Judge OKs Fowler’s Bid for Sockers

A bid by Ron Fowler to purchase the six-time indoor champion Sockers was approved in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Friday, making it almost certain that indoor soccer will again be played in San Diego this winter.

Judge Peter W. Bowie, noting that no others had attempted to purchase the team and ruling that Fowler did not stand to gain financially despite the structure of his offer, accepted Fowler’s $470,000 bid. The decision put an end to more than three months of speculation concerning the future of the Major Indoor Soccer League’s defending champions.

“If there’s a league, there will be soccer in San Diego next season,” said Fowler, who was managing general partner of the Sockers last season. “And from everything we’ve heard, the owners of all seven franchises are ready, willing and able to go forward.”

Bill Kentling, the MISL commissioner, said everything will be official by Aug. 11, the deadline for each team to post a $400,000 letter of credit to the league. Socker President Ron Cady said he made arrangements Friday afternoon for the Sockers’ letter of credit.

Published reports said the league has already received letters of credit from at least four other teams.

“All I’ll say is that on Aug. 11, we’ll have seven letters of credit,” Kentling said.

Kentling said current league owners will talk Thursday and will vote to officially admit Fowler’s new San Diego franchise into the league. Also, Kentling said, the league will vote to accept a new franchise in Tacoma. Jim Manza’s investment group in that city Friday received clearance from Washington’s Securities Commission to go forward.

“At this point, it’s just a formality to accept San Diego and Tacoma,” Kentling said.

For Fowler and the Sockers, who originally filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 protection April 25, it has been anything but a formality to get his far.

Fowler has made four bids since June 17, and Friday was the fourth day this month that he has spent in court. But at 12:30 p.m., at the end of a 90-minute hearing, Fowler finally got the go-ahead.

“Now we can get moving forward with our plans for next season,” Fowler said. “As far as our bid in court is concerned, this is a victory for us. But it’s only the first step. There’s still much to be done.”

Of the $470,000 offer, $150,000 will be paid in cash and distributed among several outside creditors who are owed almost $1 million. The remaining $320,000 will be assumed by Fowler’s new team ownership--San Diego Indoor Soccer Limited Partners--to cover loans made by Fowler’s Liquid Investments Inc. to the Sockers since the bankruptcy was filed.

Bowie said Fowler’s offer had to meet five criteria, the most important of which, it seemed, was that it was made in “good faith.”

Fowler had originally offered $825,000 for the team, but he lowered the bid two weeks ago after several MISL franchises folded and it became apparent that an indoor soccer team wasn’t worth as much as he originally intended to pay.

“This was an interesting situation, considering Mr. Fowler was both the buyer and the person whose company (Liquid Investments) stood to gain most of the money from the purchase,” Bowie said. “However, since it was shown that neither Mr. Fowler nor any other person or group figures to make any money out of this, it is the court’s opinion that his offer was made in good faith.”

James Munak, the attorney representing Golden Eagle Insurance Co., had argued during Friday’s hearing that Fowler was trying to gain an advantage for Liquid Investments Inc. by the way his offer was structured. Golden Eagle Insurance is owed nearly $260,000 by the Sockers and, as a result of the bankruptcy, doesn’t figure to see much of that money.

“It was a little hard having your character impugned by somebody,” Fowler said. “And I was getting frustrated. But I’m happy to say that, in the end, everything worked out.”

That’s because Bowie ruled that Fowler’s bid met also met the other criteria:

--That the bid made sound business sense. Since the league is on the verge of awarding a new franchise in Tacoma while waiving the $1 million franchise fee, Bowie said it made sense for Fowler to lower his original offer. Bowie went as far as to suggest that Fowler probably could have withdrawn his offer and tried to start all over getting a new franchise for free.

“We decided to go ahead with our bid, because that was the direction we had been taking all along,” Fowler said.

--That Fowler’s group had given enough notice to other potential buyers.

--That Fowler’s offer of $470,000 was a reasonable price.

--That Fowler’s offer was structured in a manner acceptable to the court.

“There is no feasible basis to conclude that anybody could be a benefactor if this offer was not accepted or it was altered,” Bowie said. “For that reason, the court will allow Mr. Fowler’s offer to stand.”