The Atlanta Hawks owner, Bruce Levenson, is prepared to sell the team after there were leaks showing e-mails sent by him that had racist context on how to increase the white fans the team had.
Mr. Levenson spoke about how his team had to increase their white fan base and that there weren’t enough affluent black fans to sell season tickets well. This comes after Mr. Levenson came out in public against Donald Stirling and his racist comments. Mr. Levenson reported the e-mail himself and said “The email was “inflammatory nonsense. If you’re angry about what I wrote, you should be. I’m angry at myself, too.”
I however, want to talk about why business ethics such as the fight against racism our necessary. As the article states Bruce Levenson will now be selling the franchise for the good of the Atlanta Hawks. This gives us insight as to how misbehaviour from a influential person in a company or franchise can have a bad influence on the brand. People start to dislike a franchise/business that is linked with ethical issues such as racism, sexism, sweatshops etc. By selling the franchise Levenson is trying to distance the Hawks from his comments.
Source: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/09/07/bruce_levenson_atlanta_hawks_owner_to_sell_team_after_racist_e_mail.html