This article originally appeared on SportsBusinessDaily.com by John Lombardo. You can read the original here.
The Atlanta Hawks have been in the NBA since 1968, but the team’s CEO, Steve Koonin, a veteran of local institutions Coca-Cola and Turner, has adopted a startup approach in overhauling the franchise.
“It’s like a 48-year-old expansion team in the way we have reimagined it,” Koonin said.
Two years ago, the Hawks were a franchise paralyzed by feuding former ownership and racially charged controversy. But since being sold to a group headed by Tony Ressler in 2015 for $850 million, the Hawks this season are setting some all-time-high business marks.