NBA update: Hawks sale unlikely to help Seattle, but TV deal could boost effort

There’s little hope an NBA owner’s announcement he’ll sell his share in the Atlanta Hawks will lead the team to Seattle.

Insiders say there is more reason for optimism about the league’s return to Seattle thanks to a new report out Monday.

Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson said Sunday he would sell his controlling interest in the team after revealing he wrote a racially insensitive email to fellow owners and the team’s General Manager, saying the team’s fan base was too black.

“My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season ticket base,” he wrote in the lengthy email. He complained the “kiss cam was too black,” and the team needed more “white cheerleaders.”

The news set social media ablaze in Seattle, with many wondering if investor Chris Hansen could swoop in and make good on his effort to bring the NBA back to the Emerald City.

KING 5 reporter Chris Daniels, who has closely followed Hansen’s attempts, told KIRO Radio’s Ron and Don the league has little reason to allow the Hawks to leave Atlanta.

“The odds are slim that the NBA would be interested in moving out of the Atlanta market, especially when they’re about to sign, it sounds like, a new television deal.”

At the same time, that TV deal could be the key to bringing the NBA back sooner rather than later, said Daniels.

The Sports Business Journal reported Monday the NBA and its network partners expect to reach a deal on a new long-term TV and digital media contract with ESPN and Turner Broadcasting by the start of the season.

When the NBA rejected Hansen’s bid to buy the Sacramento Kings in 2013 and move them to Seattle, focus shifted to acquiring a potential expansion team. But that was predicated on a new media deal that now seems to be coming to fruition.

“A lot of people connected with it (bringing the NBA back to Seattle) have been waiting for that deal to get finalized because it will lay out just how much money exists in that deal and what kind of share a Seattle expansion franchise would mean,” Daniels says.

Last year, some owners, including the Maverick’s Mark Cuban, said they didn’t think the math penciled out for the league to add any more teams. Daniels said the landscape has changed dramatically with the record prices paid for Sacramento and Steve Ballmer’s $2 billion purchase of the Clippers.

“We have seen the franchise valuations and the TV and digital rights valuations on local and national levels just skyrocket since then,” Daniels said.

According to Daniels, Seattle remains an extremely appealing target for both the NBA and the National Hockey League. Daniels said events like last week’s NFL season opener between the Seahawks and Packers further underscores the viability.

“That was a five-hour infomercial for Seattle,” he said of the national broadcast on a Chamber of Commerce day seen by nearly 27 million people. “The NBA and NHL sees that and sees the interest and the support in the fan base for professional sports in this town.”

Daniels said the NHL wants to be in Seattle even more than the NBA at this point, but doesn’t want to commit to the city while an arena deal remains unresolved.

A memorandum of understanding between Hansen, Seattle and King County calls for completion of an environmental review and acquisition of an NBA team before construction can begin.

Daniels said the Seattle Department of Planning and Development told him Monday the environmental review is moving slower than originally anticipated, and likely won’t be completed until at least January. He said there doesn’t seem to be much political interest in altering the deal to accommodate the NHL first at this point.