The deadline for bids on Sports Authority has passed without an offer from rival Modell’s Sporting Goods and British retailer Sports Direct International, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. There will be an auction for the leases and other remaining assets of the failed retailer, but there’s little to no hope of a deal that could save a significant piece of the Sports Authority chain, which filed for bankruptcy protection in March. At one point, Modell’s and Sports Direct were in talks about a bid that could have saved 100 to 200 Sports Authority stores and the jobs of thousands of employees, these people said. That proposal shrunk over the past week, and when bids were due on Thursday, there was no bid from Modell’s and Sports Direct. Going-out-of-business sales are under way at some 450 stores, conducted by liquidators Hilco Merchant Resources LLC, Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC and Tiger Capital Group LLC. Sports Authority’s trying to pay off more than $1 billion in debt in chapter 11.
