Baseball’s Texas Rangers have been the only North American sports team to file for bankruptcy recently, and I have been following their exploits, both in the courtroom and on the field, over the summer.
The Rangers are shaping up as an ideal bankruptcy redemption story, as they have just clinched the American League’s West Division and qualified for the playoffs. And in their first two games of a best-of-five series with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Rangers have won them both! One more win will give the franchise its first playoff series win in team history.
As to how the Rangers got into bankruptcy court in the first place, Boston Globe columnist Steve Syre has an opinion: he lays most of the blame of former owner Tom Hicks, who “was already in contention for the title of America’s worst pro sports team owner when he drove the Texas Rangers — a popular baseball team in a big, prosperous city — to seek bankruptcy protection this summer. Now he may have outdone himself and laid claim to the title of worst sports owner in the entire world.”
Syre’s point is that Hicks has also driven his Liverpool, England soccer club deep into debt, and perhaps into the hands of well-financed Red Sox owner John Henry.
Looks like you can stay tuned here for more international sports and bankruptcy news!
By Doug Beaton