St. Louis Cardinals agrees to purchase Triple-A team in Memphis

The St. Louis Cardinals’ financially strapped Triple-A affiliate Memphis Redbirds is getting rescued by the big league club.

The organizations have reached a purchase agreement, announced Friday by the Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation, a nonprofit community entity that owns the minor league club.

The deal, which heads to Memphis City Council for approval Dec. 3, includes the foundation selling AutoZone Park where the Redbirds play to the city of Memphis. The Cardinals would enter a long-term lease agreement with the city for use of the downtown ballpark.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though the parties said the team’s bondholders, Fundamental Advisors, "has agreed to take a significant discount on the original principal amount of the bonds," according to the Commercial Appeal in Memphis.

The paper reported the Redbirds were $27.5 million in the red during the tax year that mirrored the 2012 season, due in large part to $89.5 million in total liabilities. Of that, $57.4 million are the stadium’s bonds. Fundamental Advisors bought the team's debt for $24 million in 2010, according to the Commercial Appeal, and soon installed a new management company. Announced attendance was up 4 percent in 2013, with its best average (7,223) since 2008.

The Commercial Appeal said the foundation that operates the team and stadium issued $72 million in bonds to finance the transaction in the late 1990s, but declining revenue led to a missed bond payment in early 2009.

Read more from the Commercial Appeal.