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Steiner + Associates

This rendering of Glorypark's about as close as you'll get to the real thing for a long, long while.

Just nine days ago, the new CEO for the Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau -- Jay Burress, still a senior veep at Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau for another couple of weeks -- told Unfair Park he would do his damnedest to get Tom Hicks' long-proposed Glorypark out of the ditch. "I've seen the plans," he said of Hicks' project, nicknamed "Soul of a New City" and situated next to the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, "and it'll be fantastic, if we can get it underway." Only, not so much: The $510-million project, which was supposed to be within walking distance of Jerryworld, is on hold indefinitely, as Hicks said yesterday he can't scrape up the spare change to build the danged thing.

Which is not only upsetting the locals plenty, but also folks in Liverpool, where last week announced that Hicks would finally build his Liverpool FC soccer team a new $600-million stadium, courtesy Dallas-based HKS. Problem is, Hicks and co-owner George Gillett Jr. are dueling over ownership of the team, and Hicks has had to refinance his initial loan -- to both stave off buyout attempts from Gillett and Dubai International Capital, and to finance the stadium. Saysl Liverpool Supporters Club secretary Les Lawson, "Today's news from Dallas only adds to our concerns because if he can't afford to finance a cheaper development in the USA how could he afford to build a stadium here?" Good question. --Robert Wilonsky

Houston-based Rick's Cabaret must really like Dallas, 'cause this morning the chain of think tanks announced it's spending $7.5 million to buy a second joint -- this one, the current and soon-to-be-former home of Platinum Club II on Northwest Highway near Stemmons Freeway. Rick's, which spent $10 mil for The Executive Club back in March, is going to rebrand the PC2 as Club Onyx, which, says the media release, is all about "catering to African-American gentlemen" and attracting "an avid clientele of professional athletes, musicians and business executives." Turns out, the publicly traded chain even has a name for the format: the "Urban Gentlemen’s format." Or Tuesday. --Robert Wilonsky

Breaking news from The Wall Street Journal concerning the sale of a DallasPlano company you might have heard of. Reports the paper in a subscription-only piece at which you can sneak a peak: "Hewlett-Packard Co. was close to a deal to acquire Electronic Data Systems Corp. for between $12 billion and $13 billion, according to people familiar with the mater. The terms of the deal were not immediately clear but an announcement was expected soon, the people said." Notes Reuters in a brief follow: "The news sent EDS shares soaring 28 percent to $24.14 on the New York Stock Exchange. HP shares fell 4.1 percent to $47.16." Both HP and EDS have declined comment. Too busy drinking champagne out of Ronald A. Rittenmeyer's loafers. --Robert Wilonsky

John D. Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller's heirs today demanded that Irving-based ExxonMobil -- otherwise known, way back when, as Standard Oil -- get its head out of its oil drum and start looking into "renewables and alternative fuels," pronto. Said Peter O'Neill, the Rockefellers' liason to the ExxonMobil cartel and John D.'s great-great-grandson, his family's been trying to get CEO Rex Tillerson to listen privately, but since he hasn't, it was time to go public. As in:

"It was not an easy decision for the majority of the Rockefeller Family to go public with our concerns. In fact, we have worked behind the scenes for a number of years now with ExxonMobil to avoid having to do so. I want to be very clear that as an ExxonMobil shareholder, I have a world of respect for what the company has done well. In fact, if the next 20 years of the energy business were just going to be about oil and gas, we probably wouldn't be here today."

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Cultura Advertising, a Bryan Street-based agency that markets such clients as Mercedes-Benz, Presbyterian HealthCare System and M&Ms to a Spanish-language audience, is shutting down -- and moving about 200 miles down the highway. Today, downtown Austin-based LatinWorks announced that it has bought Cultura, which also handles the likes of Shell and Pepsi. Greg Knipp, the CEO of the agency, tells Unfair Park that Cultura is bringing 15 of its 32 employees down to Austin. "A vast majority were offered jobs and some chose not to move, just for personal reasons," Knipp says; alas, there were also "redundancies," and some folks are not being brought down.

