Strange goings on in the Metroplex. Tom Hicks’ mismanagement of his sports empire has finally caught up with him, with his HSG Sports Group filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to avoid paying off some $540 million in debt.
Here’s how bad the situation is:
In January, Mr. Hicks reached a deal with Messrs. Greenberg and Ryan to sell the Rangers, the Ballpark at Arlington, and some 150 acres adjacent to the stadium in a deal valued at about $530 million, although the value has escalated with the rising amount of liabilities the new owners are prepared to assume. According to court filings those liabilities include almost $25 million that the team owes slugger Alex Rodriguez in deferred compensation and almost $13 million it owes pitcher Kevin Millwood. Neither player is with the team anymore.
The “Ryan” in the above paragraph is possible future Rangers managing partner Nolan Ryan, who wrote an open letter to the team’s fans in the Dallas Morning News. It’ll be interesting to see how much longer it takes for this to be resolved, as it must have MLB’s undivided attention at this point. Perhaps the league won’t broach the A’s situation until the Rangers’ issues are resolved. Not that they’re in a hurry, mind you.
newballpark.org 
“Perhaps the league won’t broach the A’s situation until the Rangers’ issues are resolved.” Damn straight! I’ve stated previously that Irwin Raij, who is a member of the Bay Area committee and was instrumental in the Expos/Nats deal, is front and center at trying to get this Rangers sale done. IMHO, I do believe that MLB has informally given the nod for the A’s to relocate to San Jose; hence some of the SJ developments over the past two months. Once the Rangers sale is a done deal, MLB and the Bay Area committee can then focus solely on formerly pushing the A’s relocation through. As the Expos/Nats deal and the Rangers sale prove, these issues do in fact merit MLB’s “undevided attention.” A’s to SJ will be next!
It really bothers me that the Rangers were allowed to splurge on $16M+ in free agents this offseason to sign Rich Harden, Vlad Guerrero, and Colby Lewis. Basically, they are playing with Monopoly money right now – money they didn’t have – and yet they were allowed to make some excellent key improvements that are driving them toward the division title.
For example, they outbid the A’s for Lewis, who has pitched very well for them, and they are currently in first place and probably are considered the front-runners the rest of the way to win the West at this point.
Should a team that’s horribly in debt, that might need MLB assistance from the joint fund created by 29 other teams, be able to make multi-million offseason additions? Maybe I’m more bitter because this has come at the expense of my favorite team, but I find it unethical.
Your thoughts?
On the other hand, Tony (or ML), Olney (quoted by Jenkins) doesn’t think MLB is moving in that direction.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/threedotblog/detail?&entry_id=64307
Buster Olney, espn.com: “As each day goes by, the chances of a settlement in the Oakland/San Francisco/San Jose territorial dispute are fading. The A’s want to move to San Jose, but the Giants possess the territorial rights — and there are high rollers in baseball who are beginning to believe that this is simply a fight that the commissioner’s office does not want to fight. Bill Neukom was a lawyer for Microsoft for 25 years and is regarded as a powerful advocate in antitrust litigation. If Major League Baseball wanted to award San Jose to the Athletics, it would have to be willing to risk 15 rounds of bare-knuckle litigation with Neukom, on his home turf. ‘That’s not something anybody would want,’ said one high-ranking executive. ‘He’s a smart guy, he knows what he’s doing, and I think he would have a heck of a case.'”
Not to rehash–but who would Neukom sue? Not allowed by the lodge—so he would prefer to get rid of the anti-trust exemption they currently have (note NFL tried and couldn’t get the equivalent). Angelos wasn’t able to sue anyone when the Nat’s dropped in on his doorstep—gotta believe what most of the owners are seeing is the wooful attendance (except for when the gints were in town) and wondering how many more years they will subsidize the A’s–
I’m waiting for the Rangers to ask the public for a new stadium, as they can’t compete with the limited revenue that their current one brings in.
@Brian The Ballpark in Arlington is only 16 years old. Seems a bit premature to replace it already.
Could not have said it better myself GoA’s. For the umpteenth time, the Giants couldn’t sue MLB if they decided, in the best interest of baseball, to allow the A’s to relocate to San Jose. But I won’t knock Buster Olney; he’s more than entitled to his opinion. And let’s not forget; Lew Wolff’s OTHER good friend is White Sox’ owner/big-time attorney Jerry Rheinsdorf. The A’s also have attorney’s as part of their ownership group. Irwin Raij of the Bay Area committee is also an attorney. Heck. there’s enough “legal muscle” in this thing for everyone’s liking! So bring it on Bill! (oops, I forgot, he can’t)
By the way, how would Neukom have a “heck of a case” when all of the Giants arguments re: territorial rights to SCC/SJ are either false or based on assumptions; i.e. fans in SCC/SJ would abandon the Giants for A’s, company’s in SV would abandon Giants for A’s, revenues out of SCC/SJ would be compromised, etc. etc. You can’t prove any of that…NO CASE!
Don’t disagree, but if Selig had 23 votes, the task force recommendation would have been announced by now.
not necessarily—as ML has alluded to in his recent posts most likely San Jose will be put to a vote in November without MLB saying it will overturn the TR—if the voters approve of a cheap land lease simliliar to ATT than most likely you will see MLB work on the negotiation–but they have their hands full with the Rangers situation–and to have certainty in SJ is a valuable ace in their hand–
baycommuter, the other side of that argument is that if Selig had assurance that a stadium could actually get done in San Jose then he wouldn’t hesitate to ask for the votes. Otherwise he’s just got egg all over his face.
I should have read GoA’s post first, sorry dude.
Just came across this via sfgate, just starting off, but it’s a pretty good blog:
http://whiteelephantparade.mlblogs.com/
That’s worth adding to the blogroll.
Tom Hicks has made the same mess with one of the great clubs in british soccer, Liverpool.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/may/27/liverpool-tom-hicks-transfer-budget
These con men should be in jail.