1]

Anyone know anything about John Moors? I don't follow the Padres or MLB enough to know about him really.

*Fingers crossed*

[geeman]

Daddy warbucks!! maybe our own Mark Cuban!

[evildallas]

Anyone know anything about John Moors? I don't follow the Padres or MLB enough to know about him really.

*Fingers crossed*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Moores_%28baseball%29

[HMFFL]

Padres exec eyeing Hawks, arena rights

John Moores, chairman of MLB's San Diego Padres, has entered an exclusive negotiating period to buy the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and the operating rights to Philips Arena, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday.

Moores does not appear to be interested in buying the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers, who are owned by Atlanta Spirit LLC, which also owns the Hawks and the arena rights.

No financial terms were included in the AJC report. The newspaper reported that Moores did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Moores was the Padres' owner from 1994 until 2009, when he agreed to sell the franchise to a group headed by former Arizona Diamondbacks part-owner Jeff Moorad. The sale is being completed in installments, with a final payment of $145 million due by 2014, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The 66-year-old Moores, who grew up in Texas, has an Atlanta connection, the AJC reported; he was chairman of the board of trustees of The Carter Center, headquartered in Atlanta.

Atlanta Spirit has begun talks with True North Sports and Entertainment, a group based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, about the Thrashers. TSNE would move the hockey club to Canada. Buyers who would keep the Thrashers in Atlanta are still being sought.

Unlike the Thrashers, The Hawks are not at risk of leaving Atlanta, according to the AJC. Under terms of the funding agreement for Philips Arena, the Hawks are to remain in the city until the bonds are paid off. Final payment is scheduled for 2028. http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2 ... ena-rights

[HMFFL]

His net worth is around $750 million from what I gather after researching it. He seems to be the type of person that only cares about making a profit and he lives off short-term investments. I'm not feeling to positive if he purchases the team.

[parson]

I'm hearing a lot of criticisms about Moores running the Padres on the cheap but then I read how he went through a divorce. If he does buy the Hawks, we're going to have to hope his money problems were caused by his assets being tied up in court and that they are all behind him now.

[Geaux_Hawks]

Sad... Hawks have a potential buyer, but ASG will sign Sund up for another year..

[We-Are-Lasers]

That does sound bad, I hope things work out. What do you guys feel about the Thrashers? I hear my city is trying to buy them. Is hockey a big thing in Atlanta as it is in lets say Boston or St. Louis?

[HMFFL]

That does sound bad, I hope things work out. What do you guys feel about the Thrashers? I hear my city is trying to buy them. Is hockey a big thing in Atlanta as it is in lets say Boston or St. Louis?

I think the ownership holds the fans back from be interested and attending the games now. A few years back the attendance was very high, but the ASG has made some poor decisions, and Ilya Kovalchuk leaving hurt as well. Technically Atlanta's not a hockey town, it's a football town, but not having respect for the ASG keeps the fans from attending.

[HMFFL]

Thrashers fans schedule rally

Here are the details, as provided to me the the head of the Thrashers fan club, for a rally to be held Saturday to support the Thrashers remaining in Atlanta. It will be held in the Gulch by Philips Arena.
From Jimmy Parks:
Saturday from Noon-4:00 PM
Come out to support our ATLANTA Thrashers! They are our team and they MUST remain in Atlanta. There will be general tailgating activities of food, beer, music and goofy games. I expect to see many “Save Our Thrashers!” type of signs. Let’s keep them mostly clean, lol

Wear your team clothing and bring your signs for pictures. Bring your cameras and phones. During the final hour we will get everyone assembled for a group photo. Photos go to Gary Bettman, the AJC, on facebook, etc, for all to see that we love our team!

It is very important to show visible (and vocal) support for the Thrashers, so really try be there, at least for the last hour! We are thinking about trying to get people like Dan Kamal, Jay Bird, maybe Jeff Schultz to speak during the last hour. Don’t know if we can get anyone on such short notice. http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-thrashers- ... ule-rally/

[We-Are-Lasers]

That does sound bad, I hope things work out. What do you guys feel about the Thrashers? I hear my city is trying to buy them. Is hockey a big thing in Atlanta as it is in lets say Boston or St. Louis?

I think the ownership holds the fans back from be interested and attending the games now. A few years back the attendance was very high, but the ASG has made some poor decisions, and Ilya Kovalchuk leaving hurt as well. Technically Atlanta's not a hockey town, it's a football town, but not having respect for the ASG keeps the fans from attending.

