Atlanta Spirit, LLC: Business As Usual, Business Unusual

((HT: AJC/Sekou Smith))

Okay... for those of us at OSG HQ, it's time for the post-trial post-mortem. Where only this particular group of owners ((pictured, thanks Brant Sanderlin/AJC)) can accomplish something by accomplishing nothing.

The Maryland decision has brought this gang of eight to the standstill that caused the whole mess almost four years ago.

The AJC's Sekou Smith caught up with Michael Gearon, Junior.
Bully for him...

“I can’t speak for what Steve will or won’t do,” Gearon said. “But I can tell you that one thing people fail to realize is that over the course of these last four years, we’ve been operating these franchises and making decisions ... which Steve has participated in.

“Steve has actively participated in meetings that we’ve had, in which our [general managers] have made recommendations and there hasn’t been a situation where there was contention and we did not go in a direction our [general managers] wanted to go.”

Should he decide to stay in the group as a minority owner, Belkin would be required to pay his partners $25.8 million, according to court documents, which represents his 30 percent share of cash calls made during litigation.

He could appeal the court’s decision, but he would likely have to post a multi-million-dollar bond, at the court’s discretion.

Or Belkin could also exercise what amounts to an opt-out clause in the Spirit’s original partnership agreement and ask his partners to buy him out.

Judge Durke G. Thompson’s 38-page ruling actually encourages the owners to settle the feud without the aid of investment bankers or other outside parties.

That might have happened four years ago had the NBA, and specifically Commissioner David Stern, not made it “clear that it desired the Belkin interest to be bought out,” Thompson noted in his ruling.

We'll handle the rest of the conversation with asides...

Gearon also dismissed rumors that the Thrashers are for for sale, insisting that the Spirit is simply “looking for other investors,” the same way Falcons owner Arthur Blank did recently.


(("We'd like to dilute the voting pool by that-much-more owners and investors and make the decision-making process that much more difficult. Does anyone have Tom Gagliardi's phone number...?"))

“The biggest benefit from [Monday’s] decision is the black cloud that is no longer over Bruce Levenson, Ed Peskowitz and myself, with respect to the personal obligation to buy out Belkin,” Gearon said.

(("Yeah, we'd just like someone else to do it. That's why we're looking for other investors."))

For fans weary of another round of legal maneuvering, Gearon-Peskowitz-Levenson lawyer Steven Estep cautioned that Monday’s ruling does not open that door.
“That would be the wrong conclusion to draw, because this legal process from the last four years has all spawned from that purchase and sale agreement that has now disappeared,” he said.

(("But we're preparing for a Belkin appeal anyway."))

“There is no basis to start this process again. Now we are back to an operating agreement that is clear and unambiguous. It’s not going to lead to bad things.

“It’s the same as it was before. And that’s a good thing. It’s not going to lead to bad things. Belkin can stay in if he wants. He has to catch up on his cash calls, which I don’t think is a significant enough amount of money to alter the future of the franchises. Or he can exercise his put and ask the other owners to buy him out. It’s pretty cut and dry.”

(("But we're preparing for a Belkin appeal, anyway."))

The process has been mind-numbing, fatiguing, and mentally draining the entire time. The only solution is for the Gang Of Eight to pack it in as a group and find someone with passion and pockets to do it right...see Gagliardi as a reference point...

Something profoundly lacking in this morass...

Jeff Schultz in his op-ed about the whole thing came across a good point- which could be grounds for another lawsuit. Belkin was Governor of the Hawks at the time of the lawsuit, but his term expired. Could he fight to get that spot back in court...?

Knowing these "Wrong Way Corrigans" of professional ownership... you bet your ass.

This is just getting started... unless someone wants to just find a ruler for the Gang of Eight and get the whole thing over with once and for all...