Potential Schaumburg Flyers buyers may countersue

The would-be buyers of the Schaumburg Flyers baseball team not only plan to fight a lawsuit filed against them by the disbanded club’s owners, but may even countersue, their lawyer said Thursday.

“The charges will be vigorously defended. We feel there is no merit to the claims,” said Rick Del Giudice, who’s representing John C. Sciacotta, Adriano Pedrelli and their Schaumburg Flyers Holdings, LLP.

While reluctant to get into specifics before a written response has been filed in court, Del Giudice claimed the lawsuit filed last month by Schaumburg Professional Baseball, LLC contains a number of inaccurate and misleading statements. Sciacotta and Pedrelli are considering counterclaims against Flyers ownership, he added.

The Flyers’ fraud and breach-of-contract suit states the team bypassed other potential buyers based on negotiations with Sciacotta and Pedrelli. Those talks led to a $2.73 million sale agreement signed by both parties on June 18, 2010.

However, contact between the groups broke off and the sale never closed. The Flyers later were evicted from their home at Schaumburg’s Alexian Field and did not play last season.

Rich Ehrenreich, managing partner of the Flyers, said Del Giudice’s response Thursday was not unexpected.

The sale was intended to help Ehrenreich move on to his new team, the Zion-based Lake County Fielders. It also would have helped the Flyers pay overdue rent and other fees to the village of Schaumburg and Schaumburg Park District, which co-own the baseball stadium.

When the sale fell through, the village and park district filed suit against the Flyers, leading to the team’s eviction from the stadium last February.

By court order, the Flyers still owe the two bodies $551,828.92.

Ehrenreich said his lawsuit seeks the full amount of the purchase agreement as well as other damages. He said he intends to use the money to pay back creditors, which include the village and park district.

Ehrenreich’s existing team, the Fielders, filed a breach-of-contract and fraud suit against Zion last month, accusing the village of misleading the team about the likelihood of a permanent stadium being built.

Zion’s former economic development director, J. Delaine Rogers, issued a statement this week in response to that lawsuit.

“If Richard Ehrenreich had paid his vendors, employees and rent in Schaumburg, the Flyers would still have a stadium to call home,” Rogers said. “If he had paid his vendors, employees and rent in Zion, the Fielders would have one, too.”

Schaumburg village and park district officials have since issued a new lease to attorney Patrick Salvi, whose Schaumburg Boomers will begin play at the ballpark in May.

Ÿ Daily Herald staff writer Bob Susnjara contributed to this report.