Bruce Levenson will sell Hawks after releasing racist emails

[Mosiah]

FULL TEXT OF THE E-MAIL (via the Hawks):

From: Bruce Levenson

Sent: 8/25/2012 11:47:02 PM

Subject: Re: Business/Game ops

1. from day one i have been impressed with the friendliness and professionalism of the arena staff -- food vendors, ushers, ticket takers, etc. in our early years when i would bring folks from dc they were blown away by the contrast between abe pollin's arena and philips. some of this is attributable to southern hospital and manners but bob and his staff do a good job of training. To this day, I can not get the ushers to call me Bruce yet they insist on me calling them by their first names.

2. the non-premium area food is better than most arenas, though that is not saying much. i think there is room for improvement and creativity. Levy is our food vendor so we don't have much control but they have been good partners. i have wished we had some inconic offereing like boog's barbeque at the baseball stadium in balt.

3. our new restaurant, red, just opened so too early for me to give you my thoughts.

4. Regarding game ops, i need to start with some background. for the first couple of years we owned the team, i didn't much focus on game ops. then one day a light bulb went off. when digging into why our season ticket base is so small, i was told it is because we can't get 35-55 white males and corporations to buy season tixs and they are the primary demo for season tickets around the league. when i pushed further, folks generally shrugged their shoulders. then i start looking around our arena during games and notice the following:

-- it's 70 pct black

-- the cheerleaders are black

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...team/15241591/

[Assasin]

It seems like he want his 2 billion too.

A lot of what this letter say is true from a business stand point but many people are afraid to touch it.

I know that if I not going to a lot of Rodeo events.

[Mosiah]

I kinda agree with you. Which part of that email was racist?

[Islandman]

I think some of his theories may be true . I am not convinced that they are all true but they are worth contemplating. He is probably right about the black cheerleaders and the overwheming black crowd creating an environment that would make the product less comfortable for southern white middle class male fans.

The bigger problem with the letter though is the tone and the solutions offered. I wouldn't call them overtly racist but without a doubt racially insensitive and somewhat backward.

For example in absolute numbers hip hop has far more white fans than black fans today, I do not think that is not much of a a factor. Worse are the coded insinuations, like 'not too many fathers and sons" and "latest arriving crowd in the league". The letter was obviously written in a guarded way for obvious reasons.

Should he have to sell his ownership over this? I really don't know. I would think most franchise owners would have similar views to his.

[Assasin]

The thing is downtown Atlanta where the stadium is, it is not the friendliest neigbourhood and even black fans have problem going to some of the games. The fact is if they want to cater to diverse people then some diversity in music people, etc. shouldn't be a big deal.

The problem it seems is that he doesn't have a lot of control, and is oftenly people are often critical of his ownership because he doesn't splash the cash or don't have it. I think he may have gotten fed up and want out.