Sept. 15, 2014
Another NBA Owner Fouls Out of League After Racial CommentsBy Frederick H. Lowe
Bruce Levenson
Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNews.com
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Bruce Levenson has fouled out of the owner's box and will sell his controlling share of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association after admitting to writing an e-mail that said whites do not attend Hawks games because they are afraid of blacks.
"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," Levenson wrote in a letter dated Sunday, August 7, that was posted on Adam Silver's website. Silver is the NBA commissioner.
Although Levenson, at least on the surface, is voluntarily giving up his ownership in the Hawks' franchise, this is the second time Silver, in his short tenure, has had to deal with a team owner who has made racist comments about blacks in a league dominated by African-American men. Silver became NBA commissioner on February 1.
This summer Silver forced Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling to sell the team. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer bought the team for $2 billion.. The deal was finalized September 2. Sterling, who had a African-American girlfriend, ordered her not to hang out with black people. The sport also banned Sterling from NBA games.
The NBA began an investigation into Levenson's comments on July 2.
In an e-mail posted to the NBA commissioner’s website this week, Levenson explains that he wrote the email in 2012 when he was trying to improve the Hawks' low attendance.
"Over the past several years, I've spent a lot of time grappling with low attendance at our games and the need for the Hawks to attract more season ticket holders and corporate sponsors," Levenson wrote."Over that time, I've talked with team executives about the need for the Hawks to build a more diverse fan base that includes more suburban whites, and I shared my thoughts on why our efforts to bridge Atlanta's racial sports divide seemed to be failing."
Levenson said that his 2012 email trivialized Hawks' fans by making clichéd 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).
"By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans," Levenson. "I am truly embarrassed by my words in that email, and I apologize to the members of the Hawks family and all our fans."
NBA great Kareem Abul-Jabbar said Levenson was not a racist. "He's a businessman trying to grow his business," Abul-Jabbar wrote in Time magazine.
Hawks CEO Steve Koonin will oversee all team operations and take all organizational reports as we proceed with the sale process. It is not clear how much Levenson will receive for selling his share of the Hawks. The team moved to Atlanta in 1968 from St. Louis.