Would it be that bad for the owner of the Hawks to also own the Hockey Team should it ever come ?
I definitely understand the idea... and, you know, if the owner of X team is also passionate and committed with Y, it would definitely work. But, first and foremost, that's not something that has ever happened here.
Sure, there's a small sample size, but we have Turner Broadcasting/AOL who initially owned the Thrashers, gave the team scraps for payroll, and just showed they really weren't all that passionate at all. Then we have the sale from Turner Broadcasting to Atlanta Spirit, and that group has been discussed ad nauseam since 2006.
Even if the current Hawks ownership had zero issues of its own, even if they were passionate about bringing hockey back to the area and supporting the team as much as they support the NBA product, it would simply be a case of very poor optics for the NBA owner to also own the NHL team in this city.
Folks love to try and say the old line about the "definition of insanity" related to returning to the Atlanta market. Why do everything the same as it has been done before -- downtown location, NBA owners -- and prove them right? Maybe this would work in any other city, but here, there's a high level of distrust with the idea of a NBA owner also owning a NHL franchise.
If the league is smart, this is something they wouldn't consider.