This isn’t really news. Tom Hicks first spoke to our own Evan Grant about why he was defaulting on some of his loans. But seeing it all laid out in the WSJ (sub only) just makes Hicks’ position look terribly uncomfortable. He missed a $10 million interest payment on March 31. Now he’s working with dozens of investors and financial institutions to change the terms of $525 million in debt. If he can’t work things out, it’s possible that he’ll lose control of the Rangers and Stars. But the sports business doesn’t have his undivided attention, as he’s still trying to close a $3.2 billion deal to acquire a majority stake in plastic-container company Graham Packaging Holdings from the Blackstone Group. Oh, and don’t forget the money he borrowed to buy Liverpool. Hicks has a $400 million loan from the Royal Bank of Scotland that’s due in July.
Certainly Hicks has made some sports decisions that haven’t worked out (I’m looking at you, A-Rod). But even Hicks’ biggest detractors must see that having a bunch of banks in control of the teams would not be a positive development.
