Schaumburg Flyers sale anticipated in December
Schaumburg Flyers Managing Partner Rich Ehrenreich expects to make an announcement in December regarding the long-awaited sale of the team.
“The sales negotiations are progressing very well,” Ehrenreich said Tuesday. “We feel very confident we'll have an announcement in a week or so.”
A sale would not only leave Ehrenreich able to concentrate fully on the Lake County Fielders the team he co-owns with “Field of Dreams” star Kevin Costner but also yield the approximately $920,000 in overdue rent and interest the Flyers owe Schaumburg and Schaumburg Park District for the use of Alexian Field.
Reports of an imminent sale Tuesday left Schaumburg officials cautiously optimistic.
“Anything is possible,” Village Manager Ken Fritz said. “I don't have direct information that would confirm or deny that. In the past, they've had a number of potential deals that didn't work out, but we're hopeful.”
The village and park district filed suit against the team in mid-November to protect their financial interests, concerned by the fact that the promised sale was taking longer than expected, Fritz said.
Ehrenreich said that while the lawsuit wasn't helpful to the sale process, all the parties involved including the potential buyers understand the situation and are working together in good faith.
Another stumbling blocks to the sale was resolved in November with the Flyers and Fielders being accepted by the new, nationwide North American League. The Northern League, to which the Flyers have belonged since 1999, dropped to only four teams after the 2010 season.
The North American League is expected to have between 16 to 20 teams for the 2011 season with further expansion to occur in 2012.
While the Northern League saw play mostly among Midwestern teams, the new league could take the Flyers as far as California or Hawaii.
“I don't think we mind where we'll go as long as it's one extended road trip,” Ehrenreich said.
He imagines such a road trip would include 13 or 14 games in the most distant cities of the league, while the rotation of home and away games with other Midwestern teams would remain much the same as Flyers fans have seen in the past.