Says Manny Flores, the CEO and managing partner of LatinWorks in a media release shipped this a.m.: “The world is a changing place, and the culture of America is changing. The Hispanic community is reshaping the nation into New America where new skills and ideas are required from marketers. This acquisition positions LatinWorks to champion this changing marketplace.” --Robert Wilonsky

Back in November, we brought you the sordid saga of Farmers Branch-based Unique Performance, which had a deal with Carroll Shelby to manufacture "official" knock-offs of his immortal 1967 Shelby GT500E, pictured above. In short: Folks paid upwards of $200,000 for the cars, which they never received; and then Farmers Branch police and state authorities discovered in Unique's possession some 61 cars that appeared to have had their vehicle identification numbers altered -- which is highly illegal, almost as much as having to sit through Gone in 60 Seconds, in which the car should have gotten top billing over Nic Cage.

Well, a Friend of Unfair Park sends word that the great classic-car Web site Jalopnik brings much news this week concerning the case against Unique Performance and its owner, Doug Hasty, which is now in the hands of the Dallas County District Attorney's Office.

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Meanwhile, General George Custer couldn't give a damn about a lawsuit, as he remains deceased.

A Friend of Unfair Park sends along word that, yet again, Unfair Park cross-the-street neighbor Heritage Auction Gallery has found itself on the wrong end of whoops. Two months after it was revealed that the auction house accidentally unloaded some $30,000 worth of phony dead-celeb trinkets, Christopher Kortlander -- owner of the town of Garryowen, Montana, site of The Battle of the Little Bighorn -- has filed suit against Heritage, claiming that he didn't get the proper amount due him when Heritage offloaded the town and the Elizabeth Bacon Custer Archive earlier this year.

In his complaint, which was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Montana and which can be read in its entirety here, Kortlander claims Heritage mishandled the auction and breaches several contracts. He claims the company failed to account for the items it sold and didn't sell at auction, broke an agreement concerning a $500,000 line of credit offered him pre-auction and otherwise "failed to satisfy its contractual obligations and its requirements as the agent of the Plaintiff." Says Kortlander, he wants all his stuff back ... now. When contacted by Unfair Park moments ago, Heritage officials said they hadn't seen the complaint, so we forwarded it to them. A response from the auction gallery is forthcoming. --Robert Wilonsky

Update: Friday evening, we received this response from Steve Ivy, CEO of Heritage Auction Galleries: "Mr. Kortlander breached his agreement with us by failing to deliver to Dallas in a timely manner, as promised and agreed, the Custer Archives, which is a crucial component of the property. Now he is apparently attempting to avoid his obligation by falsely claiming that Heritage, rather than he himself, violated the agreement. Despite the many difficulties involved in selling Mr. Kortlander's various properties, Heritage has worked diligently to resolve this situation within the parameters of its current agreement with Mr. Kortlander."

Intriguing item just posted to The Wall Street Journal's Deal Journal blog. Something to do with the headline: "American Airlines: Preparing For a Sale?" It's a short item, but a complicated one involving AMR, American's parent company, and the pending sale of its asset-management business, which is owned by Dallas-based Pharos Capital Group and Fort Worth-based TPG Capital, as well as its ditching American Eagle. And, of course, there's the news today that AMR lost $328 million during the first quarter of this year -- after making $81 mil during the same period in '07. --Robert Wilonsky

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Reports GlobeSt.com this morning, a high-rise abutting Stevens Park Golf Course has a new owner, a Boston-based investment group, which plans on turning Wedgewood Tower into the far sexier-monikered Indigo. From the sound of it, the mixed-use development will be a little bit of everything -- including a "'hip, urban' tower for the revitalized neighborhood and nearby Bishop Arts District" that will include "a coffee shop and higher-end restaurant tailored for residents," along with fancy-pants retail. But the owners are going to take their time doing the redo, so no breath-holding yet; says one, "We will sit and wait as the area changes." --Robert Wilonsky

Also known as the only thing I've ever ordered at a Chili's.

