No moving trucks expected at Alexian Field Sunday

Sunday was supposed to be moving day for the Schaumburg Flyers’ current owners, evicted from the village-owned Alexian Field 10 days earlier for failing to pay hundreds of thousands in rent.

But the government landlords of the baseball stadium are so thick into negotiations with a potential buyer of the minor league ballclub and several other interested parties, that getting the Flyers out of the stadium is not a priority.

“We haven’t really been focusing on that because the Flyers selling the team hasn’t been ruled out,” Schaumburg Village Manager Ken Fritz said.

Over the past week, the village and Schaumburg Park District, which co-own Alexian Field, have been meeting with about a half dozen parties interested in bringing a baseball team the stadium.

One of them is the group to whom the Flyers’ current owners, led by managing partner Rich Ehrenreich, are trying to sell the team.

Though the village and park district have met with several potential buyers over the past year, none got as far in negotiations as the current group, Fritz said.

For marketing reasons at least, a sale of the Flyers would still be the best option for the stadium, Fritz said. But because Ehrenreich’s group is no longer the lease holder of the stadium, all offers have to be considered equally.

There are three options for finding a team for Alexian Field, with the pace of the negotiations likely determining the outcome, Fritz said.

Option one is for the Flyers to be sold to a new owner and begin their season in the independent North American League as scheduled.

Option two is for an entirely new team to be forged by a different group of investors soon enough to begin play in 2011.

The third option is for a new team to be identified sometime later this year and not begin play until 2012, allowing more time for startup marketing. In the meantime, other baseball events and activities would be booked at Alexian Field for the summer of 2011, Fritz said.

Ehrenreich could not be reached for comment on the village’s plans or his own efforts to sell the Flyers.

A Cook County judge officially evicted his team from Alexian Field on Feb. 24 and ordered team ownership to pay $551,828.92 in overdue rent. The village and park district sued the team early in the offseason over nearly $1 million in unpaid rent and other fees.

Ehrenreich has been hoping to sell the Flyers since announcing his startup of the Zion-based Lake County Fielders with actor Kevin Costner in 2009.

The village and park district expect to receive full payment of the rent as part of the team’s sale, and postponed litigation for months in hopes it would increase the likelihood of finding a new owner for the Flyers.