I've been doing a tremendous amount of research lately, which has cut into my blogging.
It has been an asset to my writing, which covers numerous subject matter and styles/genre that most writers will never attempt to delve into. When I chose write about a certain period, I tend to research that period of time specifically with the intent of covering as much detail as possible, and to capture a stronger understanding of the period itself.
Current, I've stepped away from a piece that covers the between 1855 and 1874, which took years to research because most of the subject matter was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, and archival material had to be tracked down all over the nation. In doing so, I learned a great deal about researching lost moment in history, including my only family history. This brings me to why I'm writing this current post about Mark Levenson, one of the many owner's of the Atlanta Hawks.
Beyond Mark's ownership in the Atlanta Hawk, he's also a Co-Founder of UGC, and a member of the Board Of Governors of the NBA. Recently, Mark "confessed" to writing what he called a racist letter about the Atlanta Hawks African American 'consumer' vs. the Caucasian consumer on his iPad and sent it to Danny Ferry, General Manager of the Atlanta Hawks. Here's where I think the CC's to Todd Foreman and Ed Peskowitz play a determining factor on how we as humans should view Mark Levenson's overall intent with his confession about his feelings on the African American consumer base that frequents the Atlanta Hawks games and secondary venues.
Before moving forward with this blog I should state that: (list of the Atlanta Spirit LLC "other two guys" mentioned in this so-called, self admitted, racist letter)
1) Ed Peskowski is a part-owner of the Atlanta Hawks
2) Todd Foreman is a partner and CEO of UGC and part-owner of the Atlanta Hawks
and
3) Donald Sterling salted the NBA gold mine of selling off an NBA team at four times it value.
UCG is all about marketing a product. Especially using targeted marketing to increase profitability, bragging about how they "flourish when markets are volatile", when "regulations" are "complex", and "solutions are tough to come by".
The question bears some thought.
Was the letter actually racist, or did Bruce Levenson pull a Donald Sterling purposefully, enabling him to open the door for bids on his controlling interesting in a NBA team, while increasing its value beyond its actual worth? What are the Atlanta Hawks really worth. Why haven't' Ed Peskowski and Todd Foreman come under the same scrutiny? After all, the connections are all there.
In reference to not being able to get a large white male, season ticket buying demographic, is it possible that Levenson and other UGC and Atlanta Spirit LLC owners didn't do due diligence, or the type of research required to access the Caucasian dollar he wanted to see filling up his secondary marking cash registers?
A) Atlanta Demographics are 54% African American, with was seems to be an uptick in Caucasians population on the rise. They don't seem to have a problem moving to a predominantly African American area, yet Levenson can't seem to capture the Caucasian "season ticket" money. Hmmm? That's strang.
B) 70% of those that show up to the Atlanta Hawk games are African American. In Levenson opinion, the African American spectators show up for the music, alcohol, and the cheerleaders. Sorry, but what took me some time to write this blog was--well, I tried my best to find something wrong with the Atlantic Hawk Cheerleading Squad, but I couldn't.
C) I'm not certain if it the African American people who serve alcohol that bother Levenson, or the one's that buy it at stadium marked up prices. Which ever it is, his insanity never ceases to amaze me.
D) He would like to see more father and son's at the Atlanta Hawk games.
E) Levenson is promoting Gospel and Hip-Hop after game concerts to increase ticket sales. Yet, he wants to target the 35-55 Caucasian, male dollar market. Maybe he should check the iTune sales demographics and market charts to see where he's running into a brick wall with his concept.
Comparing a D.C. Wizard crowd to a Atlanta Hawks crowd is very telling, because they are not comparable in any form or fashion. You certainly didn't hear Levenson say that he tried to officially find African American season ticket buyer among the affluent African American community. In fact, it seems as though he shunned it, hid his need for it, in hopes that by magic, the Caucasian affluent would rescue him from his own bad marketing plan--"just because".
He targeted no one in particular, and is lucky that anyone showed up at all.
The 40 year old white guy, like the 40 year old white woman bumps whatever music they like.
So again, if it works for Chase Bank, then maybe it's you, Mark Levenson, not the music.
If black people kissing each other bothers you then why move to Atlanta and buy a team?
Your food sales are low because you have crappy food, more than likely. Just a thought. By the way, skateboarders eat crappy food. So do gamers. Do your due diligence, Mark.
Having driven in Atlanta, traffic and traffic congestion problems are pretty routine for any large event taking place in the City Of Atlanta, or any city for that matter. This is a problem and will remain a problem. It's a traffic problem, not a CPT problem, Mark!
If they are yelling louder for a T-Shirt than you team, your lucky they still want to wear the T-Shirt if you get my drift, Mark!
For all your complaining, Mark, it sounds like owner problems and not fans based problems. Could that be the reason for your failure to access the 35-55 Caucasian season ticket dollar, Mark?
Having completed my assessment of your problem--they question now is, with all your complaints, will you value the Atlanta Hawks at the Mark Leveson--"The African American Fans Ain't Shit" price, ...or the Donald Sterling, "I'm not a racist, please forgive me--but if your want my NBA team, it will cost you four times more than its actual worth" price?
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