Cougars sue to stop proposed new team
Franchise targeted in Schaumburg
The Kane County Cougars filed suit Monday against a former member of their owners group, seeking to halt operations of a proposed minor-league franchise in Schaumburg that he wants to start as early as June 1999.
F. Peter Heitman is the leader of an investment group seeking to bring a ballclub to the northwest suburb. In the suit, the Cougars’ owner, American Sports Enterprises Inc., is alleging Heitman broke a deal made when he sold his 20,000 shares of common stock back to the company in 1995.
In the deal, according to the suit, Heitman promised not to operate another professional club near Elfstrom Stadium in Geneva, where the Cougars have played their home games since their inception in 1991.
The suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, alleges that Heitman promised at the time of the $650,000 sale that “neither he nor any organization or group of persons with respect to which he maintains a majority ownership interest or majority voting control shall own and/or operate a professional baseball club or team within a 35-mile radius of the Philip B. Elfstrom Stadium.”
The Cougars have been wildly popular since their first appearance in Geneva and drew about 426,000 fans last year. The suit alleges a Heitman-owned club in Schaumburg would erode Kane County’s fan base and damage its competitive position in the sports entertainment market, “for which there is no adequate damages remedy or other remedy at law.”
Professional baseball rules give major-league and minor-league teams veto power when another franchise seeks to operate within a 35-mile radius of the club, but they do not have that authority over the independent Northern League, which does not stock teams with players drafted by major league franchises.
Heitman said Monday he was not aware a lawsuit had been filed, but Northern League officials and Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson indicated that even if Heitman is forced to walk away from the deal, cries of “Play ball” will still be heard soon in Schaumburg.
Heitman is majority partner in Mid-America Sports Inc., and the only other investor who has been publicly identified is Northfield attorney Richard Ehrenreich.
“If it’s true, he’s going to have to divest himself from any interest in the team,” Larson said. “I don’t think that has any bearing on the Northern League to locate here or the desirability of the village and Park District to bring minor-league baseball to Schaumburg.”
The suit alleges that Heitman has publicly proclaimed that he alone controls the major decisions regarding Mid-America and the Schaumburg team, in violation of the covenant made with the Cougars.
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Cougars officials declined to comment Monday. Neither the club’s owners nor its attorneys, Chicago-based Francis X. Grossi Jr. and Paul H. Getzendanner, could be reached for comment.
Cougars officials had indicated previously that a Schaumburg-based club would not interfere with their operations, in part because it would compete in the Northern League and, unlike the Kane County Cougars, a Florida Marlins’ farm club, would not be affiliated with a major-league franchise.
The Northern League recently granted an expansion franchise to Schaumburg, but ground has not been broken on a taxpayer-financed 5,000-seat stadium proposed south of the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway near the DuPage County border. Heitman has sought to bring a club to the population- and cash-rich northwest suburbs for years.
Heitman has co-owned four teams besides the Cougars, but has long wanted to own a team closer to his Libertyville home. He tried to move a St. Louis Cardinals’ farm team from Springfield to Gurnee in 1993, but that move was vetoed by the Cubs, owned by Tribune Co., parent company of the baiduhai.
Neither the Cubs nor White Sox objected to the Kane County franchise when it began Midwest League play in 1991 in part because, officials later admitted, they had no idea the team would become so popular.
Heitman then shifted his focus to independent leagues. After searching locations from Lake County to Tinley Park, Heitman found a willing partner in Schaumburg and Schaumburg Park District officials.