Atlanta Spirit Group's history

2004: Group buys Hawks, Thrashers
2005: Trade leads to lawsuit
2005: Atlanta Spirit in court
2007: Number of partners declines
2008: Billy Knight resigns
2010: Reorganizing the Thrashers
2010: Belkin suit settled
2011: Atlanta Thrashers sold
2011: Hawks' sale falls through
2013: Hawks hire Ferry as GM
2014: Bruce Levenson's email
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The Atlanta Spirit LLC formed in 2004 to purchase the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers and Philips Arena from Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting System in a deal worth about $250 million. The group included several members who had ties to the Hawks and Atlanta billionaire Ted Turner.