Atlanta Spirit Invested $60M Extra To Bail Out Hawks, Thrashers
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Atlanta Spirit Owners Have Made $60M In
Capital Contributions To Hawks, Thrashers |
Atlanta Spirit owners, after acquiring the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena operating rights from Turner, made $60M in "capital contributions" from March '04-July '06 in order to "bail the teams out," according to court documents cited by Kristi Swartz of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. Texas businessman David McDavid, in his $450M breach-of-contract lawsuit filed in Fulton County (GA) Superior Court against Turner Broadcasting, claims that Turner "cheated him out of the teams when it sold them to the Spirit." Atlanta Spirit investor Rutherford Seydel, who owns less than a 10% share of the teams and the arena, yesterday testified that his share is "going to decrease because 'I can't keep up with my partners' in continuing to finance the teams' ongoing losses." Seydel's testimony was the "first time one of the owners gave so much detail in the trial." Seydel's testimony, however, "did not indicate how much capital has been poured in since mid-2006, where the money has gone and what the teams' bottom line is." Documents indicated that Seydel, the son-in-law of TBS Chair Ted Turner, invested about 4.4% of the capital and received a 9% stake in the teams and Philips Arena. Seydel in his testimony said that his share was "funded with a loan" from Atlanta Spirit co-Owner Michael Gearon Jr., worth as much as $4M. Seydel: "That's the deal that was originally proposed. That's not how it's turned out to be" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 11/13).
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