Flyers to pay late rent to Schaumburg, park district

When the Schaumburg Flyers are sold to a new owner next month, both the village of Schaumburg and Schaumburg Park District expect to receive about $580,000 for overdue rent payments at Alexian Field.

Schaumburg Village Manager Ken Fritz said an agreement has been negotiated for both local governments to be fully compensated for outstanding payments at the time of the closing.

Fritz said the overdue rent covers portions of 2007, 2008 and 2009, but that the Flyers' current ownership has been meeting its 2010 obligations, having recently paid $50,000.

While the village and park district did not originally receive explanations for the overdue payments, Fritz said that in anticipation of the coming sale the Flyers, current owners have been planning to make amends at the time of the closing.

However, negotiation of a sale did take longer than anticipated, Fritz said.

The Flyers' managing partner Rich Ehrenreich originally announced the team was for sale in February 2009, at the same time he revealed plans to partner with "Field of Dreams" star Kevin Costner for a new Northern League team - the Lake County Fielders - in Zion.

This week, Adriano Pedrelli of Glenview was announced as president and CEO of a group of investors that plan to buy the Flyers in July.

While Ehrenreich didn't offer a reason for the late payments, he said the team is doing well financially and by the end of the team's current 12th season, the Flyers will have paid almost $4 million in rent and more than $30 million to other vendors.

"It's a huge economic boost to the area," he said. "We've never been bailed out by anyone."

Rent payments to the village and park district help pay off the construction debt for Alexian Field, which they co-own. After the debt is retired in 2013, rent payments will be devoted to maintenance and other operations, Fritz said.