NEW YORK: Atlanta Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson on Sunday said he would sell his controlling interest in the NBA team in the wake of racially charged remarks he made in an e-mail two years ago.
Levenson’s decision to voluntarily sell comes after the NBA’s ugly fight to remove Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling after racist remarks he made to a girlfriend became public.
After months of legal wrangling and resistance by Sterling, the LA club’s $2bn sale to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer was made official in August.
Levenson clearly hopes to spare the NBA a similar episode.
“After much long and difficult contemplation, I have decided that it is in the best interests of the team, the Atlanta community, and the NBA to sell my controlling interest in the Hawks franchise,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
The team said chief executive Steve Koonin will oversee all team operations and take all organisational reports as they proceed with the sale process.
Levenson said he was “truly embarrassed” by the words in the e-mail, which he said were “inappropriate and offensive” as he tried to address issues relating to low attendance and the need for more season ticket holders and corporate sponsorship.
“I shared my thoughts on why our efforts to bridge Atlanta’s racial sports divide seemed to be failing.” Levenson said.
“I trivialized our fans by making cliched assumptions about their interests (i.e. hip hop vs. country, white vs. black cheerleaders, etc.) and by stereotyping their perceptions of one another (i.e. that white fans might be afraid of our black fans),” he said.
AFP
