Chris Webber, the former NBA all-star, has informed the league of his desire to buy the majority interest in the Atlanta Hawks.
Webber is heading the Webber Group, which has informed the league of its interest to purchase the Hawks, laying out its intentions on Twitter.
“After garnering the support of local community and business leaders, this week The Webber Group contacted the NBA to respectively express our intentions to acquire the majority interest of the Atlanta Hawks,” the statement read. “Our mission is to give the team back to the community that sustains it: Georgia.”
The franchise has come up for sale following racist comments by the owner, Bruce Levenson, and general manager, Danny Ferry. Ferry described Luol Deng, the Great Britain international who was born in South Sudan, in a conference call with the Hawks’ ownership group as someone who “has a little African in him”.
“He’s like a guy who would have a nice store out front and sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back,” said Ferry during the June call, which was recorded.
— Chris Webber (@realchriswebber) October 16, 2014
An internal investigation into Ferry’s comments uncovered an email sent two years ago by Levenson, who theorised that “the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season ticket base”.
The Webber Group’s statement continues: “We will field a competitive team of high character individuals that will exhibit championship characteristics off the court, while striving for that elusive title on the court. A quest for excellence, teamwork, leadership diversity, and community partnership, will be our earmarks. Our passion and commitment will instill confidence in our corporate partners. We will put fans first. We will keep the team in Atlanta forever!”
In September, the Atlanta mayor, Kasim Reed, said he had talked with six potential buyers and that he wanted the former Hawks player Dominique Wilkins to be involved. Webber played for five different teams – but never the Hawks.
View all comments >
comments
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion.
This discussion is closed for comments.
We’re doing some maintenance right now. You can still read comments, but please come back later to add your own.
Commenting has been disabled for this account (why?)