A drama is playing out in Texas involving Major League Baseball and the sale of the Texas Rangers that could have an impact on all sports.
The outcome of this drama could forever alter the landscape of financing sports franchises, not only in baseball, but in all sports leagues.
Tom Hicks owns the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars, and like many owners of sports franchises, used debt from multiple lenders to finance the purchase of those franchises.
There are 40 lenders that are involved in the financing of Hicks' sports teams, and the debt on the Rangers franchise is approximately $525 million.
Hicks is a businessman that has made his fortune by borrowing money to buy businesses, spruce them up, and sell them for, mostly, a significant profit.
He is a leveraged buyout specialist. One of his most famous deals was the purchase of Dr. Pepper and 7-Up for $646 million and selling those companies several years later for $2.5 billion.
Hicks has also made money—lots of it—by running leveraged buyout funds, funds that used debt to buy companies and sell them at appreciated prices in the future. These private equity fu...
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