Hawks Owner Bruce Levenson To Sell Team After Telling NBA About Racially Charged 2012 Email

[RandySF]

In the email sent in August 2012, Levenson shared his observations of the fan experience at Hawks games. He said he concluded "southern whites" were uncomfortable at games.

"My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season ticket base," Levenson said in the email released Sunday by the Hawks.

"Please don't 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."

Levenson said Hawks crowds are 70-percent black, the team's cheerleaders are black and hip-hop music was played.

"Then I start looking around at other arenas," Levenson said. "It is completely different."

Levenson said he often heard fans say the area around Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta is dangerous.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/07/atlanta-hawks-owner-bruce-levenson_n_5779964.html

[Liberal_in_LA]

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