Group offered $500 million for Hawks/Philips Arena/Thrashers on May 20

[tarheelhockey]

Yes, I actually think it is, tarheel. If you stepped back for a second and thought about this "offer", you would see that it makes little sense. These guys have zero background. They aren't financial success stories. According to Google, the one company doesn't even exist. If it's such a successful company, wouldn't they at least have a website, maybe some news articles? Mr. Woodside's credentials are some claims on his personal blog. There is nothing that I found that certify his claims, that he has a successful asset management company. The other guy lost his property after failing to pay taxes. Does this sound like a credible group to you? It smells to me and I think people are making something out of nothing.

If the offer is shown to be non-credible, and people keep harping on it, at that point people will be making something out of nothing.

Until then, it's perfectly justifiable for people to want to know what's going on here.

 

[TaketheCannoli]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2011-06-09-insider-atlanta-hawks_n.htm

Seems like alot of people have some explaining to do.

This won't effect the Thrashers relocation, just Gary Bettman's reputation.

Well you know Gary Bettman hates the United States. He'll do anything to steal a team and move it North.


If anyone has some 'splaining to do, it's the Atlanta Spirit Group. If they kept this offer a secret from the Commissioner or the Board of Governors, is it possible may cancel the sale to TNSE?

 

[Frank the Tank]

Minimally, that needs to be explained to the fans who have been led to believe there was "no offer" for several weeks now. There WAS an offer, semantics aside.

IIRC, Bettman and others have stated that there was no credible/serious offer. The adjective(s) changes the statement significantly.

 

[Mwd711]

If the offer is shown to be non-credible, and people keep harping on it, at that point people will be making something out of nothing.

Until then, it's perfectly justifiable for people to want to know what's going on here.

I agree, but both ASG and the NHL have said there were not any viable offers made. I would easily put this offer in that category. I'm not sure what evidence you want that says otherwise. I don't see anything that makes this proposal legitimate. If they had some background, and credibility, it would be different but neither Mr. Woodside nor Mr. Chappell have the credentials to make me think otherwise.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I agree, but both ASG and the NHL have said there were not any viable offers made. I would easily put this offer in that category. I'm not sure what evidence you want that says otherwise.

Simple, Bettman and/or ASG needs to go on record that this was not a credible offer. Preferably with an explanation of why it fell short.

Not addressing the issue at all, which apparently has been their policy to date, is not a sufficient response considering their public comments to the effect that the phone lines were all silent.

 

[Fidel Astro]

This is getting kind of pathetic.

While I, as a Winnipegger who has seen my team leave, fully understand the Atlanta fans' frustration and their clinging to every faint hope the team will return, this is just getting silly.

The team has been sold, Bettman and Daly have both been in Winnipeg recently and have made very positive statements about TNSE's chances of BOG approval (basically saying it'll be unanimous), and even some of the players have been visiting and speaking positively about their soon-to-be home.

There's also the little matter of those 13,000 season tickets Winnipeg sold in record time, not to mention the 8,000 people paying for the privilege of being on the waiting list.

There's no way all of that is going to be reversed at this point. People would absolutely lose their ****. If Bettman's reputation is 'sullied' by not mentioning this (questionable) offer in the first place, the league's reputation will be completely and utterly destroyed in Canada (and probably among a lot of American fans too) if they pull out the Winnipeg relocation, which is a huge PR bonus for the league.

Thrashers fans: I'm sorry, but your team is now our team, and no amount of last-minute conspiracy theories are going to change that.

 

[Killion]

Does this sound like a credible group to you?

Ya, thats the rub right there. We may have yet another case of lazy journalism on our hands. Like you, I cant find anything substantive on these guys.

 

[Puckschmuck*]

This is getting kind of pathetic.

While I, as a Winnipegger who has seen my team leave, fully understand the Atlanta fans' frustration and their clinging to every faint hope the team will return, this is just getting silly.

The team has been sold, Bettman and Daly have both been in Winnipeg recently and have made very positive statements about TNSE's chances of BOG approval (basically saying it'll be unanimous), and even some of the players have been visiting and speaking positively about their soon-to-be home.

There's also the little matter of those 13,000 season tickets Winnipeg sold in record time, not to mention the 8,000 people paying for the privilege of being on the waiting list.

There's no way all of that is going to be reversed at this point. People would absolutely lose their ****. If Bettman's reputation is 'sullied' by not mentioning this (questionable) offer in the first place, the league's reputation will be completely and utterly destroyed in Canada (and probably among a lot of American fans too) if they pull out the Winnipeg relocation, which is a huge PR bonus for the league.

