For customers with lingering Sports Authority gift cards and businesses looking to place a bid on Sports Authority stores and remaining assets, time is running out. According to NJ.com , the auction for the remaining stores and assets is slated to take place on Wednesday of this week. The assets up for auction include the customer data of millions of people, which is comprised of phone numbers, emails, and other personal information.
If you are still hanging onto a Sports Authority gift card, now is the time to spend it on remaining merchandise, the Consumerist reports. The business is winding down, and Tuesday, June 28 is the last day the website and remaining stores will take gift cards as a form of payment.
Tuesday is the deadline to use #SportsAuthority gift cards https://t.co/ROKt4fRGTX pic.twitter.com/dOxLei23oO
— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10) June 27, 2016
For anyone reading this article after Tuesday, June 28, 2016, it is too late to use the gift cards. The only options customers have (unless Sports Authority’s estate offers an alternative) is to file a claim towards the bankruptcy of the company for the cash value of the gift card. Unfortunately, holders of gift cards are at the very bottom of the list of individuals Sports Authority still owes money to.
The Consumerist has also reported that gift card holders should be aware time is running out for Hasting and Radioshack gift cards as well.
According to NJ.com , Sports Authority will auction off the email addresses as well as other customer data for roughly 25 million people in addition to the naming rights for the Sports Authority Field located in Denver. The stadium is known more commonly as Mile High Stadium.
Sports Authority plans to auction off your customer data, reports say https://t.co/wrqu7i6tml pic.twitter.com/uZEqj7TGYK
— njdotcom (@njdotcom) June 27, 2016
It has been reported that the Pennsylvania-based Dick’s Sporting Goods submitted bids to take over 17 of the Sports Authority stores that are closing. Specific details regarding the 17 stores are currently unknown.
There were reports and rumors that Modell’s and Sports Direct International, the largest sporting goods chain in the United Kingdom, were also talking about bidding on Sports Authority leases. These bids would have saved thousands of jobs for the employees of Sports Authority. The deadline to place a bid and save the jobs of the employees passed without any bids actually being placed.
According to Reuters , the bids placed on Thursday showed muted interest in what was once known as one of the biggest sporting goods chains in the United States, with 464 stores. It is possible for the bids to change or some to come in late, but bids for the intellectual property of Sports Authority were not due until Monday evening.
A bankruptcy court judge will be responsible for approving the final sale of the business. Neither Dick’s nor a spokesperson for Sports Authority was available for comments when Reuters requested one.
It was back in March when Sports Authority first filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was the result of fierce competition from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. The competition of these two retail giants placed Sports Authority in more debt than the company was able to support.
Initially, Sports Authority filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The hope was that someone would buy the company so it could continue to operate. However, those hopes shattered when there was no interest in buying the failing company. As a result, liquidated sales are currently underway in order to attempt to pay off all of the debt the company was drowning under.
It was earlier this year that Dick’s originally sent letters expressing an interest in buying some of the assets of Sports Authority.
What will happen to all of the Sports Authority employees who will be out of a job very soon (if they are not already)? Will other sporting goods companies step up to take over? Only time will tell.
[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]
