Monday, June 15, 2009

Putting stock in the Sliders

A few comments on this blog have hinted that the Wild Things are going to sale stock in the team to the public. Well, if that's true, the Midwest Sliders seem to have beaten them to the punch.

Here's a story from Crain's Detroit Business about the Sliders' plan to sell up to $5 million in stock to help fund a new ballpark in Oakland County's Waterford Township. The move is a result of the team's ownership being unable to get bank funding for the project.

Shares will be $10 each and sold in blocks of 100.

The Sliders are awaiting awaiting federal Securities and Exchange Commission approval for the public offering.

The Sliders are playing this season in Ypsilanti, Mich., at Eastern Michigan University.

I tried attaching a link to the story but it kept redirecting to a subscription page. Here's part of the story:

Minor-league baseball's Sliders plan stock offering
By Bill Shea

Backers of a new local minor-league baseball team plan to sell up to $5 million in stock as part of a bid to raise funds for a new stadium in Oakland County's Waterford Township — a move forced by bank unwillingness to loan money for such a venture.

Owners of the Midwest Sliders in Ypsilanti, part of the independent 12-team Frontier League, are awaiting federal Securities and Exchange Commission approval for the Regulation A public offering. There is no approval timetable or sale date yet.

The money is needed to build a $9.5 million, 3,900-seat stadium on an 11-acre site to be called the Diamond at the Summit stadium, next to the Summit Place Mall, in 2010 — a plan that could be scaled back depending on how much the stock sale raises.

The original plan, announced early last year, was to use debt-financing to construct the stadium. The global economic crisis that erupted last September dried up the debt financing market, team President and CEO Rob Hilliard said, forcing the Sliders to explore alternatives.

“We're in the epicenter of the economic morass,” he said.

The goal now is to go the “Green Bay Packers route” and sell shares of the newly formed company in a bid to raise enough money for the stadium, Hilliard said.

The National Football League's Packers are the most widely known example of publicly owned teams, having been a nonprofit governed by a board since 1950. The Sliders will continue to have majority private owners who maintain controlling shares of the team.

Shares will be priced at $10 each and sold in blocs of 100, with a maximum of 500,000 shares for sale, said securities attorney Michael Raymond of the Ann Arbor office of Detroit-based law firm Dickinson Wright P.L.L.C., who is handling the deal for the Sliders.

Until the sale, it's impossible to know if enough people are interested in spending $1,000 to own a piece of such a team, but if there are it's a boon for the Sliders.

“It's perfect for the team owner if they can pull it off — lose no control, get the money, pay it back only if you feel like buying the shares back,” said Rodney Fort, professor of sports management at the University of Michigan.

As part of the public offering bid, backers converted the assets of the original ownership partnership, Baseball Heroes of Oakland County L.L.C., into $2.9 million worth of stock in Diamond Heroes of Southeast Michigan Inc., according to an SEC filing from March 31.

Backers already have invested $4 million in the project and hired Leonard Capital Markets of Troy and Dickinson Wright to raise the remainder, Hilliard said.

A parking deal was made with Timina L.L.C., which owns Summit Place Mall, for 800 spaces, and with Summit West Investments and Summit North Investments for 500 spaces.

The Sliders are averaging a league-worst 246 fans per game over eight home games this year at Oestrike Stadium, their temporary home on Eastern Michigan University's campus, according to league statistics. The Southern Illinois Miners lead the league with 24,873 fans at six home games, or 4,146 per game.

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13 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sounds like throwing good money after bad money to me. Just as it would be with the Wild Things.
With the ownership group keeping 51% of the stock the suckers that purchase stock will have NO say in any decesion making.
Just another Frontier League flim-flam!
Working hard to get the real story about Mylan, and the Wild Things. Something stinks!
Snoopy

Sorry about posting to the wrong thread a few minutes ago.

June 15, 2009 at 3:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wilson Keep on it Snoopy
As Alexander Hamilton said, “Those who stand for nothing fall for anything”!
When you show up on opening day the Wild Things call you “the greatest fans in baseball” (How original).
When you oppose artificial grass, you are called a “purist”.
I my case, they were a lot less kind than that. I was called a lot of things that I would not say about them.
They sure as Hell aren’t “pure” IMHO.
Most of you ‘stood for nothing’ on the turf issue and now you will be buying their million dollar turf for them. Most of you ‘fell’ for the cock and bull story about why they took the money!
Ron Wilson

June 15, 2009 at 4:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who is Mylan? What does he have to do with this?
Laura T

June 15, 2009 at 4:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I predict even more trouble from Ernie Banks before too long. He is just another black player with a chip on his shoulder.

June 15, 2009 at 4:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I knew Ronnie couldn't stay "nice" for long. Back to his old mudslinging again I see. I can't recall him being declared anything near as callous as the things he constantly articulates on this blog about others. Of course he is a master of the pronoun (they, them, you, etc.).

June 15, 2009 at 4:40 PM  
Blogger Swisscheda said...

From the Frontier League site:
WASHINGTON WILD THINGS: Signed INF David Anderson; released INF Joe Spiers

Chris, is this guy from Coastal Carolina? What position(s)? Middle infield, corners, maybe both?

Regarding the article, I noticed that the Sliders attendance is averaging 246 per game. Well, look on the bright side....at least they've doubled their average from their season in Slippery Rock...ugh. Call me crazy, but it's probably a bad time to ask people for money to build a stadium in Michigan these days.

June 15, 2009 at 5:44 PM  
Anonymous Thriftyone said...

The nice thing about this is the stadium is being built with private money.
If they choose a turf field, it will be private money, not taxpayers money.
I hope the country music act in July at (Taxpayers Field) will not ruin the grass. Can you imagine cleaning the turf after a rodeo?

June 15, 2009 at 5:49 PM  
Anonymous Obuma said...

It looks like the Wild Things management is on Ron Wilson's butt again based on the comment from Anonymous.

June 15, 2009 at 5:51 PM  
Anonymous WPA Redneck said...

The Wild Things lost tonight.
That makes their record 7 wins and 15 losses.
Are they dead?

June 15, 2009 at 6:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dead ....dead.....dead. Call Cyerl Wecht. Sorry if I butchered the spelling.

June 15, 2009 at 7:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ONLY 2 more days til the THINGS come home, can't wait to get out to the ballpark for $1 beers on Thursday night. Bought my ticket online because I know Falconi Field will be packed after a 9 day road trip!

June 16, 2009 at 8:05 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I knew Ronnie couldn't stay "nice" for long"

"Nice" and a dollar won't even get you a cup of coffee at CEP!

June 16, 2009 at 11:26 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

With all the sponsors the WT have, you would think that a few of them would see the benefit
of pooling funds and paying for the turf. The WT could then return the taxpayers money. What does Consol Energy get for the naming rights at the ballpark? Why can’t the Canonsburg drug manufacturer kick in some moola? They are NOT going broke down there! Think of all the public good will that would generate!
The answer is that these jokers (Mylan and Consol) have lobbyist scurrying all around the halls of the State legislature convincing all the crooked politicians that the WT are in deep do-do and need the financial help.
Forget the fact that Mylan executives are major players in the WT ownership group. That sort of has an odor doesn’t it?
Have any of you ever considered just how much money a million dollars is? But why should these sponsors be willing to do anything when they can convince the ‘challenged for integrity’ politicians to get YOU to pay for it? What ever happened to succeeding, or failing on your own? Well, that went out the window when they figured most of us would not say a word about how our tax money is spent! Unfortunately, they seem to have been right!
Snoopy

June 16, 2009 at 12:11 PM  

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