Thrashers fans: I'm sorry, but your team is now our team, and no amount of last-minute conspiracy theories are going to change that.

This.

 

[Blasto]

Playing Devils Advocate here:


500 Million for an arena and 2 Teams seems rather undervalued-and that the Atlanta would just be a "throw in"-that being the case, would that not in affect lower market value of the franchise?

A$G paid $250 million in 2004 for all three....

 

[Killion]

......secret from the Commissioner or the Board of Governors, is it possible may cancel the sale to TNSE?

Oh, no way, the horse has left the barn. This can all be explained away, legit offer or not. Theres no turning back now. If these guys are legit, ASG can claim they werent willing to underwrite the purchase of the Thrashers or whatever. Everyones fully committed.

IIRC, Bettman and others have stated that there was no credible/serious offer. The adjective(s) changes the statement significantly.

Precisely. So either the offer was legitimate or it wasnt. The proof will be in whether or not this group proceeds with its negotiations with ASG over the Hawks and the arena and actually closes. Even then, the truth may never come out.

 

[ExplosiveLEAFman]

For those of you calling out Thrasher fans over this article, get over yourselves. No realistic Atlanta fan expects to get the team back, it's gone - done deal. This article suggest corruption, which most Thrasher fans expected all along.

Pushing a deal through for relocation when there was a legitimate local offer on the table goes against everything the NHL and ASG claimed through this process.

It may be true that the group didn't have the backing for such an offer (time will tell this as it's investigated further) or it may be that 500 million is a low offer for all three properties ( a little digging can tell that too).

The only point of the article and the thread is quite simply: it's possible there was legitimate local interest in Atlanta while the ASG were renting the moving vans.

 

[Buzzo]

This is getting kind of pathetic.

While I, as a Winnipegger who has seen my team leave, fully understand the Atlanta fans' frustration and their clinging to every faint hope the team will return, this is just getting silly.

The team has been sold, Bettman and Daly have both been in Winnipeg recently and have made very positive statements about TNSE's chances of BOG approval (basically saying it'll be unanimous), and even some of the players have been visiting and speaking positively about their soon-to-be home.

There's also the little matter of those 13,000 season tickets Winnipeg sold in record time, not to mention the 8,000 people paying for the privilege of being on the waiting list.

There's no way all of that is going to be reversed at this point. People would absolutely lose their ****. If Bettman's reputation is 'sullied' by not mentioning this (questionable) offer in the first place, the league's reputation will be completely and utterly destroyed in Canada (and probably among a lot of American fans too) if they pull out the Winnipeg relocation, which is a huge PR bonus for the league.

Thrashers fans: I'm sorry, but your team is now our team, and no amount of last-minute conspiracy theories are going to change that.

While I'll agree with most of that as I don't see much validity to this offer so far, I don't think there's ever a situation where the relocation of a team is considered a "bonus" for PR. It's never a good thing, and it never paints the league in a good light to see a market fail, especially with the sport vying for credibility in the US as it is.

 

[Brodie]

The owners and Waddell specifically said they would sell at a discount to any potential local owners.

Again, though, why should they sell the arena and the basketball team? How was Gary Bettman supposed to force them to do that?

 

[BigFatCat999]

Another note is the common comment that the ASG group was mainly a basketball group. They didn't give a damn about hockey. Would they sell the arena and basketball team knowing they didn't have hockey to worry about?

Oh and this would be very damning for the NBA if you think about it.

110 Million for the Thrashers.

300 million for the arena

leaving 90 Million for the Hawks. With the NBA's current contract issues and Stern's 'not anywhere close' commentary, that makes sense.

 

[Brodie]

If the offer is shown to be non-credible, and people keep harping on it, at that point people will be making something out of nothing.

Until then, it's perfectly justifiable for people to want to know what's going on here.

The offer doesn't have to be shown to be non-credible... research has already shown that it was unlikely to be credible. We never saw Rollins' or Smith's financials, we just learned enough about them to discover that they probably didn't have the cash to buy the team. Same deal here, bloggers and people who have been foreclosed on.

 

[Positive]

This is like you having a verbal agreement with your buddy that you would take an offer on your car after you were done with it.

So then your buddy comes up and says, alright I'll give you $200,000 for your house, your wife, and your car. If sold individually (and yes I put a dollar figure on the wife ) you figure the value is more like $300,000.

You say, 'Uh, no. I only want to sell the car.'

