Texas Rangers owner behind in the count

In the chain of dominoes that is the American economy, sports teams fall somewhere in the middle, knocked over by the owner, landing on top of the fan. For major league baseball's Texas Rangers and the NHL's Dallas Stars, the dominoes are wobbling as we speak. Both are owned by Hicks Sports Group, a group of investors organized by Texan Tom Hicks. The group is $525 million in debt and missed a $10 million payment due at the end of March, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required.)

Baseball is rife with corporate and Wall Street owners and one has to wonder if the economic downturns could also sap the budgets of the Atlanta Braves (Time Warner, TWX), the Los Angeles Angels (Walt Disney Co., DIS) and Dodgers (News Corp., NWS) and the Chicago Cubs ( Tribune Co. , TRBCQ).