Sports Authority to Liquidate

After conducting 140 high-priority store liquidations when it first entered bankruptcy, Sports Authority now appears to be going into liquidation for its remaining assets. The bankrupt sports retailer is beginning to plan a liquidation auction to take place in May pending court approval. It is possible for individual stores to be sold to new owners in a liquidation auction, but that is a trouble-prone process for buyers, so it won’t be a surprise if all the remaining stores close. Similarly, the Sports Authority web store could be sold to a buyer, but the more likely scenario is that a buyer buys only the trademark and domain name and creates a new web store with a new design and new inventory. The liquidation of Sports Authority is another in a long list of setbacks for the big-box retail format.