It’s finally official; MLB owners approve Texas Rangers new owners
The Texas Rangers have been one of the hottest teams in baseball all season long, and all without the backing of an actual owner. All that changed on Thursday morning when the other owners in the league voted unanimously to approve the sale of the team to a group led by former pitching great Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg.
Tom Hicks of the Hicks Sports Group had been forced to file for bankruptcy after defaulting on over $500 million in loans. Ryan, president of the team, along with a Pittsburgh-based attorney named Greenberg were finally able to purchase the team at an auction held 4 August.
Ryan and Greenberg had been attempting to buy the team for some time, but were held up due to issues with the bankruptcy plan. Many of the creditors that Hicks owed were not happy with the plan to bring the team out of bankruptcy since they were not going to get most, or any, of what they were owed.
In the end, they still did not receive much from the sale of the team, however, the judge that presided over the case in formed them they could still go after other companies Hicks owned a part of. Many of the creditors were former players like Alex Rodriguez who was owed nearly $25 million in salary from when he was with the Rangers six years ago.
Bidding for the team became interesting when a surprise bidder emerged at the last minute, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Cuban had attempted to buy the Chicago Cubs a few years earlier, but his bid was rejected.
Ryan and Greenberg’s bid of $593 million, including $385 million in cash beat out Cuban’s bid of $598 million due to a $10-13 million break-up fee that had to be paid to Ryan and Greenberg.
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