The Colorado Rockies held up their end of a sponsorship deal with Sports Authority and should be paid the nearly $350,000 owed, the baseball club told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Thursday.
In the fallout from its failure to reorganize in Chapter 11, Sports Authority has filed requests in federal bankruptcy court to cancel hundreds of sponsorship agreements, .
But even before the Englewood-based retail giant decided it could not emerge from bankruptcy whole, it stopped making payments on a sponsorship deal that started in 2011 and puts the company’s name on ticket backs and ballpark signs. It now owes the club slightly less than $350,000 for April, May and the first three days of June, attorneys for the Rockies wrote in a bankruptcy filing Thursday.
“The Colorado Rockies, however, have fulfilled their obligations under the sponsorship agreement and provided valuable services to (Sports Authority’s) bankruptcy estate, including promotional and marketing related services for debtor while debtor seeks to sell off its merchandise through the liquidating agent appointed by this court,” the attorneys wrote.
, and the company’s logo still hangs high on the Coors Field scoreboard, the Sports Authority name pops up on the rotational signage behind home plate, and the retailer’s now-useless coupons are printed on the back of Rockies home-game tickets.
The Rockies are seeking an administrative expense claim for these so-called “promotional services” provided to Sports Authority since it filed for bankruptcy, according to court records.
Rockies officials said they’ll try to make good on the ticket-back offers, with some restrictions, giving $10 off a purchase of $50 or more at the Colorado Rockies Dugout Stores through Oct. 31. A spokesman for the club did not reply to additional questions related to the sponsorship agreement.
A hearing on the contract rejections is scheduled for June 28.
Separately, Sports Authority is to sell its intellectual property, trademarks and . Sports Authority owes the Denver Broncos more than $2 million in missed sponsorship payments.
