D

Live Blog Feed

Tom Hicks Quote On Wall Street Journal Default Story

Posted on April 14th, 2009 1:54pm by Evan Grant
Filed under Baseball, Dallas Sports Business, Dallas Stars, Sports business, Texas Rangers

Some of you may have read a Wall Street Journal story this morning discussing the official default filing against Hicks Sports Group for its failure to make an interest only payment of approximately $10 million on a $525 million loan. If you didn’t buy a hard copy of the Journal, you’ll have to ante up for a subscription to the online version to see the full story, but ol’ Fingers of Fury (at least that’s what they call him in the office) Robert Wilonsky blogged about some of the key points of the story this morning at Unfair Park.

The most provocative assumption made in the story is that Hicks could lose control of either the Rangers or Stars or both. I’ve been told repeatedly by sources within HSG that there is zero chance of that happening. Hicks said nearly two weeks ago that he has been in close contact with commissioners from both MLB and the NHL regarding HSG’s decision not to make the payment and the leagues approve of his plan to re-negotiate the loans. The leagues would also offer a significant level of protection against any foreclosure attempts.

Here’s the statement from Hicks that was just recently sent out:

“You may have read yet another news story about the current situation involving HSG’s efforts to renegotiate their loans. This time the story appeared in the Wall Street Journal. There is nothing new in this story. As has been previously reported, HSG missed its most recent quarterly interest payment. As a result of that payment default, HSG’s lenders have now sent the expected and normal default notices to HSG. But nothing has changed at the baseball and hockey clubs while the negotiations continue at the HSG level. Both Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have strong protections for their franchises when discussions such as these are underway. These are complex negotiations and there are some very smart people working on them. As an owner and lender to HSG, I am working to negotiate something that will make economic sense going forward for me, HSG and its lenders. The current situation simply does not make economic sense. As these negotiations progress I will keep you posted.”

5 Comments to “Tom Hicks Quote On Wall Street Journal Default Story”

JustSaying @ April 14th, 2009 at 2:00 pm

Yawn….yawn…….tell me when Mark Cuban can enter the picture as the controlling interest in the Rangers…….now that would be a story to get excited about…….I wonder if any of Tom’s bankers were in the huge crowd of 12k yesterday……now that should give them pause about what is going on………
mightcan @ April 14th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

Best scenario:
1. Default/receivership.
2. Stupid lease on W’s idiotic BallPark in Arlington is cancelled by reorganization court.
3. Rangers move downtown Dallas.
4. Arlington discovers while they were out for KoolAid, a Jonestown was built.
boomer1 @ April 14th, 2009 at 4:48 pm

mightcan, Dallas had their chance at the Rangers AND Cowboys. Not to mention if not for Ron Kirk the Stars and Mavs might be in Arlington too. This is why fans and people in general in Tarrant County don’t like Dallas is because of people and fans like you. FYI Ft. Worth has a much better downtown than Dallas does.

Let the FLAME wars begin!
David C @ April 14th, 2009 at 5:53 pm

What boomer1 said.

It was also (perhaps not completely but certainly to a large extent) different individuals who were:

(1) Indifferent to working with the Rangers (when it was apparent at some point in the 80′s that a new stadium was going to be needed relatively soon), and

(2) Then failed to bring the Cowboys in.

And I’m not even discussing Lone Star Park, or Texas Motor Speedway.
jflash @ April 24th, 2009 at 12:07 pm

boomer1,

mightcan point is that there are very few fans in Tarrant county. This is why there were only 12K at the game. Who wants to drive out to Arlington? and the tarrant crowd isnt a strong fan base. If the ballpark were in Downtown Dallas, attendance would be 3X minimum.

InsideCorner is a daily blog-slash-online sports page, covering Dallas teams with original reporting, statistical analysis, obvious observations, and undeniable charm.

Subscribe via RSS (What is RSS?)

Follow InsideCorner on Twitter

InsideCorner Email Newsletter (Sign up!)

Email:

Browse the Archives

Browse the Archives

About/Contact

Meet the Bloggers