ULB will be back in 2009
Published on March 26, 2009 under United League Baseball (ULB) News Release
DALLAS -- There will be United League Baseball pro ball in Texas this year!
The league's original founders, John Bryant and Byron Pierce, have won the right to purchase United League Baseball and its ball clubs and will continue its operations without interruption.
After a lengthy court battle against the majority owner of the company that owned the league and its teams, a federal bankruptcy judge here today (Thursday, March 26), approved the sale.
The purchasers will pay, as Reunion Sports Group LLC, United Sports Equities and its ballclubs $550,000 and assume operational responsibilities for each of the six clubs.
The clubs involved are Amarillo, San Angelo, Edinburg, Harlingen, Laredo and a new entry, Coastal Bend, in the Corpus Christi-Robstown area.
Pierce said the league clubs will play 80-game schedules beginning on June 11. The regular season will end after Labor Day, followed by league playoffs.
"We have general managers and field managers ready to go for all six clubs and are making preparations for another great ULB season," Pierce said. Many of the employees in those cities are also ready to be a part of the action again, he said.
"We are thankful to have the league back in our hands," Bryant said. "We want to assure fans in all our league cities and areas that we will provide excellent professional baseball and the best family-oriented entertainment for all ages," he said. Also, other information concerning the league and its activities will be announced soon, he said.
Pierce said that finding top-notch players this late will not be as big a problem it might seem.
He said that many very good players will be dropped from pro rosters. In many cases, a club will have two excellent players at the same position, but can keep only one, so the other is dropped.
The ULB was founded in 2005 by Pierce and Bryant and the first league games were played on May 16, 2006.
The two later resigned form the league, unwilling to continue working with the majority owner.
Bryant and Pierce won a a temporary injunction on Aug. 28, 2008 in 191st state district court in Dallas against the majority owner of United Sports Equities, forbidding it from making any changes to the league or closing down any of its teams on the basis that there was no business reason to close any team.
They later filed a motion for contempt against the majority owners for violating the injunction.
The day before the contempt hearing, the owners filed for Chapter 11 for United Sports Equities in Florida in late December and the case was later transferred to the Northern Federal District of Texas.
Bryant and PIerce have been involved in pro ball in Texas for some time. In 1991, the two became frustrated that the Texas League had no plans to expand into other Texas locations, so they formed the Texas-Louisiana Baseball League, which began play in 1994. It was one of the first independent leagues after the revival of the indies in the mid-1990s.
After expanding to other cities in Texas, Missouri, Mississippi and Louisiana, the name wa changed to the Central League.
Bryant and Pierce sold their interest in the league in 2000. In 2005, some of its clubs merged into the new United League and others into the American Association.
United League Baseball Stories from March 26, 2009
- ULB will be back in 2009 - ULB
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