Turner wasn’t at Hawks-Thrashers meeting, banker says

Baltimore investment banker John Moag, in taped court testimony Friday, recalled his first meeting with members of the group that would eventually buy the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena operating rights from Turner Broadcasting System.

Moag said he flew to Atlanta in August 2003 and dined with Steve Belkin, Bruce Levenson, Rutherford Seydel and Michael Gearon Jr. at Ted’s Montana Grill downtown.

They then “went upstairs to Rutherford’s father-in-law’s apartment and talked through the deal,” Moag said.

Seydel’s father-in-law is Ted Turner, founder of the Atlanta-based media company that bears his name. He also was vice chairman of Time Warner, Turner Broadcasting’s parent, at the time.

The connection between the buyers and Ted Turner is at the heart of a $450 million lawsuit brought by Texas businessman David McDavid, who says he was cheated out of acquiring the teams. The trial finished its sixth week Friday.

Moag, who the others had hired to research the financial background of the teams and arena, said Turner wasn’t there that evening and he didn’t have a hand in the deal.

“He had no interest,” Moag said in a taped interview with lawyers shown in Fulton County Superior Court.

McDavid disagrees. He was negotiating with Turner Broadcasting to buy the teams and arena rights in 2003. But Turner announced that September it would sell to the rival bidder called the Atlanta Spirit.

Moag — a key player in bringing professional football’s Cleveland Browns to Baltimore — had actually worked on this deal before. Stan Kasten, then president of Turner Broadcasting’s sports teams, hired Moag to research how much it would cost to buy the Hawks, Thrashers, Braves, arena rights and lease to Turner Field as well as Turner South.

Later, Los Angeles-based Platinum Equity hired Moag to review the prospect of buying the Hawks and Thrashers. Moag said it made an “extremely substantial offer” in April 2003, but an announcement on ESPN Radio said otherwise.

“I recall coming home from dinner listening to ESPN Radio to a report that Turner was finalizing discussions with David McDavid,” Moag said. “My reaction to that was frankly of disbelief.”

In the end, the media company says, connections had nothing to do with it.

Wayne Pace, a former chief financial officer of Time Warner, testified Friday the Spirit Group had the cash and the willingness to sign on the dotted line,

It didn’t matter that the group included Turner’s son, Beau, and son-in-law, Pace said.