Hawks Owner Tony Ressler wants the organization to "keep winning, improve facilities, build community, improve the fan experience and contribute to downtown vibrancy," according to Trubey & Vivlamore of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. Ressler and others "have had several meetings" with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed on possible renovations to Philips Arena. Reed said that the city "could afford to finance" $100-150M of what could be a $200-300M "overhaul of the arena." The team "is looking to, among a number of upgrades, replace the bank of suites that dominate one side of the arena, install a variety of different-size suites, improve the connectivity so fans can navigate around the arena on one level and create better floor seating by changing the layout which originally had oval ends to accommodate hockey." Major construction "would begin in the summer" of '17 for completion in '18, without any interruption to the Hawks' planned celebration of 50 years in Atlanta. Hawks CEO Steve Koonin said that conceptual planning "is underway for fan amenities that will be expected" in '20. Ressler said of last week's deal on a practice facility, "The NBA is a really competitive place. To ask your players, your coaches, your conditioning staff to compete with lesser facilities, you are just making an incredibly hard job more difficult. … We don’t want to look up to anybody." Ressler added that the Hawks "would like to add to the momentum already underway" in downtown Atlanta with the new Falcons stadium and development around Centennial Olympic Park (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 4/10).
