Roger immediately called Steve Bilkin's mobile phone.
"During his time in Atlanta, Pete was widely recognized by fans for his active community contributions. Georgia awarded him the Sports Figure of the Year title, and the Atlanta mayor awarded him the highest civilian award, the Phoenix Award. He's a symbol of Atlanta, and we can't touch him. Most importantly, he's my man,"
Roger intentionally emphasized the last sentence, which was the true point.
He wanted to send a signal: You can't just replace the people on this team as you please.
Steve Bilkin respected Roger's opinion and said that he had been completely unaware of the situation; otherwise, he would have definitely informed Roger in advance.
Eventually, he decided to call an emergency telephone conference to vote on the issue: "We will definitely support you, you can be assured of that."
This situation was a real mess—the team was changing general managers, and one of the owners didn't even know about it.
