Baseball, enjoying its long standing as America's number one national pastime, could loose more than it wants to in filing a bankruptcy. And that's exactly what the Texas Rangers are facing in bankruptcy court right now. Because if the Rangers are found to be in "Bad Faith" it also takes down the entire Major Baseball League.
It doesn't happen very often in baseball. The Chicago Cubs dealt with it in 2009 but they were the first team in 39 years to do so.
So how does one file for bankruptcy and remain in good faith?
Filing for bankruptcy, just to get out of paying your overwhelming debts, is what the term, Bad Faith, applies to. Listing your assets are as important as listing your debts. The courts are there to help with the math; not to cheat your creditors.
But any bankruptcy, albeit in good or bad faith, can tarnish a person, a business, and, a team. How to change public perception of that? And just how soon can that tarnish be polished off?
How long was it before you went back to Wendy's fast food chain restaurant for chili after someone found a human finger in their bowl? We can still remember that episode, even though it occurred in 2005, and the way it hurt Wendy's reputation, irrevocably. The victim's fake lawsuit, that was thwarted quickly by police, still echoes of bad faith. Unfortunately no one remembers the names of the dining woman or her fingerless cohort, though the bad faith was their doing. It's Wendy's, like the Texas Rangers and Major Baseball League, that will foot the bill and the blame from negative publicity.
If we feel a stigma, will we readily spend our discretionary dollars on stadium seats if we can't even get past a bowl of chili?
Being honest with creditors and not hiding from responsibility - most would assume that the simple nature of filing for bankruptcy removes not only the debt but also the guilt surrounding it - appears to be a temptation. The term "angry creditors" doesn't have to affect our pocketbooks personally for it to affect our own feelings. As do other such negative connotations attached to bankruptcy terms and lawsuits.
Companies that have a history of filing repeat bankruptcy claims further the negativity surrounding it. No one likes a bad sport. How comfortable would you be in doing business again with one?
Sports figures are used to being traded from team to team, moving from state to state, even from their home country to another. Their personal salary affected by the bills racked up in their league. It's the owner's fault, some may say, but it's a stigma just the same for the Texas Rangers that even new owner and Hall of Famer, Nolan Ryan, can't hope to sweep away.
So are we hurting the game, the fans and the players after all? Would you follow an entire team once they've been moved and renamed following a bankruptcy? Maybe it's better to have a safe bankruptcy than a sorry excuse.
For more information about bankruptcy laws or to file for bankruptcy, click here to find a bankruptcy attorney near you.