Franchise Notes
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| Atlanta Spirit Feud Continues Behind The Scenes |
In Atlanta, Tim Tucker reported the Atlanta Spirit's Hawks-Thrashers "ownership feud has seemed low-key in recent months," but "behind the scenes, the battle rages on." Tucker: "More than a dozen depositions have been taken, hundreds of thousands of pages of documents exchanged, and some big names ... sprinkled into court filings as the Atlanta Spirit ownership group prepares for a trial." According the court filings, a "contributing factor to the feud's 2005 eruption: [Atlanta Spirit co-Owner Steve] Belkin 'falsely accusing fellow owner Bruce Levenson of player tampering, which resulted in an NBA investigation.'" Court documents also reveal there was an "indication that the owners other than Belkin have plowed more than $44[M] into the money-losing" Hawks and Thrashers since August '05. The filing also revealed a subpoena "requiring Belkin to produce records of any communications he had about the value of the teams with a long list of people" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 8/14).
STAR SEARCH: In Houston, Jenny Dial reported Houston Mayor Bill White and Harris County (TX) Judge Ed Emmett have "begun the process to find a new owner for the Comets and keep the WNBA team in the city." A letter written by White on August 11 "states White and Emmett are working with the WNBA to find new ownership for the team." The deadline to find local ownership is November. The WNBA has "taken control of the Comets for the remainder of the season, and the league is working with White and Emmett to keep the franchise in town." A WNBA official said that "all team operations are going through the WNBA and not" former Owner Hilton Koch (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 8/14).
NBA NOTES: The Oklahoma City NBA franchise announced ticket prices for the '08-09 season, which will include 3,500 lower-level seats at $50 or less. Premium lower level tickets will range from $75-250. Three-quarters of upper-level seats will be $20 or less, and $10 seats will number 3,400, well over the league minimum of 500 (THE DAILY). The majority of season tickets "will be among the most affordable in the league." The team this week will begin contacting the 18,000 people who put in season-ticket requests (NEWSOK.com, 8/14)....The Hornets have sold more than 10,000 season tickets for the first time since moving to New Orleans in '02, and they are "close to selling out the entire lower-bowl area of the New Orleans Arena." The most season tickets the club had previously sold was 8,000 before the '02-03 season (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 8/15).
MLB NOTES: The D'Backs Wednesday announced that the team will "raise ticket prices an average of about 3.4[%] next season, but will either reduce or keep prices the same on 76[%] of seats at Chase Field." The "biggest increases occur for higher-end seats on the field level, which will be raised $10 per ticket for season ticket holders in the clubhouse box, 1st/3rd base box and dugout box." Most other increases are $1-2.50 per game (EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE, 8/14)....With 18 home dates remaining for the '08 season, the Twins have sold 2.05 million tickets. They also have drawn 15 consecutive crowds of 30,000 or more fans at the Metrodome. The team is averaging 27,841 per game, down from 29,561 through 63 dates in '07 (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/14).
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