Yes that deal was the one I was referring to. That deal (even though it fell through) indicated they were fine with selling both teams so a buyer who was interested could have bought both.
Except there's this little problem with setting up exclusivity...
The tentative agreement between ASG and True North was signed 31 May 2011.
What was done prior? ASG's Micheal Gearon started whining in February 2011 that they'll need investors or they'll ship the team out. All kinds of interested parties contacted ASG about a package deal for the arena operating rights, the Hawks and the Thrashers.
However, in May 2011, ASG signed a letter giving then-outgoing chairman of the MLB San Diego Padres John Moores an exclusive negotiating period to purchase only the Hawks and the arena operating rights. No one could buy all three even if they wanted to.
That was the joke of the whole timeline. ASG claimed they wanted investors, but that was only for the Thrashers - if they wanted investors to all three, they wouldn't have setup an exclusive period with John Moores at the 11th hour.
No one was going to purchase only a hockey team and pay rent to the same people that controlled the arena. And ASG perfectly made it so no one could get all three.
Go back to "Pretty Woman" - ASG were a bunch of corporate raiders looking to recoup their investment by selling off their investment in pieces. Just because they setup a sham sale to Merulo a couple of months later doesn't absolve their actions for the seven years prior, scorching and salting the hockey team by extricating the Thrashers from the Hawks/Philips Arena as a standalone business and driving hockey operations and fandom into the ground, then making it impossible for anyone to purchase all three businesses.
