Report: Hawks To Be Sold, will remain in Atlanta

Report: Hawks to be sold, will remain in Atlanta

Posted Aug 7 2011 10:41AM - Updated Aug 8 2011 1:03AM

ATLANTA (AP) -- Alex Meruelo and the Atlanta Hawks are poised to make NBA history.

The Hawks have scheduled a news conference for Monday to announce the team and Philips Arena are being sold to Meruelo, a person familiar with the deal said Sunday.

The son of Cuban immigrants is a California developer and pizza chain owner. He is expected to become the NBA's first Hispanic majority owner.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made. The deal is subject to the approval of the NBA.

Meruelo, who will have controlling interest of more than 50 percent of the Hawks, will attend Monday's news conference. The team will remain in Atlanta.

The Hawks ownership group, led by Michael Gearon Jr. and Bruce Levenson, also recently sold the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers to a group that moved the team to Winnipeg. The Thrashers' deal was for a reported $170 million, including a $60 million relocation fee to be split by the rest of the owners.

Meruelo was born in New York and raised in California. He heads the Meruelo Group, a Downey, Calif.-based investment firm. The firm recently acquired the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nev., for a reported $42.45 million.

Meruelo also founded La Pizza Loca, which has over 50 franchised and company-owned restaurants in Southern California, catering to the Latino community, according to the Meruelo Group website.

Details of the Hawks' sale, including the purchase price, have not been disclosed. It is not known if any members of the current ownership group will retain minority shares.

The sale of the Hawks is the latest in a series of dramatic moves by the ownership group, less than a year after Gearon and Levenson bought Boston-based Steve Belkin's 30-percent share of the teams.

A tearful Gearon said at the news conference to announce the sale of the Thrashers on May 31 that the owners failed in attempts to find someone to keep the hockey team in Atlanta. Gearon said no local buyer emerged with a serious offer for the Thrashers.

The ownership group, called the Atlanta Spirit, also had to look outside of Atlanta to find a buyer for the Hawks. This time, there was no threat of moving the team.

The group bought the Hawks, Thrashers and operating rights to Philips Arena, where the teams play, in 2004. There was almost immediate dissension among the owners.

The ownership split began in 2005 over Belkin's objection to the Hawks' trade of Boris Diaw, two first-round draft picks and a $4.9 million trade exception to the Phoenix Suns for guard Joe Johnson.

The dispute led to a long legal battle that ended when Levenson and Gearon announced on Dec. 22, 2010, they had purchased Belkin's share.

Gearon, the son of former Hawks executive Michael Gearon Sr., grew up with the team and has said he would like to retain a minority share if the team was sold. The elder Gearon also is part of the ownership team.

The Hawks have made the playoffs the past four seasons, including three straight second-round appearances.

While the owners were criticized for failing to keep the Thrashers' stars, including Ilya Kovalchuk, in Atlanta, the group was aggressive in re-signing Hawks stars Johnson, Josh Smith and Al Horford.

"The perception is we don't spend money," Gearon Jr. said recently about the Hawks. "Yet you look at our roster and the core assets, we've kept all of them."

So, what's your reaction?

In the future, rather than posting the entire article, it's better to put a link to the article and quote a few paragraphs or sentences to get the point of it across to us.

Aside from the sale resulting in the league's first Hispanic majority owner, it doesn't strike me as being that remarkable. It's no surprise that they aren't moving, they're in the ninth largest city in the country (or so Wikipedia says) so they're unlikely to leave a market like that. Good for the local fans of course, if I were Meruelo I wouldn't relish having to pay Joe Johnson's salary for the next few years.

Aside from the sale resulting in the league's first Hispanic majority owner, it doesn't strike me as being that remarkable.

NBA made a big story of that.

Good for the local fans of course, if I were Meruelo I wouldn't relish having to pay Joe Johnson's salary for the next few years.

As far as the arcticle goes, not all owners were fond of the decision of signing Johnson. ,)

Intriguing how Joe Johnson will be making 25 million dollars in 2015/16 season. At least he becomes an asset with an expiring contract in that year. Untill then... this new owner must suffer.

If they do end up introducing a hard cap and an amnesty clause to help teams get under it, I wonder if they'd end up cutting him loose. Even if he is overpaid, he's still too good a player to just give away for nothing and I expect any such clause would prevent the player from immediately re-signing for a smaller amount with the same team (or being traded there for at least a year).

I've came around on Joe's contract just a bit after seeing the Hawks have a pretty good season. Other teams seemed inexplicably interested in him, and I reckon his game should hold up somewhat over the years. Even if they may have had better long term title hopes had they not kept Joe, this keeps them in the playoffs, after an eight season drought.

But yeah, no surprise the Hawks were bought and no surprise they aren't moving the team out of a city 15 years removed from hosting the olympics.

Wasn't Joe Johnson terrible this year? He is known as above average player in nearly all categories but he seemed to be average at best this season. And his ball usage was still at around the same from previous years and yet his numbers dipped quite a bit. Surprising how the Hawks didn't fall apart.

Terrible's probably too strong a word to use but I wouldn't say it was a stellar season for him individually. He's a talented player, it makes sense that he drew some interest from other teams and the Hawks were keen to keep him, but his salary is a little too generous.

Yeah. It's true when I think of JJ, the first thing comes to my mind is his production based on the salary. However, he seemed to take a step back with his performance this year. That really isn't a positive sign as he just signed the bit fat contract. If I was a Hawk fan, I'd be concerned.

Across the board his stats were a little below last year (raw, per 36 and advanced) but it wasn't a drastic decline. I'd say he'll continue to perform at around the same level for the next few years, which is fine for the Hawks on the court but I doubt he'll ever fully justify his salary.

Across the board his stats were a little below last year (raw, per 36 and advanced) but it wasn't a drastic decline. I'd say he'll continue to perform at around the same level for the next few years, which is fine for the Hawks on the court but I doubt he'll ever fully justify his salary.

That's what I thought.