The Hawks will by flying on a Cali breeze from here on out. Well, not exactly, but they do have a new owner who hails from Los Angeles, businessman and developer Alex Meruelo.
Meruelo, owner of the Meruelo Group, reportedly spent $300 million on an 80 percent stake in the Hawks franchise and the Philips Arena operating rights, according to Marc Ganis, president of sports business consulting company SportsCorps. As shrewd a businessman as Meruelo apparently is, he definitely overpaid. Atlanta Spirit, LLC bought the Hawks back in 2004 for $200 million, and the franchise has been consistently bleeding money and attendance ever since.
Considering the Hawks have been playing pretty well, just coming off of their third consecutive winning season, it seems natural (and probably rightly so) to blame the previous owners. Atlanta Spirit did, after all, totally screw up the Thrashers franchise, which they sold in May in a $170 million deal (Go Winnipeg Jets!). The Hawks have suffered the same fate, but Meruelo seems confident that he can turn the team around, financially and otherwise. Due to league restrictions relating to the lockout—why not just have one in every professional sport?—Meruelo cannot comment on why he thinks he can improve the team. The only hints he’s leaked are that winning will be the best way to draw fans, but he also said that he must earn the fans’ “respect and loyalty.” I already like this guy. Any multi-zillion dollar businessman with the humility to recognize that he must earn his reputation as an owner has already won significant points in my book. And he’s not just sucking up either.
Meruelo has spent the last several years talking to NBA owners and executives, learning the nature of the business, and has thoroughly prepared himself to buy an NBA team. He has said that it’s his dream to own an NBA team, and he seems genuinely excited to work with the Hawks. Atlantans will probably be wary, as internal discord within Atlanta Spirit led to not-so-great credibility on their part, but Meruelo should fare much better. As demonstrated by fellow business mogul Arthur Blank’s success as owner of the Falcons, one person on top who can listen to fans and make informed decisions accordingly is better than a seven-headed Cerberus (ahem). I can’t wait to see what Meruelo does to revive the Hawks, because I’m confident that a man of his experience and preparation will do something good for the franchise. After all, the players deserve better and so do we.
BEAT GOES ON …
Okay, for $1,000 dollars, name three players on the Atlanta Beat. How about two? One? Nope, Hope Solo and Abby Wambach aren’t on the Beat. Nobody (not many anyway) pays attention to the Beat.
For those of you reading who do, kudos to you, but I doubt even you were chatting it up with coworkers on Monday about the disappointing loss to the Western New York Flash on Saturday in the last home game of the season. Granted, the Beat haven’t played well this year, in fact they’re ranked last in the league with a 1-12-4 record and a -23 goal differential…and they haven’t scored a goal in seven games. But maybe it’s because they’re not getting any love from their own city. Go to AJC.com and you’ll find that every professional sport has its own little section—even NASCAR and hockey…Atlanta doesn’t even have a hockey team anymore!—but you won’t find any soccer, let alone women’s soccer.
Now I’m not saying Atlantans are atypical, as the most popular sport in the world doesn’t really seem to thrive in popularity anywhere in the States. Of course, during the Women’s World Cup, when the USA team made it to the finals, people paid attention. But after the loss against Japan, it was like women’s soccer just evaporated. I’ll admit I’m guilty of this myself, but I’ve since come around. The Beat are a talented team of women who play their hearts out all year, and despite this rough season, they’re good players—Carli Lloyd and Heather Mitts both played on the US Women’s National team this year—and they deserve more attention than they get. If they, and the other WPS teams, can’t gain a bigger following, the league might not even make it another year. There are only six teams as it is, with the league about to terminate Florida’s magicJack franchise.
So, if we don’t step up and root for our own ladies, they may not have a professional league to play in anymore. Do you want that on your conscience?
NO VAMPIRE DAWGS …
In the wake of his team’s first losing season (6-7) in several years, Georgia head coach Mark Richt is taking a new age approach to motivating his players. After reading The Energy Bus, by Jon Gordon, Richt realized the importance of positive energy and its effect on team dynamic and performance. Now, during preseason practice, Richt is calling players out if they act like “energy vampires.” If a player misses a meal, makes a bad play, makes a negative comment, or otherwise doesn’t bring positive energy to the table, his picture is photoshopped with fangs and red eyes to look like a vampire and posted on TVs in the locker room for 24 hours.
I think it’s brilliant. It’s a lighthearted gag, but the Scarlet Letter-esque approach is effective. Players don’t want to be embarrassed like that, even in good fun. Need proof? Richt got the idea from none other than Falcons head coach Mike Smith, who has used the technique on his team (somehow I can’t picture Matt Ryan as a vampire), and they’re coming off of a 13-3 season. Richt is ahead of the curve as a coach with this heightened focus on team energy, and I think other teams should follow his example. When team energy is positive, players reflect it on the field. Oh wait, vampires don’t have reflections…
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