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Atlanta Hawks become first professional sports team to secure financing with black-owned banks

RBH

RBH

Official ERA expert on Third Party Football
Member
Nov 2, 2017
32,867






The Hawks Become the First Professional Sports Team to Secure Financing with Black-Owned Banks for $35 Million Refinancing of Emory Sports Medicine Complex

Transaction Facilitated with the Support of the National Black Bank Foundation and Black Bank Fund to Help Bolster Black Banks and the Communities They Serve



The Atlanta Hawks announced that it has agreed to refinance the construction loan for the Emory Sports Medicine Complex with a syndicate of Black-owned banks. The $35 million loan marks the first time a professional sports franchise has had a significant loan underwritten exclusively by Black banks.

The groundbreaking transaction was facilitated with the support of the newly-formed National Black Bank Foundation, which organized a syndication team to structure the deal. Georgia-based Carver State Bank served as the syndicate's Lead Arranger. By partnering with the Black bank syndicate, the Hawks are both demonstrating that Black banks can compete with money center banks for commercial loans as well as using the Club's strong credit rating to bolster the capital cushion for Black banks so that they can better serve their traditional customer base.

"Today's announcement reflects our commitment to putting our values into action–by choosing to work with Black banks and drawing attention to the need for Black banks to thrive as they work toward addressing the lack of access to capital in Black communities," said Tony Ressler, Principal Owner of the Atlanta Hawks. "We always strive to ask ourselves how the Hawks can best help those in the community that are already helping others, and today's announcement is another step in our commitment to use the Hawks as a positive agent of change. This is both good for the community and good business to empower new and existing Black businesses."
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thehawksbeat.com

Atlanta Hawks Announce Historic Agreement with Black-Owned Banks

The Hawks Become the First Professional Sports Team to Secure Financing with Black-Owned Banks for $35 Million Refinancing of Emory Sports Medicine Complex Transaction Facilitated with the Support …
thehawksbeat.com thehawksbeat.com



The Hawks were also the first professional sports team (or at least one of the first) to use their stadium as an early voting polling precinct:



www.resetera.com

Fulton County and ATL Hawks team up to turn State Farm's arena into the biggest polling site ever for elections

https://www.nba.com/hawks/fulton-county-atlanta-hawks-partnering-transform-state-farm-arena-georgias-largest-ever-voting?utm_source=s_h&utm_medium=t&utm_campaign=1920sfavoting&utm_term=sfavoting&utm_content=0629 Speevy , RBH, and BWoog y'all need a ride?
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com
 
Gaf Zombie

Gaf Zombie

The Fallen
Dec 13, 2017
2,239
Dope news from the GOAT American city.

I swear if it weren't for the family proximity I would have been moved.
 
spyder_ur

spyder_ur

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,413
This is good news and I'm glad they're doing this. However, it's worth noting this facility is being covered by a $35M tax abatement worked out with the city. In my opinion, any public investment in the private building of sports facilities (of which Atlanta in particular has taken their taxpayers for a ride on) should absolutely have clauses about equity, community development, etc. So I'm hoping that becomes a standard across not just the NBA but all arena/stadium financing. That should happen regardless of whether public funds were used (which I also generally oppose) but should be mandatory if so. If this becomes the norm, it's great news.
 
OP
OP
RBH

RBH

Official ERA expert on Third Party Football
Member
Nov 2, 2017
32,867
spyder_ur said:
This is good news and I'm glad they're doing this. However, it's worth noting this facility is being covered by a $35M tax abatement worked out with the city. In my opinion, any public investment in the private building of sports facilities (of which Atlanta in particular has taken their taxpayers for a ride on) should absolutely have clauses about equity, community development, etc. So I'm hoping that becomes a standard across not just the NBA but all arena/stadium financing. That should happen regardless of whether public funds were used (which I also generally oppose) but should be mandatory if so. If this becomes the norm, it's great news.
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True
 

Deleted member 1305

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,029
This is great news and I hope we see a lot more of it.


I'd make a joke about Atlanta sports teams but RBH has been dunk'd on enough this year.
Who else was watching in horror as the Falcons blew a big fourth quarter lead in the Super Bowl against the Patriots a few years ago?
Disgusting!
 
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