Dallas Stars Sale & Bankruptcy: Courts Approve Bidding Procedures

Earlier this afternoon the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware approved of the bidding procedures proposed by the Dallas Stars, the NHL and Tom Gaglardi, essentially approving the timetable we've been speculating on since the team filed for bankruptcy last week. Today's hearing was intended to gain approval of the specific bidding procedures as part of the Stalking Horse bid by Gaglardi, including the auction timeline and procedures as such.

Currently, the deadline for any qualifying bids to be made before the court is October 22, with an objection deadline to the bids on October 25. 

For a bid to be considered a "qualifying bid", the potential buyer must be pre-approved by the NHL and the courts and the bid must be at least $10 million more in worth than that of Gaglardi's big, which is valued at around $260 million. If more than one bid is approved by the court, then an auction will take place on November 21, with the winning bidder being confirmed in a combined hearing on November 23.

Currently, there have been no bids presented to the court but we've learned that both Doug Miller and Chuck Greenberg are certainly interested in making a bid if at all feasible. I wouldn't expect there to be a bid made until just before the deadline, based on the complexity of the sale agreement.

Either way, we'll have a new owner of the Dallas Stars just in time for Thanksgiving.