Tom Hicks On Potential Sale Of Majority Rangers Stake: “We Want To Stay Involved In The Way We Are Now”

LAST UPDATED: 9:39 p.m.

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Mark Cuban: “Not interested in buying any other sports franchises at this time.”

Texas Rangers-Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks acknowledged that the struggling market and the sluggish economy have led him to alter his plans to sell a minority stake in the baseball team.

“We been in the process the last six months to try and find quality minority ownership,” Hicks said Thursday morning. “We are finding there is a lot of interest in baseball out there, but also finding that a lot of those quality groups want to have some degree of control. Our objective is to say involved with the club in the way we are now. The bottom line is that Hicks Sports Group has debt that has to be retired and we’ve had to broaden the process.”

Hicks said he’s hired a new broker, headed by former Goldman Sachs media banker Joseph Ravitch to help explore the market and build a group of partners. Hicks would be part of that partnership. Hicks said he’s hopeful the search for partners could be concluded by the end of the year. He did not deny the possibility of adding Houston’s Don Sanders and current Rangers President Nolan Ryan as part of the ownership group.

“I think it may involve [Ryan-Sanders],” Hicks said. “But it requires more than just that. In my mind, it would be important for Nolan Ryan to be involved in the club. The important thing is to find quality partners. If we do that, I could be involved in a lot of different ways.”

When reached this afternoon, Ryan expressed hesitation at saying much about the situation. He is in a difficult position, currently working as an employee of Hicks’, but also potentially part of an ownership group that could one day have control. Ryan did offer a couple of quotes to the DMN’s Richard Durrett. Ryan’s basic public response on potential involvement:  “We’ll see.”

The Rangers are believed to be worth between $500-600 million, according to the latest Forbes team valuations.  Of Hicks wide-ranging sports empire, the changes with the Rangers would likely be the most significant. Hicks said he is continuing to seek minority investors for the NHL’s Dallas Stars. But, he acknowledged, baseball teams are considered “more valuable assets” and hold “a broader national interest” to potential investors.

Hicks Sports Group recently entered into default on $525 million in loans. Hicks declined to make an interest-only payment in April while trying to negotiate new terms for the loans with the 41 banks and funds that hold the notes.

The current situation does not, however, extend to Hicks involvement with Liverpool F.C. of the English Premiership, the top professional soccer league in the world. Hicks and partner George Gillett recently received a six-month extension by the Royal Bank of Scotland on a £350 million loan for Liverpool. Hicks was emphatic in saying those loans have nothing to do with his U.S. based loans.