Back when Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, regional chain Modell’s reportedly wanted a piece of the business being abandoned. The chain briefly considered teaming up with a British sports retailer to take over some stores. The deal didn’t work out, and Modell’s didn’t bid on any store leases in the bankruptcy auction, either. However, the chain will now be opening a showcase store in what used to be Sports Authority’s last store in Manhattan. [More]
sports authority bankruptcy
Sports Authority Bankruptcy Judge Approves Bonus Plan After All
By 9.1.16
You may remember the news from earlier this month when the bankruptcy court judge handling the case of defunct retailer Sports Authority denied the company’s request to pay a total of $2.85 million in bonuses to remaining executives. The company proposed a much smaller package for fewer executives, and apparently explained the purpose better this time, since the judge approved the package this time. [More]
Broncos And Mile High Stadium Take Back Naming Rights From Sports Authority
By 8.19.16
While pocket knives and parkas flew off the shelves at Sports Authority’s going out of business sales, and foosball table, desk chairs, and iMacs flew out of its former headquarters building through Craigslist ads, one of the bankrupt company’s assets didn’t sell: the naming contract for the field where the Denver Broncos play, which the chain had bought in 2011. It’s now official: the team and the stadium district have agreed to terms and effectively bought back the rights from the defunct retailer. [More]
Sports Authority Asks For Smaller Non-Bonuses For 3 Remaining Executives
By 8.11.16
Perhaps Sports Authority’s attorneys should have anticipated that the public and the chain’s former employees’ reaction to the news that the company wanted to distribute bonuses to some of its executives. Even the judge in the retailer’s bankruptcy case had harsh words about the bonus proposal. The company has filed another motion, though, seeking smaller bonuses and explaining that they are not, in fact, a reward for running the business into the ground. [More]
Bankruptcy Judge In Sports Authority Case Rejects Bonuses For Executives
By 8.2.16
U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge Mary Walrath may be a new folk hero. She’s the judge handling the Sports Authority case, and today she ruled that four Sports Authority executives will not receive a combined $2.85 million in bonuses that the company claims are incentives. Incentives for running the company into the ground? [More]
NM Politician Spots New, Destroyed Sneakers In Trash At Sports Authority Store Closing Sale
By 7.29.16
Politicians are regular people who do mundane things like check out store-closing sales at national sporting goods retailers. A New Mexico state representative spotted shoes that had been deliberately destroyed tossed in the dumpster outside of a closing Albuquerque Sports Authority store, and was angry that good shoes had deliberately been destroyed. [More]
Consignment Deals Don’t Work So Well When Retailers Go Bankrupt
By 7.28.16
It’s time for retailers to start placing their orders for the items that will be on shelves during this holiday season, but one thing may be different from last year: they may be ordering less merchandise on consignment after millions of dollars’ worth of merchandise was stuck in legal limbo during the bankruptcy of big-box sporting goods retailer Sports Authority. [More]
Sports Authority Stores Closing Early Because People Actually Bought Things At Liquidation Prices
By 7.20.16
If Sports Authority’s management ever wondered whether its pricing was appropriate, it now has the answer, thanks to the company’s going-out-of-business sales: customers flocked to the chain once everything was marked down. Employees of stores near the chain’s headquarters in the suburbs of Denver told the Denver Post that the sales attracted lots of customers, and merchandise sold out more quickly than anticipated. [More]
Sports Authority Hurrying To Close Stores Faster Than Originally Planned
By 7.19.16
When Sports Authority failed to find a buyer for any of its stores that wasn’t a liquidator, the company began its going-out-of-business sales at all of its stores. Back then, the company predicted that the sale would past roughly all summer, meaning that remaining retail employees would have jobs for about that long. Now, the chain reportedly hopes to wrap things up at the end of July. [More]
Sports Authority Taking Bids For Broncos Stadium Naming Rights Again
By 7.14.16
