Last week, Tom Hicks defaulted on a $10 million payment connected to $525 million in loans. Hicks played it off as an intentional, strategic maneuver, which seemed a questionable assertion at best.The result of the missed payment is that Hicks will have to sit down with his creditors and figure out a payment plan or come to a new agreement, but, I don't know if you've heard that the economy isn't in such great shape nowadays, so trying to tap into the credit markets isn't exactly a viable option. In the end, this can lead to a situation in which Hicks has to give up his ownership of the Stars.
One thing's for sure: Hicks' ownership is safe for six months thanks to a league mandate that gives team ownerships time to avoid foreclosure. If a resolution of some kind isn't produced in that time, the banks will take the Stars away from Hicks. Compounding matters is that the Stars aren't the only team on Hicks' plate, he also controls the Texas Rangers and is co-owner of soccer franchise Liverpool.
So what are Hicks' options at this point? According to Darren Rovell, he can sell parts of the team to try to make up the money, but as Rovell points out, Hicks probably won't be able to find a taker who only wants 49 percent of the Stars in this market; any interested parties will want to be the majority shareholder. The other option is to sell the team to the league at a discounted price, who would control it until they found a taker, much like MLB did with the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals. This option is intriguing, as one could easily see the Stars landing in Las Vegas, where the NHL is interested in placing a franchise, if the right buyer is eventually found.
It seems pretty certain, though, that this is an issue that extends beyond a single $10 million payment. That might seem like a lot of money, and it is -- to you and I. But for a person of Hicks' assumed economic stature, not to be able to produce that kind of money is the sign of much deeper economic turmoil. He has six months to figure it out. If not, there could be serious repurcussions for a franchise which has already moved once in the last 20 years due to financial woes.
