Hurts the owners, helps the players. Players aren't stupid, they see owners paying 1-2 bill for a team (essentially 2-4x what the bucks sold for just 1 year ago), they know there is a LOT of money lining the owner's pockets. The players are going to demand a lot more this time, whether or not they get it who knows.
Bring the Hawks to Houston! We'll show LA how to manage 2 nba teams in the same city in the same arena! We'll have to split the fans down the middle. dibs on staying a Rockets fan!
We should buy the team and move them to Seattle. The money to be made from the goodwill and advertising would be insane. And there would be constant sell outs and the city would no doubt pay for a huge stadium
Seattle needs a new team, not a team ripped from another city. I know it wouldn't have felt right for me to root for an NFL team that was moved from another city to Houston, rather than an expansion team, after the Oilers debacle. I would imagine a lot of Sonics fans feel the same way. The way the Sonics were stolen by the devious Clay Bennett still makes me sick. I will always hate the OKC Thunder because of that. The fact that we took Harden from those guys makes me so happy it's hard to contain myself.
I thought clutchfans was buying a team? Pool all our money together in the tipjar and use polls to make team decisions
on one hand the new tv deal and global expansion of the league are the shiny lure for that kind of premium. but at the same time most anyone with the money to buy this team is likely aware of the economic massacre taking place literally everywhere outside the states and realizes once the US$ gets piled into by capital flows from abroad, it's game over here as well. hawks are wise to sell at the top now while odds are that franchise would not go for anywhere near 0.7-1.0 B a year from now..
LOL there is 0% they leave Atlanta. Attendance is starting to pickup recently now that they're off to a good start.
Atlanta is the 9th largest MSA while Seattle is 15. I wouldn't move them. Attendance has been terrible because the team really hasn't been special for a long time -- also-rans in a weak conference. They have a good record now, but there's going to be a lag before the public really believes they're legit. They rather look like fools gold to me at the moment. But, if you can buy this team and make it legitimately contend, you can get as much or more attendance and revenues in Atlanta as you can in Seattle.
Atlanta has a long history of bad attendance for all sports. The '90s Braves had playoff games that didn't sell out.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Bidding starts for Atlanta Hawks soon. One name to watch: Jesse Itzler. Big Hawks fan, successful entrepreneur, married to founder of Spanx.</p>— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/552568043243438080">January 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Hearing Hawks owners want team to stay in Atlanta. BUT - hearing Thomas Tull and Chris Hansen have separate Hawks-to-Seattle bids planned.</p>— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/552570142161240065">January 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Also circling the Hawks - Grantland's Rembert Browne who is trying to put together an ownership group of cynical bloggers based in Brooklyn.</p>— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/552570798200737792">January 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Just remember: the Hawks have to pay a $75 million fee to the city of Atlanta/Fulton County in order to get out of their lease before 2017.</p>— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) <a href="https://twitter.com/daldridgetnt/status/552587421897203712">January 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Hawks would also have to pay off bonds from 2010 refinancing deal to retire previous debt (SBN Atlanta did the digging on this in 2012).</p>— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) <a href="https://twitter.com/daldridgetnt/status/552588711649894400">January 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This isn't the team for Seattle. Kurt Helin asked, rhetorically, why Adam Silver, who fought to keep the Kings in Sacramento, would allow the Hawks to be moved from the home base of Turner Sports when Turner is such a lucrative NBA partner. Not to say that Hansen isn't ready to make a godfather offer for any team that comes up for sale, it just seems like the NBA's ties to Turner and the age of Philips Arena do not point toward relocation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>NBA spokesman Mike Bass to the AJC: “The Atlanta Hawks are not moving to another market.” <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ATLHawks?src=hash">#ATLHawks</a></p>— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) <a href="https://twitter.com/CVivlamoreAJC/status/552897039416434688">January 7, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
If anything, the T-Wolves should go to the East IMO. Anyways, here's a link to a thread in Lakersground concerning such a move to Seattle. Link-->http://forums.lakersground.net/viewtopic.php?t=171764
