среда, 12 сентября 2012 г.

Texas Auto Dealer Loses Bid for Two AOL-Owned Atlanta Sports Teams. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Katie Fairbank, The Dallas Morning News Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Sep. 15--The Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Thrashers will announce their new owner Tuesday -- and it won't be North Texas auto dealer David McDavid.

In a surprise announcement Monday afternoon, Turner Broadcasting Co. said it was selling the professional basketball and hockey franchises to an unnamed investment group that included partners from the Atlanta area.

Mr. McDavid, whose family has been in the auto business for 67 years, had said for months that he was on the verge of buying the Hawks of the National Basketball Association, the Thrashers of the National Hockey League and Philips Arena, where they play.

In April, he signed an agreement with Turner Broadcasting, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc., that gave him exclusive negotiating rights.

Mr. McDavid, a one-time minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, declined to discuss how the deal fell apart. His brother-in-law and business partner, Stephen Dieb, told Cox News Service that they were both shocked.

'We were led to believe on Friday that there would be a press conference announcing our deal on Tuesday,' Mr. Dieb said.

In its news release Monday, Turner Broadcasting would only say that 'we continue to have the highest professional regard for David McDavid and the McDavid Group, with whom we worked in good faith for the past several months.'

'We are confident that the deal we will announce is best for our company, for the teams and arena, for the city and for the fans,' the company said.

Mr. McDavid had been seeking to buy a professional team for several years.

This deal came the closest to going through, but it soured at the last minute.

'When it's this close, it's not typical for things to come apart,' said Rob Vogel, president of the Bonham Group, a sports marketing company. 'It doesn't happen that often at this stage.'

One obstacle, Mr. Vogel said, was a provision in the bond sale that used the Hawks as collateral to build Philips Arena in 1997.

AOL Time Warner wants to sell the teams to pay down its $25.8 billion in debt. According to estimates by Forbes magazine, the Hawks are worth $206 million and the Thrashers $134 million.

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