It’s enough to give a veteran pro-league commissioner an ulcer, let alone one who’s barely been eight months on the job. It’s safe to say that former NBA Commissioner and Hall of Famer David Stern warned Adam Silver that the NBA commissioner gig is no picnic, and it’s safer to say that Silver paid heed and has hit the ground running.
Just when the NBA thought it had put the Donald Sterling fiasco safely in the rearview mirror, another ugly incident in a new chapter of NBA owner racism rears its hideous head.
In a statement released on Sunday, Commissioner Silver announced that Atlanta Hawks owner Bruce Levenson would be selling his controlling interest in the team.
According to ESPN, “Levenson self-reported an e-mail he wrote to the team’s co-owners and General Manager Danny Ferry in August 2012 that he called ‘inappropriate and offensive.’ The league commenced an independent investigation after being made aware of the comments.”
Here’s more of what Silver said in a statement.
“Prior to the completion of the investigation, Mr. Levenson notified me last evening that he had decided to sell his controlling interest in the Atlanta Hawks. As Mr. Levenson acknowledged, the views he expressed are entirely unacceptable and are in stark contrast to the core principles of the National Basketball Association.”
Levensen now becomes the second NBA owner to relinquish the rights to his franchise in the summer of 2014 over racially insensitive remarks.
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In an e-mail reportedly penned by Levensen expressing his alarm and distaste for the low attendance at Phillips Arena, the former owner lays out theories that attempt to explain the low attendance rates of whites, saying, “My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a signficant season ticket base. Please dont get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arena back then. i never felt uncomfortable, but i think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority.”
The obviously unedited e-mail goes on to say, “When I hear some people saying the arena is in the wrong place I
think it is code for there are too many blacks at the games. I have been open with our executive team about these concerns. I have told them I want some white cheerleaders and while i don’t care what the color of the artist is, i want the music to be music familiar to a 40 year old white guy if that’s our season tixs demo. i have also balked when every fan picked out of crowd to shoot shots in some time out contest is black.”Levensen even reportedly ropes kiss cam into the racist rant saying, “I have even bitched that the kiss cam is too black. And many of our black fans don’t have the spendable income which explains why our f&b and merchandise sales are so low.”
Levensen apologized to Hawks fans and to the city of Atlanta, saying, “If you’re angry about what I wrote, you should be. I’m angry at myself, too. It was inflammatory nonsense. We all may have subtle biases and preconceptions when it comes to race, but my role as a leader is to challenge them, not to validate or accommodate those who might hold them.”
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was angry. He told ESPN that he found the e-mail “reprehensible and offensive.”
The bizarre e-mail is especially inexplicable given that Levensen was one of Sterling’s most vocal critics, saying at the time, “I strongly believe that the league has to have a zero-tolerance policy against racism and discrimination in any form.”
ESPN says the situation “came to light only after one of his co-owners called for an investigation because of something that was included in a potential free-agent target’s background report that was read aloud by team General Manager Danny Ferry.”
It was after the Hawks hired a law firm to perform an investigation based on the remark being included in the team’s research of the player, an interview which resulted in 19 interviews and a review of more than 24,000 documents, that Levensen’s e-mail was discovered. The Hawks informed the NBA, which launched its own investigation. Levenson reportedly made the choice to sell the team on his own.
Hawks CEO Steve Koonin will oversee the day-to-day operations of the team. He released this statement to the city of Atlanta and Hawks fans.
“Today’s statement from controlling owner Bruce Levenson is extremely disappointing and the e-mail that he sent over two years ago was alarming, offensive, and most of all, completely unacceptable and does not reflect the principles and values of the Hawks organization.”
Some skeptics believe that Levensen was looking for an excuse to sell the team after the record $2 billion sale of the Clippers; others claim Levensen was terrified of what the fallout would be if the e-mail was released. According to Forbes, the Milwaukee Bucks, also sold this year, went for more than $500 million.
The NBA insists that Levensen voluntarily reported the situation back in July, but it raises the question—is there a larger problem festering beneath the plush carpeting inside the executive offices of NBA governors?