|
 11:30pm - Hicks has made the announcement official. While Evan Grant said that the negotiating window for Greenberg/Ryan would be 45 days, the official release has the time period as 30 days.
9:30pm - Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports that Greenberg has a 45 day exclusivity window with which to complete the sale. Interesting in that the window for the Cubs sale for Thomas Ricketts was set at 30 days, although that timeline was extended well past the announced window. It is possible, based on the Cubs sale, that should Greenberg run into issues closing the deal that the 45 day window could be extended, given that it is a self-imposed deadline.
8:15pm - Jeff Wilson of the Ft. Worth-Telegram is reporting that "Hicks has all but accecpted the bid" and T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com is reporting much the same. Official word has not yet arrived from the Rangers. More coming...
THIS IS BREAKING NEWS...
An unconfirmed source to The Biz of Baseball has reported that Tom Hicks has selected Chuck Greenberg’s bid over Jim Crane and Dennis Gilbert for the rights to enter an exclusive negotiating window to complete the purchase of the Texas Rangers. The selection of Greenberg does not mean that he will own the club, but does pave the way to reach a sales agreement with Hicks. If that sales agreement is met, it would then have to meet the muster of MLB’s Executive and Ownership Committees before needing approval from 75 percent of the league’s 30 owners to finalize the deal.
With Greenberg having Rangers president Nolan Ryan as a key member of his ownership group, with a solid core of local investors, approval for ownership transfer should be smooth sailing.
Details as to the total amount of the selected bid is not yet known. In a late day development, Greenberg’s group sweetened their offer to counter Houston businessman Jim Crane’s offer that was reportedly the highest of the three bidders submissions at the time. It is possible that while Crane’s offer could ultimately be higher, Hicks may have selected Greenberg due to his willingness to retain Hicks in a minority ownership capacity, as well as Ryan’s strong credibility, not only within the ownership ranks, but with fans, as well.
More details as confirmation arrives.
 Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is available for hire or freelance. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.
Don't forget to register and log in on The Biz of Baseball site to get updates via your in-box, and see information only logged in members can see.
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter 
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter
 Follow the Business of Sports Network on Facebook
|
MLB News 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
