According to Texas Rangers’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, the MLB baseball team spent lavishly on its employees before the team was forced into bankruptcy when Tom Hicks’ Hicks Sports Group defaulted on $524 million in loans.
Each of the Texas Rangers’ 320 full-time employees gets 120 game ticket vouchers a season.
Twenty-two thousand Lexus vehicles park free during the season thanks to a sponsorship between the auto brand and the team.
The club’s preferred provider health plan has an annual premium of $2.1 million, with about $367,000 coming from employees and the balance from the team.
And the Rangers pay seasonal employees a total of about $62,500 per home game in hourly wages, not including overtime.
Currently, Hicks is attempting to sell the embattled sports team; but many of those perks may go to the wayside. Creditors who want to receive as much of their debts owed as possible, are already balking at the perks and incentives offered to Texas Rangers employees. And besides, if the Texas Rangers want to make it out of bankruptcy in tack and look attractive to potential buyers they will need to trim much of the fat out of their budget.
The sale of the Texas Rangers has already garnered the ire of secured creditors; but at least 15 prospective buyers and investors have shown an interest in buying the baseball team. The Texas Rangers’ secured lenders, who oppose a sale of the team and Major League Baseball (MLB) are already in a bidding war to determine who will provide the team with the Chapter 11 bankruptcy financing. The MLB offered a loan of $20 million which was countered by a $40 million loan offer from secured creditors which could be used to repay the team’s debts to the MLB. By providing the financing for the Texas Rangers’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the secured lenders will better position themselves in the bankruptcy process.