He wants all three, and won't make an offer only on the car. So then he heads to the vehicle licensing/insurance office and expects them to have the ability to push the sale through, or somehow stop you from selling the car to someone else.

It's not a credible/serious offer for the car.

 

[btn]

Another note is the common comment that the ASG group was mainly a basketball group. They didn't give a damn about hockey. Would they sell the arena and basketball team knowing they didn't have hockey to worry about?

Oh and this would be very damning for the NBA if you think about it.

110 Million for the Thrashers.

300 million for the arena

leaving 90 Million for the Hawks. With the NBA's current contract issues and Stern's 'not anywhere close' commentary, that makes sense.

AS LLC borrowed $125 million from the NBA earlier this year, that could be taken into account if the new owners assume the debt.

 

[ExplosiveLEAFman]

There were several reports during this whole thing of asg wanting to package up all three. They were in an exclusivity agreement with the Padres owner for the Hawks.

 

[tarheelhockey]

The offer doesn't have to be shown to be non-credible... research has already shown that it was unlikely to be credible. We never saw Rollins' or Smith's financials, we just learned enough about them to discover that they probably didn't have the cash to buy the team. Same deal here, bloggers and people who have been foreclosed on.

Googling a couple of names isn't sufficient "research" to make that conclusion. They could just as easily have had backing from other partners, or financed it in some other manner. We have no idea what their plan was. We barely even know who they are.

$500 million is a lot of money. One doesn't make a $500 million bid if his only asset is a blog. Either these guys had access to other resources or they were outright frauds -- either way, Atlanta deserves to know the story before the BOG vote.

 

[btn]

There were several reports during this whole thing of asg wanting to package up all three. They were in an exclusivity agreement with the Padres owner for the Hawks.

This offer was submitted the very same day that exclusivity agreement ended.

 

[tarheelhockey]

This offer was submitted the very same day that exclusivity agreement ended.

Perhaps they decided not to sell the Hawks over brunch that day?

BTW, thank you to the Winnipeg folks who have the grace and civility to simply let this play out, without feeling the need to further degrade people who are understandably upset over this.

 

[GreenHornet]

For those of you calling out Thrasher fans over this article, get over yourselves. No realistic Atlanta fan expects to get the team back, it's gone - done deal. This article suggest corruption, which most Thrasher fans expected all along.

Pushing a deal through for relocation when there was a legitimate local offer on the table goes against everything the NHL and ASG claimed through this process.

It may be true that the group didn't have the backing for such an offer (time will tell this as it's investigated further) or it may be that 500 million is a low offer for all three properties ( a little digging can tell that too).

The only point of the article and the thread is quite simply: it's possible there was legitimate local interest in Atlanta while the ASG were renting the moving vans.

Correct. The deal with TNSE is signed, sealed and delivered, as far as I'm concernt. The BoG vote is just a rubber stamp (as usual).

BUT, what I'm hoping could come out of this (IF this story has teeth), is that A) it could push Atlanta $pirit OUT of the picture at Philips (don't give a DAMN about the Hawks), and combined with the new developments could bolster the chances of the NHL coming back to Atlanta sooner, rather than later (cough, cough, Coyotes, cough, cough, Blue Jackets, cough, cough, expansion).

 

[SilverRiver89]

Do not forget that there is $125 million of debt on the Hawks. The bid is not low.

And no one thinks this will keep the Thrashers here. That ship has sailed. We deserve to be told the truth though.

 

[Jonjmc]

Another note is the common comment that the ASG group was mainly a basketball group. They didn't give a damn about hockey. Would they sell the arena and basketball team knowing they didn't have hockey to worry about?

Oh and this would be very damning for the NBA if you think about it.

110 Million for the Thrashers.

300 million for the arena

leaving 90 Million for the Hawks. With the NBA's current contract issues and Stern's 'not anywhere close' commentary, that makes sense.

The arena isn't worth 300mm, it most likely isn't worth 200mm..... hell, I'd be surprised if it was worth more than 100mm. I don't know the real estate situation in Atlanta, but in many places commercial real estate took a bigger hit than residential real estate. Commercial real estate is at a 10 year low, worth less than it was in Jan 2001.

http://web.mit.edu/cre/research/credl/rca.html

 

[Confucius]

Maybe it was a credible offer and maybe it wasn't. I don't see how anybody legally could stop the TNSE. deal. Bottom line ASG doesn't have to take any offer, they can pick whichever they like. The perception may look bad but it doesn't appear to be illegal.