Taking a break from the Draft, let's link to a Forbes article by Mike Ozanian, reporting that Bank of America (who has my meager checking account) is "only" financing $220m of Jim Crane's $680m purchase of the Astros, with BoA learning a deep lesson that probably impacts me as a BoA user:
With bankruptcy being mentioned as possibility, who knows if Bank of America will get its money back from McCourt?
BOA has apparently learned its lesson. The bank is reportedly loaning Jim Crane just $220 million towards his $680 milli0n purchase of the Houston Astros from billionaire Drayton McLane, or only about one-third of the enterprise value. Although the deal is still highly leveraged by MLB’s guidelines, it is much better capitalized than McCourt’s purchase of the Dodgers.
BOA’s prudence may come in handy given attendance for the Astros at Minute Maid Park is down 4% from last season.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