Dallas-based Brinker International's stock is down today -- 55 cents, at last look, to $18.48 -- after an analyst gave it a "neutral" rating. And why's Christopher O'Cull of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey so so-so on Doug Brooks' chain of eateries? 'Cause, says the Associated Press, "Chili's has been unable to stand out from the pack of casual dining restaurants and faces increased competition from quick-service chains." Come to think of it, I can't recall the last time I went to Chili's. But right now, I could totally go for an Oldtimer®. How 'bout you, Rhett Miller? --Robert Wilonsky

What's bad news for Portland is good news for Dallas. Because this morning, word's come down that Adidas America Inc. is reorganizing its operations and laying off some 25 employees from the German-based company's U.S. headquarters. Says Adidas America President Patrik Nilssen, "A number of Portland and field-based roles were repositioned or eliminated to enable our resources to be placed where they can be more effective." And, turns out, some of those resources will be placed in New York, Chicago and, yup, Dallas, where Adidas will open a regional office. Though how many new jobs we'll get remains, for the time being, "unspecified." --Robert Wilonsky

Mannatch's Ambrotose -- or, what Wired last year identified as, ya know, "sugar pills"

This morning brought a chipper press release from Mannatech, the Coppell-based nutritional supplement company besieged by bad press. At its annual convention last weekend in Dallas, higher-ups unveiled a new line: an “all natural product that supports recovery after physical activity or over-exertion.” The new stuff is called BounceBack.

Sounds like just what the company needs after two years of negative publicity and lawsuits, one of which was recently settled for $11 million. But, see BounceBack seems kinda ... premature. Because that suit was hardly the last of Mannatech’s problems.

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A couple of days back, we broke the, ah, news that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had come up with the world's most unique timeshare out at Jerryworld: You and some friends could purchase a single ticket for a Cowboys game, then take turns going into the new Arlington stadium to see the contest whilst yer buds cool their heels in the parking lot. Words gotten around since then -- like, today there's a piece in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that refers to the item, with a no-comment from Cowboys spokesman Brett Daniels. And another local news outlet's looking into it too (did I really hear the words "Unfair Park" on WFAA-Channel 8 this morning?). "You're making me work," Daniels told Unfair Park today, after we finally connected.

Turns out, our item was pretty much on the mark. "It's probably about six percent accurate," Daniels says, before explaining that, yes, Jerry's considering all kinds of ways to sell tickets at the new stadium, and, well, that whole "timeshare" concept is just that at the moment. A concept. At the moment.

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Now we know why Nolan Ryan's the president of Your Texas Rangers: to move his meat. The headline of the release says it all, in capital letters: "TEXAS RANGERS ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP WITH NOLAN RYAN BEEF." As in, "The Texas Rangers announced today that all concession stands, suites and fine dining areas, including the Diamond Club, Cuervo Club and Rawlings All American Grill, inside Rangers Ballpark in Arlington will serve Nolan Ryan Guaranteed Tender Beef Products during the 2008 season." And, "Beginning with the Rangers 2008 home opener on Tuesday, April 8, all grilled concession stands will serve Nolan Ryan's hamburger patties as well as sausage on a stick. Nolan Ryan's signature beef tenderloin and prime rib will be featured inside the Diamond Club." Stay classy, Texas Rangers. --Robert Wilonsky

Speaking of Jerryworld, as we were below, a Friend of Unfair Park sent his missus to a meet-and-greet with the Dallas Cowboys' owner last week. During that chat -- with "prominent citizens," says our Friend -- Jerry Jones offered this novel approach to dealing with the exorbitant prices being charged for ducats at the new stadium:

He explained to a group all the benefits and amenities of the new stadium. The most surprising [thing] was that the Cowboys would be the first team in the NFL that would allow a group to share a ticket -- no, not for a season, but rather for a game. You and four friends could all get together and purchase a ticket for a game. Once you got to the stadium, you could all drink and enjoy the atmosphere outside, and take turns (10 minutes??) going into the game. It's great to see that Jerry is making sure that all of his fans can enjoy the cowboy experience.

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