This makes sense, I feel as though the same thing happened in Winnipeg leading up to the Jets (now phoenix coyotes leaving). Hopefully the Hawks stay though.. but in all honesty if I could choose I'd rather have a basketball team.

Also, I just read it looks to be a done deal. Off the Canadian Globe and Mail:

An agreement to sell the National Hockey League’s Atlanta Thrashers to a Winnipeg group which plans to relocate the franchise to the Manitoba capital is done.

Sources confirmed tonight that preparations are being made for an announcement Tuesday, confirming the sale and transfer of the Thrashers to True North Sports and Entertainment, which owns and operates the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League and the MTS Centre arena, which would become the NHL team’s new home.

MORE RELATED TO THIS STORY
True North denies deal
‘No deal yet’
Why Bettman fights for Phoenix
Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the National Hockey League, is expected to travel to Winnipeg to make the news official.

The announcement would end months of speculation about whether one of the NHL’s financially-troubled American sunbelt teams might move north, filling the void left when the Winnipeg Jets packed up and left for Phoenix in 1996, where they became the Coyotes.

Much of the talk this spring had centred on that failing franchise, which was bought by the league after being placed in bankruptcy by its former owner Jerry Moyes in 2009.

But sources in Winnipeg suggest that the Thrashers had in fact been the primary target of potential owners Mark Chipman and David Thomson all along, and that some months back, the NHL board of governors quietly approved the sale and transfer of the team, pending the negotiation of a purchase agreement between Atlanta Spirit LLC, the Thrashers’ owners, and True North.

In the meantime, no potential owner materialized who was prepared to keep the team in Georgia, and local governments there showed no interest in propping up the Thrashers.

“There seems to be a consensus there is going to be a team in Winnpeg,” former major league pitcher Tom Glavine, who had tried unsuccessfully to find new ownership for the hockey team in Atlanta, acknowledged last week. ““The question is who, and unfortunately the bullseye seems to be on the Thrashers’ back.”

When it appeared this spring that the Coyotes might also be in play, after a deal to sell the team to Matthew Hulsizer underwritten by a municipal bond issue fell apart in the face of political opposition from the Goldwater Institute, the Winnipeg group sought to take advantage of what suddenly seemed a buyers’ market, with two teams available and no other potential owners or relocations sites on the horizon.

After the City of Glendale agreed to cover $25-million of the Coyotes losses for the 2011-2012 season, and the NHL opted to operate the club in Arizona for at least one more year, True North’s full focus returned to Atlanta, and a deal was hammered out this week.

Even before those final negotiations took place, the potential Winnipeg owners concluded an agreement with the Manitoba government which will allow revenues from a sports bar with slot machine to be used for improvements to the arena, and to be used towards the debt service on the building.

That’s consistent with what Manitoba premier Greg Selinger told reporters earlier this week, when he said that the provincial government had no interest in subsidizing an NHL team, but that the province had financially supported the renovation of the MTS Centre in the past, and would continue to be willing to do so.

[We-Are-Lasers]

To add people are partying on main street right now. No official word from True North (the prospective buyer), ASG, or the NHL

[Geaux_Hawks]

At least more money towards the Hawks hopefully..I will admit, I'm not a hockey fan, but it does kind of suck just losing a sports team regardless..

[HMFFL]

Magic Johnson has been wanting his own NBA team, so I wonder if he's considering Atlanta, not that I want him to buy the Hawks, but I just remembered how much he wants his own team, and this is his opportunity.

[evildallas]

Magic Johnson has been wanting his own NBA team, so I wonder if he's considering Atlanta, not that I want him to buy the Hawks, but I just remembered how much he wants his own team, and this is his opportunity.

I'm not a fan of Magic the commentator, but he's been a successful business man over the years. Although I guess anyone who can buy part of a team is a successful businessman not that it always translates to sports success.

[tncnz]

These Atlanta Spirit idiots had/have no business owning one professional sports team, much less two. Belkin was the $ behind this ownership group and I hope he is laughing at these idiots losing $ on the Thrashers as bad as they are. Looks like the Joe Johnson/Boris Diaw trade cost these idiots more than their #1 investor, it has cost them at least one of their teams already.

[MaceCase]

Magic Johnson has been wanting his own NBA team, so I wonder if he's considering Atlanta, not that I want him to buy the Hawks, but I just remembered how much he wants his own team, and this is his opportunity.

He claimed in an interview that he is more concerned with getting an NFL team moved to or formed in LA than anything else. His home state Pistons were also on sale but he didn't show any particular interest at all despite rumors.