Bally Bankruptcy Plans
Big news came out late yesterday from Bally. In a press release that at first looked so much like just a bunch of legalese and financial speak that I almost stopped reading, I spied the words “Chapter11″ and paused for a moment before devouring the rest of the release. Bally Total Fitness was announcing that it would restructure through a Chapter 11 filing of its parent company, Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp. and some of its subsidiaries.
This announcement has been anticipated for a while now, but I didn’t think it would happen until later this summer. However, the fact that Barry Elson stepped down about a month ago might have been a hint that this was coming sooner.
The company says that it will continue operations as normal as it restructures. They just need consent from some of their other bondholders to make the filing.
Let’s hope this move is what management needs to turn around the company and make one of the best known names in our industry a better example of the industry. -Pam
