Here is an article from todays Dallas Morning News, expressing Hick's opinions. Don't laugh at the irony of the article.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/topstories/stories/081702dnspohickslede.247d8.html
By KEN DALEY / The Dallas Morning News
Rangers owner Tom Hicks said Friday that if baseball players carry out their threat to walk off the job Aug. 30, the strike will be a long one. In fact, he will insist on it.
"I think a majority of owners, including me, would probably like to have even stronger cost-containment than we're talking about right now," Hicks said from a yacht off the coast of San Diego. "If they do choose to go on strike, I'm confident ownership will not allow a repeat of 1994. We need to fix baseball and not just have another Band-Aid solution."
Hicks said he fully expected the union to set its strike date Friday, calling the postponement of the decision earlier in the week "a maneuver for the benefit of public relations and not substance." And while Hicks said he is optimistic a settlement can be reached before the strike date, he will urge fellow owners to make a work stoppage count if it occurs.
"For the good of baseball, we need to have cost-containment and competitive balance," Hicks said. "People know a strike wouldn't be good for the game, but what is worse is to put our fans through this every seven years. I think a lot of owners would have a preference for a hard salary cap like football has. That would probably be better for baseball, but that's not what we're negotiating this time."
What owners are seeking, in addition to increased revenue-sharing, is a payroll tax of 50 percent for teams exceeding $102 million in payroll. The Rangers opened the season with a $105 million payroll, which ranked third in the majors, but Hicks promised he would comply with the proposed tax threshold.
"Every team in baseball that has any kind of business sense would try to manage its payroll to stay under that tax threshold," Hicks said. "There might be one or two that wouldn't, but that's a decision those teams have to make. Certainly, I can assure you, the Texas Rangers wouldn't be among them. If this system is implemented, the Texas Rangers will be under the threshold."
With the Rangers mired in last place and on pace to lose 93 games, attendance at The Ballpark in Arlington already was down 343,287 from last year through 60 dates. That 16 percent drop could worsen if the strike threat angers fans, and Hicks said he would understand.
"I think [fans] should be concerned; I don't blame them," he said. "This is a tactic. If we get an agreement between now and the 30th, that's terrific. If not, it will set off a chain of events that won't be good for anybody.
"If it happens, I just hope we as owners make sure we fix baseball for good. And I'm confident we would. I think it would be very different from 1994."
But not all owners might be able to withstand a shutdown as long as Hicks. Mike Ozanian, the senior editor who compiles the annual franchise valuations for Forbes magazine said, "The players have already been paid for almost all of this season. However, the owners stand to lose more than $1 billion from TV and ticket sales if a strike forces the cancellation of the postseason. Teams cannot afford such losses because many owners already have too much debt. And their personal businesses have been suffering as a result of the weak economy and beaten-down stock market."
The last paragraph says it all in my opinion.
For Tom Hicks to be talking financial responsibility is something along the line of Joseph Stalin accusing anyone else of human rights abuses. In case any eavesdroppers have forgotten, Tom Hicks is the owner whose team was so desperately in need of improved pitching, with league-worst team ERAs over several seasons, that he spent the equivalent of a decent enough pitching staff to lower the team ERA in order to acquire...a shortstop. Even more incredible to remember is that he was, essentially, bidding against himself in so doing, since no one else was offering anything even close to what he finally decided to pay said shortstop.