ATL Hawks Owner Looks to Sell because of "Racist Email"

This is definitely the right board for ATL Hawks.

That was a very not racist, but business minded email. Not an "opinion" in the email, just facts.

**** political correctness.
**** Adam Silver for being a gaping vagina.
**** Donald Sterling for being a racist and opening this can of worms.

What's the issue here? The guy is calling himself racist and stepping down of his own volition. Perhaps his conscious is guilty, maybe due to his thoughts being way more racist than the e-mail was.

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The guy is calling himself racist and stepping down of his own volition

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Maybe he saw how much Sterling got for the Clippers and decided this was a good business decision...

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And private citizens are free to criticize it as much as they like. Is there a point?

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I get that, but the post I was replying to was treating this as being a bigger deal than it is.

This isn't some grand scheme to silence debate; it's a business decision.

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This isn't some grand scheme to silence debate; it's a business decision.

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I would disagree. It is an attempt to silence debate. You think the country wants to hear about how there aren't a lot of one race of father son couples coming to games and another that are?

The dude wrote that how long ago and is just now stepping down? Sterling made his comments how long ago and we're just now finding out other owners have individual thoughts on race?

And I don't put this and Sterling anywhere near each other. Donald and his type need to take dirt naps, and soon.

ETA: I maybe misread and need to clarify. This isolated incident may not be to silence the debate. I think the grand scheme is.

What gets me is that Levinson apparently thinks its racist and outted himself. Apologies etc.

I am wondering if this is not a very clever way out of contractual obligations because the Hawks suck.

This guy is all apologetic in advance over an email nobody knew about or even thought about from over a year ago.

To me this is insulation from being tarred with the Sterling brush and a cute way out of deciding the NBA isnt for him.

Three things:

1.) Business-wise, I understand what he's saying. He wants to maximize profits as an owner, and seeks to do that by shifting the marketing focus to a specific demographic. Businesses do this all the time without major ethical quandaries.

2.) The manner in which he presented his position in the email did come across as very anti-black. You want to broaden your marketing horizons, fine. But don't present a message that boils down to "there are too many black people attending games and represented on the jumbotron or on the cheer squad for us to be successful." That is what I got from reading his email.

3.) Why the frick did this come out now, anyways? Blackmail is obviously afoot.

Bottom line: I wouldn't put the Hawks' owner's email in the same category as Sterling's remarks. This guy just needs a refresher in business ethics.

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The manner in which he presented his position in the email did come across as very anti-black.

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If it was anti-black it was only for economic reasons. He himself said he never felt unsafe or uncomfortable and in fact blamed white racists for spreading lies about the majority black fanbase, scaring off ticket-buyers. I don't see how that is anti-black people.


The rest were simply hairbrained ideas from a well-intentioned but clueless guy. He simply couldn't relate to young black people