Sports Authority will not "come out of bankruptcy as an independent company and instead wants to sell off all its holdings," according to a front-page piece by Aldo Svaldi of the DENVER POST. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath, concerned that "money from liquidation sales was going to pay off certain creditors and not others, threatened to push the case into Chapter 7, under which a trustee would oversee liquidation." However, Walrath "postponed that decision until a May 3 hearing to give creditors more time to decide whom they want to direct the liquidation." Either way, a liquidation "makes it much more likely that Sports Authority Field at Mile High will carry a different name" when the Broncos take the field next season. Creditors "weren't willing to "allow the company to continue making large purchases, something required to keep stocking the shelves in even a reduced number of stores." Plan B, which "will now be pursued, involves selling off all the company's assets to the highest bidders" (DENVER POST, 4/27). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Peg Brickley noted a May 16 auction "is set for the bulk of Sports Authority's operations." Meanwhile, "'major' potential bidders are looking over Sports Authority's assets, including its best stores." But there are "no guarantees any of the stores will stay in operation." The announcement that Sports Authority is "throwing in the towel came at the start of a fight over bankruptcy financing that pits the company and its senior lenders against landlords and vendors that consigned goods for sale" (WSJ.com, 4/26).
