# NBA Hawks owner to sell team after revelations of racist emails from 2012 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 7, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779 "2014-09-07T16:37:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/101 "2014-09-09T11:30:28Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Ooooohhhhhh… so if V. Stiviano had been seen canoodling in public with younger, more virile WHITE athletes (say, Andrew Luck instead of Matt Kemp), Donald would have been just FINE with that. > > Sure. He told her to stop hanging around black guys in public, explicitly. He didn’t tell her to stop hanging around with white guys. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/102 "2014-09-09T12:53:29Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > I would love it if you got the fuck out of this thread. Let’s ease up on the tone. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/103 "2014-09-09T14:22:24Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > You’re a potty mouthed moron, and have proven you have no business policing anyone else’s language or behavior. Don’t insult others outside of the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/104 "2014-09-09T14:24:42Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I think the people seeing this as a strategic ploy to dump an underperforming asset for maximum dollars are correct. …facts be damned, apparently. > [@](#): > > Ballmer’s payment for the Clippers was astounding. Yes, it was, and team values have skyrocketed in the last few years. But there are some really important differences and he’s not getting $2 billion here. Donald Sterling owned the Clippers outright, and Levenson does not. He has the largest ownership stake, but it’s not even a majority. This team is far less valuable than the Clippers based on location, competitiveness, star power, and perhaps their TV deal. And the Clippers were sold in a crazy auction because of the other legal issues that surrounded the Sterlings. That won’t happen here. > [@VarlosZ](#): > > Wait, if this was about wanting to dump his ownership stake in the team, why would he need a strategic ploy? Just announce that the team is for sale. It seems like you’re likely to get a better deal if you haven’t already announced that you have to sell. No reason. He’s even tried and failed to sell before. > [@astorian](#): > > Resign immediately as a moderator. I was not aware we’d hired **Acsenray** as a moderator. I’m really out of the loop these days! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/105 "2014-09-09T14:53:55Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I was not aware we’d hired **Acsenray** as a moderator. I’m really out of the loop these days! Apparently I am too. Maybe I missed something because I didn’t know about the distinction between a “moderator” and a “genuine moderator.” ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/106 "2014-09-09T16:42:12Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That sounds inclusive, not exclusive- in other words, not what Levenson talked about. I don’t think McDonald’s is attempting to appeal to black customers _instead_ of white ones. Advertising in general has gotten more diverse because companies are recognizing that the country is more diverse. One relevant difference is that arena seating is zero-sum; McDonald’s can sell an unbounded amount of food, but the Hawks don’t have an unbounded amount of seats for home games. Thus, it behooves them to sell as many as possible in a season-ticket format, and to people they believe will spent the most money on incidentals once they are in the arena. > [@treis](#): > > By the way, the interesting thing about this thread is that a bunch of people are calling the e-mail racists and taking offense. But no one is taking offense for the people who were actually insulted. Levenson essentially calls his white fan base a bunch of southern racists too scared of blacks to go to a basketball game. I did. Levenson’s crude stereotypes targeted two groups, local black people and local white people, and both are offensive. > [@BigT](#): > > But I’m not so sure about that, either. Sure, he goes out of his way to say that he doesn’t feel uncomfortable around black people . Yet he thinks all other white people are racists. Who do that the most often? Racists. It’s the logic behind “Anti-racist is Anti-white.” > > I think it’s very likely he’s projecting his own racist views onto others in this. So, rather than being racism by proxy, it’s just plain racism. The only reason he can think of that he isn’t making enough money is that those scary black people are making all the rich white people uncomfortable. He blames the racism on others, but it’s really his own. > > (Yes, in this post, I’m using “\_\_\_ by proxy” construction to mean that he is the proxy, unlike the more usual use of the term. I like the term, and couldn’t think of anything better.) It’s also possible that Levenson, who is from Maryland, just assumed that the only explanation for disproportionately few white fans at Hawks games was that Southern white people are racist. It’s not like the Hawks commissioned a study or anything, per the email Levenson just asserts this as his belief. That’s my takeaway from the whole affair: I wouldn’t want this guy as the managing partner of a business I was involved with, he’s using baseless gut feelings to direct operations. > [@Marley23](#): > > I guess he was calling him shifty and dishonest? The full quote was [“He has a little African in him, not in a bad way, but he’s a guy who would have a nice store out front, but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back.”](http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/channel-2s-obtains-smoking-gun-controversial-hawks/nhJQw/) One of the teams’ minority owners was outraged, and so was the CEO. That co-owner wanted Ferry fired. The end result is Levenson getting out. So here’s a fun question: does anyone see a possible link between a team owner who is iffy on black fans and a scouting report that says weird, prejudiced crap about a black player? I’m tempted to emphasize again that Deng appears to be an outstanding person, but that’s not even the point- even if he were kind of a shady character, the fact that he’s African doesn’t have shit to do with it. Well, then. The full quote is a lot worse by virtue of being more specifically negative. It remains puzzling when applied to Deng, unless he has a different reputation in league circles than he does in public ones. