Bankruptcy judge orders mediation for Texas Rangers and lenders, delaying hearing on sale

Judge orders mediation for Texas Rangers, lenders

FORT WORTH, Texas — A federal bankruptcy judge ordered the Texas Rangers and their angry creditors into mediation Thursday, pushing any resolution of the long-delayed sale dangerously close to a deadline that could be crucial to the team’s playoff hopes.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge D. Michael Lynn ruled that mediation will begin July 16.

But late Thursday night, Pittsburgh attorney Chuck Greenberg said his ownership group had filed a motion to reconsider the mediation date of July 16, requesting that it be moved back to the original date of July 9.

The motion will be heard by Lynn on Friday.

Lynn delayed until July 22 a hearing on whether to approve the Rangers’ bankruptcy plan to pay creditors $75 million and sell the club to a group led by Nolan Ryan, the Hall of Fame pitcher and team president, and Greenberg.

That hearing is just nine days before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

The Rangers are leading the American League West and have one of the best records in baseball. A pending sale could affect trade plans to stock up for a pennant run.

Lynn’s order comes two days after he ruled that the Rangers’ ownership and their creditors were adversely affected by the plan. He said that to avoid lenders’ killing the plan, the Rangers would have to restore some of their rights but would not have to give them more money.

The team later said it was confident that those changes could be made to accomplish that. Now it’s unclear if the Rangers will submit a modified plan before mediation.

Neither the Rangers nor their creditors immediately returned calls Thursday.

Creditors have argued that the team doesn’t just owe $75 million, but is obligated to pay more than $525 million in loans that team owner Tom Hicks’ ownership group defaulted on last year.

Creditors also have said that because the bankruptcy filing removed their rights to approve the team’s sale, the Rangers acted in bad faith, which would violate bankruptcy codes.

Last month’s filing was five months after the announcement of the team’s sale to the Greenberg-Ryan group, which has been stalled because of creditors’ concerns over the financially strapped Hicks Sports Group.