Sports Authority Inc. is playing hardball with suppliers, filing lawsuits against more than 160 of them just weeks after it sought bankruptcy protection for its chain of ailing stores, The Denver Post reported yesterday. The suits challenge vendor claims to consigned goods on the shelves of the distressed retail chain, which has already begun liquidating 140 stores and has little time to save the rest in bankruptcy. Sports Authority filed for chapter 11 protection March 2 with more than $1 billion in debt. Lenders are giving the retailer until April 28 to find a buyer or come up with a reorganization plan. Bank of America, as lead bank in the syndicate of top-ranking lenders to the distressed company, is backing Sports Authority in the opening of legal hostilities against the suppliers.
