I've hinted at this name a couple of times in the wake of Tom Hicks defaulting on a loan, selling Mesquite Rodeo and generally looking for a bailout. But now let's blurt it out unequivocally:
David McDavid is interested in buying controlling interest of the Texas Rangers.
"I have the ability and I have a certain amount of interest," the former Dallas Mavericks' co-owner and car tycoon confirmed to me this afternoon from his ranch northwest of Fort Worth. "I'm just in the process of deciding if it's something I'd really like to do at this point in my life."
As Hicks softens his negotiating stance and tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Randy Galloway he's now open to selling majority control of the franchise he's owned since 1998, pencil in McDavid on the short list of potential successors. Rangers' president Nolan Ryan is also considered a candidate, though he'd likely be part of a larger group.
McDavid, who was part of the Mavs' ownership group that sold to Mark Cuban in 2000 and who was illegally thwarted in an attempt to buy Atlanta's NBA and NHL teams shortly thereafter, attended Opening Day as Hicks' guest and has had several discussions about buying the Rangers.
McDavid made his fortune (remember Widetrack?) with a chain of state-wide auto dealerships he opened at age 19 and sold 70 percent of in '98. He was part of the group - headed by Ross Perot Jr. - that bought the Mavs from original owner Don Carter in '96. He later flirted with buying the Dallas Stars from Hicks in '02 before negotiating with Time Warner in '03 to purchase the Hawks and Thrashers in Atlanta.
In 2008 he won a $316 million judgement against Time Warner after a jury ruled the company breached contract.
Though he still yearns to call the shots on a local sports franchise - and the Rangers are undoubtedly attractive, given their youthful foundation on the field and the ease of following Hicks' P.R. nightmare of a regime - these days the 66-year-old McDavid spends his time on his first love: Cutting horses.
Will he decide to spend his money on baseball?