Mile High is a fantastic name for a sporting venue, so you can’t blame the people of Denver for for wanting to keep it for the stadium where the Broncos play. Instead, the entity that runs the stadium sells the naming rights to the football field, which the now-defunct sporting goods retailer Sports Authority bought in 2011. After not selling in the company’s intellectual property auction, the naming rights are for sale separately. Bids are due on Tuesday, July 19, at 3 PM Mountain time. If you’re interested. [More]
Sports Authority Almost Had To Shut Down Liquidating Stores, Still Pays Millions In Bonuses
By 7.13.16
Defunct sporting goods retailer Sports Authority almost had to shut down its liquidation sale early, having run out of cash. Instead, they made a last-minute deal with lenders to keep the liquidation sales going. Don’t worry, though: executives will still get a total of $2.85 million in bonuses. [More]
Bankruptcy Court Resolves Another Dispute Between Sports Authority And Consignment Vendors
By 7.8.16
Sports Authority had a problem as it wound down business at its first batch of stores closed after it filed for bankruptcy protection: they hadn’t sold everything, and needed to either leave merchandise behind for landlords to deal with, or send it back to vendors. The problem was that the vendors and the company’s lenders disagreed on who should get the proceeds of selling that merchandise: the vendors it belonged to, or the lenders who are supposed to get paid as the bankrupt sporting goods retailer sells everything off. [More]
Report: Dick’s Bids For Sports Authority Stores, Modell’s And Sports Direct Don’t
By 6.27.16
One interesting possibility in the bankruptcy auction for the stores of debt-laden retailer Sports Authority was that a partnership between Northeastern sporting-goods chain Modell’s and a United Kingdom retailer, Sports Direct, might take over between 100 and 200 stores and open some kind of joint venture. Now that the bids for store leases are in, we know that the companies didn’t do that, but competitor Dick’s Sporting Goods bid on 17 stores that Sports Authority is leaving behind. [More]
Reminder: You Have Until Tuesday To Use Your Sports Authority Gift Cards
By 6.24.16
If you still have a Sports Authority gift card lurking somewhere in your papers, it’s time to pull it out and spend it on some ski pants or a camping knife or something. As the company’s business winds down, the last day that its remaining stores and website will accept gift cards is Tuesday, June 28, 2016. [More]
Report: Sports Authority Might Sell Stores To Modell’s And UK’s Sports Direct
By 6.21.16
At their recent bankruptcy auction, the winner of the inventory in Sports Authority stores was a trio of liquidators, not the company’s competitors. Other chains didn’t want to take on hundreds of stores at a precarious time in the sporting goods business. A new report, however, indicates that United Kingdom retailer Sports Direct might team up with Modell’s, a chain in the northeastern United States, to bid on at least a hundred store leases in one go. [More]
Rockies Want Sponsorship Money From Sports Authority, Say They’re Promoting Liquidation Sales
By 6.13.16
Five years ago, Sports Authority signed a sponsorship deal with their hometown major league baseball team, the Colorado Rockies. They’d become the team’s “exclusive sporting goods retailer,” and the team would put ads for them in the stadium, on the backs of tickets, and in stadium programs. These ads have stayed up since Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy, and the team wants the retailer to pay up for the two and a half months that the ads have remained up. [More]
Sports Authority Prepares To Auction Off Its Name, Your Name, Broncos Stadium Naming Rights
By 6.9.16
When a company files for bankruptcy protection and goes out of business, it sells off everything it owns with any value. That includes your name, if you’re on the retailer’s mailing list or part of their loyalty card program. Even the company’s own name goes up on the auction block. In the case of Sports Authority, the bankrupt company’s intellectual property includes the right to plaster their name on the field where the NFL’s Denver Broncos play. [More]
Let’s Check Out An Actual Store-Closing Sale At A Sports Authority Store
By 6.2.16
We always tell readers not to rush out to store-closing sales until later on, if at all, since the deep discounts and brightly colored signs hide discounts that aren’t that great. Over the holiday weekend, Consumerist stopped by a Sports Authority store to find out how the store-closing sale is going. What we learned: there isn’t a big market for University of Georgia Christmas sweaters in upstate New York, especially in late May. [More]
