Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed spoke with Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter J. Scott Trubey about the sale of the Hawks, the franchise’s future in Atlanta and possible improvements to Philips Arena on Thursday. Here is the complete interview:
Q. Your impressions of the (new ownership) group and the process?
A. I'm thrilled and it's consistent with the message that I had in my conference room when all of this broke.
I really could not be more proud of the Hawks and our city for the way we dealt with what could have been a very, very divisive matter that really could have separated our city and became something else.
I appreciate Mr. (Bruce) Levenson’s decision to sell and move on and I appreciate the owners who are deciding to stay. I think it’s going to be a terrific (ownership) team. You have a clear owner. You have a clear leader of the organization. That’s something that I said that I wanted when I stood in my office and talked about this (after the news of racially-charged email and remarks broke). I am just happy today.
I’m happy with the (Wednesday night’s) win, I’m happy with the NBA’s decision and I’m happy with NBA Commissioner (Adam) Silver’s decision to reassert once again that the team will be in the city of Atlanta.
All of that came (to pass) and all of that we talked about upstairs (in his library news conference after scandal broke). Our priority was that the team be committed to Atlanta and that they stay in Atlanta. That was one of the first announcements that (Silver) made and he has reasserted it.
As far as I am concerned this has moved along in a very nice fashion.
Q. Have the new owners discussed upgrades at Philips Arena or use of public funds to upgrade the facility?
A. Absolutely not.
But when you are in Philips Arena, any reasonable person will realize that we are going to have to make some changes to the building to make it more competitive with other arenas around the country. But the direct answer is no conversations have been had with Mr. (Antony) Ressler’s team about incentives of any kind.
Q. Other than keeping team in the city, did you ask any other commitments of the new owners?
A. The city's role was to make sure that we were engaged and aware of the potential ownership groups really to voice our opinion about how we felt about different groups. We were fortunate that the majority of the ownership groups who were interested had significant city of Atlanta participation and were ownership groups that we felt would lead the Hawks in a manner that is consistent with our values. There wasn't really very much need for discomfort once you got to the group of finalists. When Mr. Ressler was added to the conversation – he's a known commodity because he competed for the L.A. Clippers team and so we were immediately able to determine that he was a good fit as a leader as well. It's been a nice process.
Q. Did you think when you became mayor you would face major decisions about every major sports franchise?
A. I did not. I did not. I just think things are going terrific. Our MLS team has sold more than 12,500 season tickets, they've taken off. The Braves are moving forward with their new stadium and I'm happy for them and then the Falcons stadium is going to be the most attractive in America. Then the Hawks are going to win the East and head to the NBA championship.
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