Who's actually on the hook for Tour of Missouri contracts?

In Peter Kinder's interviews on KMOX and KMBZ, he raised concerns about lawsuits that might come with possible budget cuts for the Tour. What isn't clear to me at this point is who actually has signed the contracts Kinder talked about.  Are those with the state?  Or with Tour of Missouri, Inc.? 

Rudi Keller asks some of these same questions in a new Southeast Missourian story:

Another wrinkle in the uncertainty surrounding the race is the contractual status of the state's sponsorship. The Tourism Commission allocates money to sponsor the race and signs a sponsorship contract with Tour of Missouri Inc., a not-for-profit corporation set up to organize the race. No contract has been signed for this year's race, [MO Tourism Commission interim director Bob] Smith said.

The papers are being prepared and he said he is under orders from the Tourism Commission to sign the contracts when they are ready.

"For me to say the state has a contract for the bicycle race would be incorrect," Smith said. "The plan was to sign a formal sponsorship contract immediately and we are in the process of getting all that paperwork drafted up."

The contract issue is a key point because Kinder, on KMOX, and Chris Aronhalt, managing partner of Medalist Sports, the company putting on the race, have said serious legal problems could result from breach of contract lawsuits if the race is canceled. "It doesn't seem to me to be a good business practice to incur all kinds of lawsuits that will result from a breach of contract," Kinder said.

Who is the "We" in "We're going to be sued"?

Image credit: MoBikeFed on Flickr