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/107 "2014-09-09T17:09:50Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Compare this to the actual email, which says something different. > > Not “there are no white people.” “It’s too black.” > > He didn’t say they never pick black fans. He says he “balks” when they don’t pick white fans for any individual contest. I’m not sure what you’re arguing here. In no way do those phrases mean stop showing black people. They mean show at least some white people. > [@Human Action](#): > > One relevant difference is that arena seating is zero-sum; McDonald’s can sell an unbounded amount of food, but the Hawks don’t have an unbounded amount of seats for home games. Thus, it behooves them to sell as many as possible in a season-ticket format, and to people they believe will spent the most money on incidentals once they are in the arena. According to ESPN Hawk’s home attendance was 76.6% of capacity. They need to get ~5,000 more fans a game before they run into a capacity issue. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/108 "2014-09-09T17:13:30Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Well, then. The full quote is a lot worse by virtue of being more specifically negative. It remains puzzling when applied to Deng, unless he has a different reputation in league circles than he does in public ones. In context you could already see it was negative, and we can keep guessing at the intent but it’s still very confusing. The Bulls seemed to love Deng and I don’t think he would have won the kind of awards he’s won if people in the league felt he were somehow unsavory. Since Ferry and the Hawks are insisting he was quoting someone, I would really like to know who that is. A scout? An agent? An executive with another team? This was part of their research somehow. It’s also weird that they called him a young guy. He’s 29 and a 10-year NBA veteran. [Here is the letter that kicked off the investigation. It’s from minority owner Michael Gearon.](http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/letter-written-by-michael-gearon-jr-to-bruce-leven/nhJSH/) He quotes Ferry and says Ferry implied Deng was a two-faced liar and a cheat. I believe that’s his interpretation of the insult and not a summary of other stuff Ferry said. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/109 "2014-09-09T17:26:08Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > In context you could already see it was negative, and we can keep guessing at the intent but it’s still very confusing. The Bulls seemed to love Deng and I don’t think he would have won the kind of awards he’s won if people in the league felt he were somehow unsavory. Since Ferry and the Hawks are insisting he was quoting someone, I would really like to know who that is. A scout? An agent? An executive with another team? This was part of their research somehow. It’s also weird that they called him a young guy. He’s 29 and a 10-year NBA veteran. [Here is the letter that kicked off the investigation. It’s from minority owner Michael Gearon.](http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/letter-written-by-michael-gearon-jr-to-bruce-leven/nhJSH/) He quotes Ferry and says Ferry implied Deng was a two-faced liar and a cheat. I believe that’s his interpretation of the insult and not a summary of other stuff Ferry said. What I’ve heard is that Ferry was (or at least claims he was) reading a scouting report on Deng. Deng actually is from Africa, and apparently whoever wrote this has an odd prejudice against Africans. As in, people born and raised in Africa, not Black people. As you note, Deng is an extremely odd choice for a racist comment. If this person is actually racist, then I’d hate to see what he wrote about the rest of hte league. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/110 "2014-09-09T17:26:24Z")
> [@treis](#): > > I’m not sure what you’re arguing here. In no way do those phrases mean stop showing black people. They mean show at least some white people. No, they mean “show _more_ white people.” I don’t understand why I have to explain what “too” means, but Levenson is saying the kiss cam shows _too many_ black people. It does not mean there are zero white fans on display. It means there are some of them, but not enough. So you cannot interpret it to mean “at least show some white people,” which implies they are not showing any white people. And he suggests these are problems some of the time, not all of it. > [@](#): > > According to ESPN Hawk’s home attendance was 76.6% of capacity. They need to get ~5,000 more fans a game before they run into a capacity issue. Which makes many of Levenson’s comments puzzling, but he made them anyway. > [@treis](#): > > What I’ve heard is that Ferry was (or at least claims he was) reading a scouting report on Deng. Deng actually is from Africa, and apparently whoever wrote this has an odd prejudice against Africans. As in, people born and raised in Africa, not Black people. Yes, that’s what I am saying. Ferry says it was part of their research - not a scouting report specifically, but something they gathered as part of the background work they did when they were thinking about making Deng a contract offer. I want to know what the source was. And yes, the comment on its face is about Africans and not black people. It is still utterly racist. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/111 "2014-09-09T17:40:58Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Ooooohhhhhh… so if V. Stiviano had been seen canoodling in public with younger, more virile WHITE athletes (say, Andrew Luck instead of Matt Kemp), Donald would have been just FINE with that. > > Sure. I’m not sure why the sarcastic tone when what you describe is EXACTLY what he told her to do. Yes, Donald would have been (and was) perfectly fine with her doing absolutely anything she wanted with white people. