Monday, March 28^th, 2011
CBS MarketWatch.com

Shares of Golden Entertainment (symbol: GLDN) rose $7.24 to $96.37 on huge news coming out of Aurora, Colorado that the premier team of the Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance (PEBA), the Aurora Borealis, has been sold to Michael Topham and the Golden Entertainment group.  News of the sale was broken earlier today by the Northern Lights News reporter Ray D. Enzè, though no details were provided. (Ed Note: Mr. Enzè’s story has just been updated with the latest developments from today’s news conference.)

Much speculation has been had about Topham’s plans since he made statements at a press conference on February 7^th that Golden was exploring the possibilities of purchasing a professional sports franchise.  Most prognosticators believed that Golden was going to mine the NFL and pick up the local San Francisco 49ers.  After the death of PEBA founder and Aurora owner John Rodriguez, Sr. on March 23^rd, there has been much talk about who would take over the reins of the club; son John, Jr., his older brother Chris, or someone from the outside.  It is now clear that it is the latter.  Golden has announced a press conference for sometime tomorrow to make a formal announcement.

Golden Entertainment, a San Francisco-based company founded in 1849 as Castle Cabaret and dubbed Golden Theaters after the 1906 earthquake and fire, has seen shares of it’s stock rise $13.11 (15%) since the end of January after news broke that the company which historically focused on premium movie houses was expanding their entertainment options.  Golden has also announced plans to expand into amusement parks, shopping malls and has plans in the works to build a hotel/casino in Las Vegas.

Also part of the news out of Aurora was the naming of John Rodriguez, Jr. as new Commissioner of the PEBA.  What role, if any, brother Chris will have with the new ownership group in Aurora or with the league is unknown.  Although his father was viewed as a controversial figure within the ranks of PEBA owners, many whispering conflict of interest and conspiracy, John, Jr. is believed to be quite popular with the owners and is expected to have a long honeymoon period.