Hawks, Thrashers have lost $174M since 2002-03

The Hawks and Thrashers have lost nearly $174 million since the 2002-2003 seasons, including more than $50 million in the last two years, according to court documents associated with an ongoing feud between the teams’ eight owners.

The group, known as the Atlanta Spirit, bought the teams and Philips Arena operating rights from Turner Broadcasting System in 2004.

The teams and the arena lost $48.9 million in the 2002-03 season; $37.3 million in 2003-04; $12.5 million in 2004-05; $24.8 million in 2005-06; $27.2 million in 2006-07; and $23.1 million in 2007-08.

“That’s a lot of losses,” said Bill Sutton, professor and associate department head of the DeVos Sport Business Program at the University of Central Florida. “I don’t know if there’s a context for $174 million worth of losses.”

Michael Gearon Jr., the group’s representative to the NBA, was unavailable to comment.

Bruce Levenson, the group’s representative to the NHL, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The Spirit has been embroiled in a high-profile lawsuit that has dragged on for more than three years.

Seven of the owners — based in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. — want to buy out Boston-based partner Steve Belkin. They haven’t been able to agree on a process or a price. A trial to resolve the issue is scheduled to begin Feb. 17 in Montgomery County, Md.

“In this case, the ownership issue overwhelms everything else. That’s not a way to run a franchise … to have a consensus is difficult,” said Sutton, former vice president of team marketing with the National Basketball Association. “I’m sure you can say nobody’s happy because nobody wants to bleed that much.”

Whoever ends up controlling the Hawks and Thrashers faces a number of issues around how long the teams can sustain those losses. The teams’ losses are listed in a footnote as part of a pretrial statement filed last week by lawyers representing the seven partners. Attorneys did not return calls seeking comment.

The NBA does not comment on a specific team’s financial information.

The teams may be losing more than the figures show. The numbers include income from the operating rights to Philips Arena, which has been turning a profit during those years.

Philips’ naming rights contract calls for the company to pay $9.3 million a year through 2019. A Philips spokesman declined to confirm or discuss the financial arrangements.

The Spirit bought the teams and arena operating rights from Turner in March 2004.

Rather than having a single managing partner, the Spirit shares voting power equally among three subsets of owners: Atlanta-based partners Michael Gearon Jr., Michael Gearon Sr., Rutherford Seydel and Beau Turner; Washington-based partners Bruce Levenson, Ed Peskowitz and Todd Foreman; and the Boston-based Belkin.

The Gearons have been longtime family friends of Turner Broadcasting founder Ted Turner, who was the vice chairman of the company’s parent, Time Warner, at the time of the sale. Beau Turner is his son, and Rutherford Seydel is his son-in-law.

Seven of the eight Atlanta Spirit members have made nine cash infusions since they agreed to buy the Hawks and Thrashers , according to court documents.