The Royals "will miss their target date of July 6 for
selecting a new owner and instead now hope to complete the
process by the end of the season," according to Jeffrey
Flanagan of the K.C. STAR. Sources close to the sale said
that "a key sticking point" is how the sale will be taxed.
But Royals President Mike Herman said that elements are
missing from each prospective offer, such as the minimum
$75M bid and a commitment to keeping the team in Kansas
City. Herman: "We haven't yet found anyone who has all that
criteria." While a source said that the bids of E. Miles
Prentice's group and the Lamar Hunt-Western Resources group
were "north of the minimum," Flanagan reports that
negotiations over the classification of the sale -- as a
stock sale or an assets sale -- "could be keeping the bids
down." The Royals prefer a stock sale while the bidders
favor an assets sale (K.C. STAR, 6/26). In K.C., columnist
Jason Whitlock writes, "In my opinion, Herman delayed the
process for one reason: Lamar Hunt (and Western Resources)
is low-balling. He wants to buy the team for cheap. Hunt
has public sentiment on his side, and he's trying to
pressure Herman and the board into giving away the team for
less than it's market value" (K.C. STAR, 6/26).
