Lions Ownership Situation Resolved

[Lions]

The dust appears to have finally settled on what has been one of the stranger episodes in PEBA history. The Amsterdam Lions have been purchased, for the second time in less than five months.

The Lions pushed Florida to the brink in the 2039 Divisional Series, but the Farstriders sent them home after 10 innings in Game 7 on October 21st. While Florida continued on their journey to the PEBA championship, it was less than 24 hours later that rumos began to swirl about Amsterdam owner Paul Woodward’s intention to sell the team.

Those rumors, however, were not of the vague “we’ll see who steps up” variety. No, they were of the specific, “we’ve already got an offer we’re moving forward with” type. The sale went so quickly, that it was only 3 weeks later, on November 8, that Joe Schneider was officially announced as the new owner.

In prepared remarks, Woodward said: “It’s important to me that Amsterdam fans get treated fair and square in the future. We’ve located a great partner in Joe Schneider and I think you’re going to love what he will bring to the table. There will be a Imperial League team here for a very long time.”

Schneider, who the press reported had made his fortune in finance, did not immediately make public comment. No press conference was held. Schneider, it turned out, was not even in the Netherlands. He was eventually tracked down to the Cayman Islands, where a statement from his estate indicated that he would be coming to Amsterdam only once the season had started. He had additional business interests to which he needed to attend over the winter. What those were, was not made clear.

What did become clear fairly quickly was that Dutch authorities were investigating the sale. Reports began to emerge that the accounts used to secure the sale were being investigated for fraudulent transactions. Schneider ignored requests from the Netherlands to appear. Payments were missed as investigators began to probe deeper into his holdings.

It wasn’t long before Schneider’s failure to meet payment obligations resulted in his bid to purchase the Lions being suspended. Woodward, who was quite eager to get out, immediately began the process to move forward with one of the alternate bids. This time, he followed the advice of his legal counsel in pursuing a local bid. Albert de Groot, who hails from the city of Zwolle in the central part of the country, leads the consortium that was chosen.

In prepared remarks, Woodward said: “It’s important to me that Amsterdam fans get treated square and fair in the future. We’ve located a great partner in Albert de Groot and I think you’re going to love what he will bring to the table. There will be an Imperial League team here for a very long time.” Woodward it seems, has checked out already.

de Groot, on the other hand, is a new face and an unknown. It’s unclear how he’ll handle things. Will he be hands on or will he sit back and let his baseball people take care of building the team? One thing that is for sure, is that this sale will indeed go through. Financial regulations in the Netherlands mean that de Groot’s financial situation is already well known by Dutch authorities and that hurdle has been cleared.

Aside from his business interests, de Groot has a rather large and valuable stamp collection which was a hobby he began as a child and has expanded as an adult. He’ll now be looking to put his stamp on the PEBA.