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/112 "2014-09-09T17:41:39Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > No, they mean “show _more_ white people.” I don’t understand why I have to explain what “too” means, but Levenson is saying the kiss cam shows _too many_ black people. It does not mean there are zero white fans on display. It means there are some of them, but not enough. So you cannot interpret it to mean “at least show some white people,” which implies they are not showing any white people. And he suggests these are problems some of the time, not all of it. Some things he cites as all black (cheerleaders and on court participants) and some, as you note, he says are too black. I don’t see the practical difference. And it’s besides the point. Nothing here can be construed to imply that he wishes to stop showing or marketing to black people altogether. All he states is that promotional things do not target a certain demographic as much as he would like. That’s no different than what countless corporations do every day. The only difference in this case is that the underrepresented demographic is white people. And, to be clear if, for example, the Hawks cheerleaders are all black, as he claims, then they don’t come close to reflecting the demographics of Atlanta. If the situation were reversed and the Hawks’ cheerleaders were all white, people would be shitting bricks. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/113 "2014-09-09T17:54:18Z")
> [@treis](#): > > And, to be clear if, for example, the Hawks cheerleaders are all black, as he claims, then they don’t come close to reflecting the demographics of Atlanta. By the way: they weren’t! [Here are the 2011-12 cheerleaders](http://www.nba.com/hawks/2011-cheerleaders-main), and [here’s the 2012-13 team.](http://atlantahawkscheerleaders.com/2012-13/Roster.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/114 "2014-09-09T18:42:19Z")
> [@treis](#): > > According to ESPN Hawk’s home attendance was 76.6% of capacity. They need to get ~5,000 more fans a game before they run into a capacity issue. Granted, and that figure includes all the tickets they give away for free. I was speaking to general differences in approach, but yes, the Hawks don’t have the problem of too few seats and too many customers at this time. Which is at least a little strange, given their string of seven straight playoff appearances, and the appealing Teague-Korver-Millsap-Horford nucleus. They aren’t high-flying or star-studded, but they are a good basketball team with a distinct, appealing style of play (five three point shooters on the floor at once). I don’t know how well the Braves or Falcons do, or whether Atlanta is a good sports town. > [@Marley23](#): > > In context you could already see it was negative, and we can keep guessing at the intent but it’s still very confusing. The Bulls seemed to love Deng and I don’t think he would have won the kind of awards he’s won if people in the league felt he were somehow unsavory. Since Ferry and the Hawks are insisting he was quoting someone, I would really like to know who that is. A scout? An agent? An executive with another team? This was part of their research somehow. It’s also weird that they called him a young guy. He’s 29 and a 10-year NBA veteran. [Here is the letter that kicked off the investigation. It’s from minority owner Michael Gearon.](http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/letter-written-by-michael-gearon-jr-to-bruce-leven/nhJSH/) He quotes Ferry and says Ferry implied Deng was a two-faced liar and a cheat. I believe that’s his interpretation of the insult and not a summary of other stuff Ferry said. It’s certainly worse than anything in Levenson’s email; though both are pretty appalling examples of how not to do one’s job. I have a feeling the Spurs don’t use Peter Holt’s personal stereotypes to base their arena experience on, or evaluate players based on whether they’re two-faced liars and cheats, or merely recipients of the J Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. The team has disciplined Ferry in some [undisclosed manner.](http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11493233/atlanta-hawks-discipline-general-manager-danny-ferry-racist-comments) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/115 "2014-09-09T18:58:31Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Which is at least a little strange, given their string of seven straight playoff appearances, and the appealing Teague-Korver-Millsap-Horford nucleus. They aren’t high-flying or star-studded, but they are a good basketball team with a distinct, appealing style of play (five three point shooters on the floor at once). It’s because they’re not a contending team. They weren’t when the Celtics were the best team in the East, nor Miami, and now it’s Cleveland. At no time were they anywhere near as good as those teams. At best they’ve been OK, but not great, and their best player has missed the majority of two of the last three seasons. These days I think most people see them as a pile of assets Ferry wants to use to snag some star-ish players. That’s not that exciting either. If they land someone really great who they can put next to a healthy Horford, maybe it’s another story. > [@](#): > > I have a feeling the Spurs don’t use Peter Holt’s personal stereotypes to base their arena experience on, or evaluate players based on whether they’re two-faced liars and cheats, or merely recipients of the J Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. Imagine if they passed on players based on stereotypes about foreign players! Or guys from France or Latin America or the Caribbean! ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/116 "2014-09-10T19:44:46Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > It’s because they’re not a contending team. They weren’t when the Celtics were the best team in the East, nor Miami, and now it’s Cleveland. At no time were they anywhere near as good as those teams. True, but there’s more to it than that; [there are many teams far worse than the Hawks that are ahead of them in attendance](http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance/_/sort/homePct). When the Kings are drubbing you in percentage of the arena filled, there’s a real problem. Atlanta had the worst attendance of any playoff team, notably. > [@](#): > > At best they’ve been OK, but not great, and their best player has missed the majority of two of the last three seasons. These days I think most people see them as a pile of assets Ferry wants to use to snag some star-ish players. That’s not that exciting either. If they land someone really great who they can put next to a healthy Horford, maybe it’s another story. Horford being out can’t help, nor can the Braves and Falcons; bad teams like the Kings, Magic, and Jazz are at least the only game in town. > [@](#): > > Imagine if they passed on players based on stereotypes about foreign players! Or guys from France or Latin America or the Caribbean! They are so far ahead of the majority of the league in so many areas, they should probably have 7+ titles instead of a mere 5. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/117 "2014-09-10T20:03:35Z")
I actually missed this controversy on the sports pages; I read about it yesterday when Bing had a link to an article by that famous racist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: [ > [@](#): > > Seems reasonable to ask those questions. If his arena was filled mostly with whites and he wanted to attract blacks, wouldn’t he be asking how they could de-emphasize white culture and bias toward white contestants and cheerleaders? …The thing that makes me mad is that Levenson was too quick to rend his clothing and shout mea culpa. In his apology, he wrote, “By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans.” But that’s not the message in the email at all. ]([Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Bruce Levenson's Email Wasn't Racist | TIME](http://time.com/3296175/bruce-levenson-atlanta-hawks-racist-email-kareem-abdul-jabbar/)) Then today I saw Jason Whitlock on ESPN: > [@](#): > > Levenson’s email sounded very much like conversations I led with my radio staff in Kansas City years ago when I was trying to make my show more inclusive of white listeners and callers. … We had the task of maintaining a show that remained relevant with black listeners while being inclusive of white people. At my direction, we made a concerted effort to cultivate white males as regular callers to the show. When it came to on-air contests, radio remotes and special events, we made a special effort to be inclusive of white men. … If all of my instructions to staff during the seven years I hosted a radio show were written down and examined, I’d sound a lot like Bruce Levenson. Hell, I might sound much worse. The path to inclusion and diversity is not paved with precise, pretty words. Clearly, these guys are a couple of bigots. Whitlock also suggests what the upshot of all this is likely to be: a new owner, who will be smarter and instead of trying to attract whites to the city will just move the team to new stadium in the suburbs. The crowd will be whiter and richer organically. The Braves are dumping Turner Field because all the money is in the 'burbs, no reason the Hawks can’t do the same. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/118 "2014-09-10T20:24:02Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > True, but there’s more to it than that; [there are many teams far worse than the Hawks that are ahead of them in attendance](http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance/_/sort/homePct). When the Kings are drubbing you in percentage of the arena filled, there’s a real problem. That’s ugly. And the teams that are behind the Hawks have been really lousy over the next few years and should be for at least a few more years. The Hawks aren’t that interesting, but they’re not _that_ bad. Another problem they have is incompetent ownership. I linked to this in the Pit thread, but [here’s Rembert Browne from Grantland writing about the Atlanta sports scene.](http://grantland.com/the-triangle/atlanta-hawks-bruce-levenson-danny-ferry-scandal-racism/) He says the Falcons have not had a problem building a diverse crowd. I don’t know their demographics, but the black fans don’t seem to haves scared the white ones away. If that’s the case, the Falcons have managed to do this and the Hawks have just failed. It’s not because anybody is a racist, it’s because they suck at their jobs. That would mean Levenson is grasping at straws just like he was with the cheerleader thing. > [@](#): > > Horford being out can’t help, nor can the Braves and Falcons; bad teams like the Kings, Magic, and Jazz are at least the only game in town. That’s a good point. > [@furt](#): > > I actually missed this controversy on the sports pages I think you still missed it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/119 "2014-09-12T03:05:35Z")
[The recording seems to undercut Ferry’s “I was reading from a report” theory.](http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24705753/recording-of-danny-ferrys-comments-on-luol-deng-surfaces) I don’t think it can be said to totally debunk it, but it does nothing to support it. The rest of the audio is supposedly lost. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779/120 "2014-09-14T18:40:57Z")
[Here are the actual Hawks documents.](http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/news/documents/2014/09/12/LuolDeng.pdf) The statement clearly comes from someone with the Cavaliers, and it’s no better in context: > [@](#): > > He’s a good guy on the cover but he’s an African. […] African-like, store front looks great but there’s a black market section in the back. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nba-hawks-owner-to-sell-team-after-revelations-of-racist-emails-from-2012/697779.md?page=7)