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Today's article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram. I think this is what everyone was fearing. It doesn't look good...
http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/1666738.html
It does provide proof that Carl Bell wasn't making all this money that people thought he was. I have been trying to tell everyone that...now maybe more people will understand.

It is very difficult to separate rumors from reality unless you are the source yourself. I firmly believe that the Cats will be back next year. This is based not on the rumors or facts that I heard but based on the following details.

1. If LaGrave and all of the surrounding acres are purchased from Carl Bell by a real estate developer(s) they are not going to rush to bulldoze down LaGrave. It is a consensus here in Fort Worth that the development of this land is not going to happen immediately no matter who is the owner. It would cost a lot of money to remove LaGrave Field. No matter who purchases the land I expect this would be one of the last things to occur. It is all about the time value of money...
2. Therefore, if LaGrave is still standing there will be minor league and college (Texas Wesleyan University uses it as their home field) baseball played. The Cats are dying from the DEBT SERVICE and property taxes on LaGrave. It is impossible to turn a profit for the Fort Worth Cats (or probably most any other independent minor league team other than the Saints) by owning a newer facility. Most stadiums are owned by the City/County. They lease it to the team at approromately the amount that it would be accessed in property taxes. If the Cats had this deal, I am sure they could operate in the black. So, if Carl Bell has to give up LaGrave due to large outstanding loans to a bank as reported by the FW Star Telegram then the team would no longer be burdened by the debt service. It may very well go into a type of receivership with zero interest. There are also many other possibilities with this that I will not go into.
3. This leads me to believe that the City and other community leaders will work together to keep LaGrave open because whoever owns the team, they can operate it at no cost to the City if the only costs are true team expenses and nominal lease payments. The lien holder(s)or the City would still come out ahead because they would collect some rent from the use of the facilities. A couple of hundred thousand of dollars in rent is better than zero!
4. Additionally, the facility can be used for many other City uses as I described in a previous message on this topic.

So, the Fort Worth Cats will be playing baseball next year. The only question is who will be running the operations and determining ticket prices, etc. Once that is determined all of us season ticket holders will be getting our renewal notices, etc.

You Heard it Here First!

If it were up to me. I would run the Cats with a lean and mean staff. I would want John Bilbow to remain at the GM to oversee the day-to-day operations and I would want John Dittrich available to John Bilbow for any assistance he may need on more complicated matters. It will then all work out very well and run very smoothly for at least several years

Now with that said, I do believe that in five to ten years the Cats will be gone from their current location because the real estate will be to valuable to leave them there. Unless, they could somehow become an affiliated team within that time frame, then they will remain!

There was an article about Carl Bell's "unfulfilled dreams" in the Sunday's Fort Worth Star Telegram. I could not get the link to paste. Go to Fort Worth Star Telegram, Sports, Columnists, Jim Reeves and you can read about it on their website. Maybe can someone else can get it to paste.

I am sorry if I have only posted information that everyone knows...I guess it has been other places where I have been reading/hearing that the Cats would not have any financial problems if not for the travel costs, salaries, etc. of the American Association. As everyone here apparently knows that these are not at all the significant financial issues. Those can be easily overcome. The property taxes can also be overcome.

I was trying to provide points as to why I think we can believe that the American Association will have the Cats as a team next year. No one currently knows the final outcome for sure. As the above article points out the Bank(s), City governmental entities and potential buyer(s) are trying to work all of this out. The Bank is the controlling entity. Carl Bell can tell them what he hopes to see and he can then tell the American Association what he expects to see from these conversations but he nor no one else knows for sure until the sales transactions are finalized and the new Owner(s) make a decision. I have been in these behind closed doors meetings so many times and have witnessed a plan of action and something completely different was told to the public outside those doors. It is all about people trying to spin things these days. Additionally, sometimes they didn't know what they were going to actually do but they had to say something. Sometimes they changed their plan of action within days after the initial decision.

Also, I have not checked the size of the Bank that the estimated $35 million loan is with per a prior Star Telegram article. For the dollar amount of the loan involved there may also be other participating banks involved due to legal lending limits in place based upon the capital (book equity) of the financial institution.

Finally, I don't think we will have any real facts until the sale occurs. Until then, it is all speculation because those who do know what is going on are not allowed to speak about it without dire financial consequences. I know this for a fact...I am one who does not know...only speculating.