It was reported Friday by a website called FINALTERNATIVES that Tom Hicks‘  holding company that owns the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars defaulted on $525 million in loans, but there was no independent confirmation.

Well, there’s confirmation now, and Hicks says that not only has his company defaulted on the loans, but he did it on purpose in order to renegotiate the terms of the loans. Somehow, Hicks maintains that none of this will affect any of his teams in any way, even as word has leaked out that he’s attempting to sell minority stakes in his team.

Hicks of course is well-known for signing Alex Rodriguez to a 10-year, $252 million contract that resulted in the Rangers still sucking and Hicks having to ship A-Rod out of town three years into the deal.

As for this somehow not affecting Hicks’ teams, OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY makes a pretty good point:

Hicks admits he is seeking minority owners for the franchises. I don’t see how these financial problems CAN’T affect the teams Hicks owns. In a few months it will be the time of year when NHL teams sign free agents or try to retain those players they have now. If these teams are unable to pay for a loan, how will they be able to compete in the player market?

One of the biggest things that keeps fans coming back year after year to watch their teams is an expectation — or at least a hope — that the team is doing everything it can to compete for a championship. And I can’t imagine that defaulting on a loan is going to inspire confidence in Rangers and Stars fans that their owner is going to pony up the necessary cash to sign players that will allow them to compete.

OTB has a portion of an AP article with some comments from Hicks:

“What we want is the banks to allow us to use our interest revenue,” Hicks said. “We need 51 percent approval, which we anticipate. It is hard to get two banks to agree to anything, much less 40 on a timely basis.”

“Like so many other companies and institutions, HSG has been impacted by a global credit crisis which no one could have anticipated,” Hicks said in a statement. “The company is not asking for additional money; it is only asking for full access to the interest reserve account and revolving credit line as well as some amendments in the debt covenants.”

I’m no financial expert, but it sounds like Hicks basically wants to be able to be delinquent on a loan he promised to pay back and have no tangible consequences for doing so. And, additionally, he wants to be able to use a revolving credit line that he clearly can’t pay for right now. Wouldn’t this be like me getting behind on my credit card payments and then asking the bank to increase my limit?

The liberal blog DAILY KOS, which took an interest because of Hicks’ ties to the GOP and George W. Bush, sums it up thusly:

So Tom Hicks donated enormous sums of money to Bush and other Republicans such as Rudy Giuliani, all done in the hopes of influencing GOP lawmakers to deregulate financial institutions so that they might benefit Hicks and others in the billionaires club. Then after it all went to s***, the crocodile tears came out and a major donor to the party of personal responsibility tries to weasel out of loans that would have wiped out 99.9% of the rest of us but that he somehow deserves to renegotiate.

Meanwhile, Hicks’ teams aren’t exactly setting the world on fire. The Stars were one of the best NHL franchises for the last decade, but are going to miss the playoffs this year and don’t sell out every game anymore. And the Rangers will score a bunch of runs again but still don’t have any starting pitching. So it’s not like he has a summer of huge crowds in Arlington to look forward to.

NOTE: Hicks is also the owner of Liverpool of the English Premier League, but the loans in question are only for the company that owns the Stars and Rangers. Liverpool is owned by a separate holding company.