Texas Rangers Lay Off Staff Members

June 17, 2009 – 12:40 pm – No Comment

The Dallas/Fort Worth-based Texas Rangers Major League Baseball organization has laid off several staff members from its front office team. This comes about two weeks after Tom Hicks, the Rangers’ owner, said he was looking to sell the team. Rangers spokesman John Blake said yesterday that only 10 percent of the staff was laid off. He also said that the potential sale of the team was one of several factors that created the layoffs. Before staff was cut, the Rangers had about 275 employees, including personnel whose jobs are on the field.

The layoffs came despite a spike of ticket sales and attendance. Fan attendance has increased to 867,016, about 11 percent over the same time last year, as of yesterday’s game against the Houston Astros, the opening game of a three-game interleague series.

Last month, Hicks said that he would be willing to sell controlling interest in the Rangers organization, due in part because to financial problems he is facing. Earlier this year, Hicks Sports Group, the corporate name for Hicks’ sports endeavors, defaulted on $525 million in loans backed by the Rangers and the NHL’s Dallas Stars. Hicks also owns the Stars.

Hicks bought the Rangers for $250 million in 1998. The previous controlling interest was owned by former U.S. President George W. Bush. Since then, he reorganized the team several times, once spurring the signing of shortstop (since turned third baseman) Alex Rodriguez, and then another time spurring a trade to the New York Yankees, an American League competitor.

In February of 2008, Hicks brought in 62-year-old Nolan Ryan as president of the team. Ryan is a Hall of Fame pitcher who rose to fame as the ace of the several pitching rotations including the New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers, even though he is best known with the Rangers.

Last month, Forbes valued the Rangers organization at $405 million, which places them at 15th out of the 30 Major League Baseball teams. Two years ago, Hicks combined with Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett Jr. to buy the English soccer club Liverpool through a different entity than Hicks Sports Group.