Astros, Les Alexander may owe Comcast at least $54 million

Normally, these things would come out of operating expenses of the team as owner isn't going to want to write a big personal check. However, Crane got a few things for buying the Astros besides the team. He got a portion of CSN-H and also a portion of what is now called BamTech. Revenue from portion of BamTech sold to Disney would cover the CSN-H losses and Crane would still have money left from BamTech sale. Money from BamTech sale was likely not going to the Astros baseball operations as baseball operations (i.e., not available for payroll) had nothing to do with BamTech.

It really depends on how Crane wants to operate the shell game of money.

 

A golden middle finger would seem appropriate.

 

FYI, AT&T Sportsnet has an app available to stream Astros and Rockets game online.

https://southwest-attsn.att.com/att-sportsnet-app/

Just need your cable provider info for login purposes. Thanks Bull for highlighting this a couple nights ago during your in-game broadcast!

 

Does anyone have a log-in they'd like to share with a PSVue user like myself?

 

Serves them right for the way they "screwed" over the fans. I used to get Rocket's games on Fox Sports SW, now it is the Mavs. Can you imagine how awful that is? And the Rangers?

 

Drayton McLane can eat a ass.

 

Rich guy problems.

 

I wonder when the Astros rights agreement with ATT is up? It would behoove Crane to ensure the team is really good when the rights come up for negotiation again.

Edit: looks like the rights don’t come up again until 2032. Ouch.

 

One of the most wtf conspiracy theories I've read and I read the D&D.

 

Just stream the games from reddit and cast from your phone to your TV. Never miss a game dude.

 

Seems like this would be a really difficult thing to prove unless he actually had some witness testimony claiming there was an overt strategy to tank for the purposes of hurting the network.

 

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/te...sNet-Houston-Astros-Rockets-suit-17515336.php

The Astros, Rockets and Comcast have agreed to settle their decade-long legal dispute stemming from the collapse of Comcast SportsNet Houston, ending Comcast’s efforts to seek tens of millions from the teams and clearing the way for the Astros to focus their efforts to regain part of their lost investment on a lawsuit against former team owner Drayton McLane.

The agreement, filed Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, will dismiss Comcast’s pending claims against the teams to regain $74 million of a $100 million secured loan used to start the failed network in 2012 and a lawsuit in which the Astros, former Rockets owner Leslie Alexander and other creditors sought damages from Comcast for CSN Houston’s demise.

It also dismisses Comcast as a defendant in a case, now pending before the Texas Supreme Court, filed in late 2013 by the Astros against McLane and Comcast. That suit alleges that owner Jim Crane and his partners were misled about the potential value of CSN Houston when they purchased the team and its share of the network from McLane in 2011.

Financial details of the agreement were redacted from the motion made available for public view. The teams and Comcast have asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Isgur to seal those details, and the agreement specifies that the only public comment will be that “the parties have reached a settlement that fully resolves their disputes relating to the Houston Regional Sports Network.”

The agreement eliminates the need for a scheduled January 2023 hearing in which Isgur would be asked for a second time to determine if Comcast deserved payment from the Astros and Alexander, who retained his interest in the case after selling the Rockets to Tilman Fertitta in 2017, for the balance of its $100 million startup loan used to launch the network.

Isgur ruled in 2014 that the teams did not owe the loan balance to Comcast, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2018 vacated the decision and ordered a rehearing. That rehearing was scheduled for March 2020 but was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the issue has anguished in limbo since then.

[…]

The Astros’ case against McLane, however, continues. In a case filed in the fall of 2013, Crane’s Houston Baseball Partners investment group claimed that McLane misled them about the value of CSN Houston, which accounted for more than half of the value of the $640 million that Crane paid McLane in 2011.

McLane denied the allegations and sought to have the suit dismissed, but that claim was rejected by a Harris County district court judge. McLane appealed to the 14th state Court of Appeals and, when his appeal failed, to the state Supreme Court.

The high court is scheduled to hear McLane’s latest appeal Oct. 25.

 

Every time this pops up I realize I had forgotten all about this mess, even though it was such a big deal for so long back then. I guess the Astros success really does heal all wounds.

Also, looking back at these old articles, pretty cool to see that while Crane and his group spent $680MM on the Astros and their piece of this network back then, the team itself is valued at $1.85B now (per a quick Google search). Even with the network going belly up, that seems like a pretty good return on his investment.

 

I do wonder how much of the McLane suit money is being counted on when setting player payroll budgets. Crane could end up getting $200M (or more) out of that suit, and you’ve got to imagine at least some of that would get filtered back into the team, if it wasn’t already accounted for.

 

All I know is that I can't get the Astros on the only dependable cable network in my area like I could before that fiasco. I really could not care less which Billionaire loses $100M.

I just want to be able to see my Astros without taking out a second mortgage.

 

Might this mean the Astros will finally be broadcast on a network I can see with my Spectrum Cable account in Austin? Ridiculous that Root Sports is not available, but if that’s the case, would prefer a network partner more widely available

 

No - nothing is changing with the Astros' TV deal.

 

You gotta get direct tv or U-verse in Austin
It's really the only reason I have cable

 

So you're saying it will still be LOUSY.