Bud Selig and the MLB have to be smiling from ear to ear right now with the auctioning of the Los Angeles Dodgers. As you are reading this, you probably already know that Magic Johnson, Steve Kasken, Peter Guber and the Guggenheim Partners purchased the team, stadium and surrounding land for over 2 Billion dollars from now former owner Frank McCourt (Have to say that McCourt did pretty well having only bought the team back in 2004 for 430 million dollars and the team being valued by Forbes in 2010 at 727 million dollars). As everyone may be aware that Frank McCourt was dearly holding on to the Dodgers by any means necessary. He did so when he was forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the IRS, talks that he may have to give up the team to the MLB even though he had a deal in place with FOX the exclusive broadcasting rights for 20 years for a reported 2.5-3 billion dollars.
Bud Selig shot that deal down in an attempt to keep McCourt to keep running the day-to-day operations of the team. Remember when McCourt couldn’t write checks to players for their salaries, even for players that weren’t even on the roster, like Manny Ramirez who was due money and wasn’t even on the roster. As of June 2011, players such as Juan Pierre were owed over 3 million dollars and he was traded by the team to the White Sox in 2009. It was suspected that Frank McCourt had been scalping the team and taking money from the team to put into his own pocket. As I mentioned everyone is probably aware of all the actions that took place this past season with McCourt taking this bankruptcy to the court and trying to save the team, dealing with Selig and the proposed TV deal. But how did we get here in the first place, a dreaded divorce!
Both Frank, and his wife Jamie, bought the team back in 2004 from FOX and they both had control over the team. But once the two decided to get divorced in 2009 and go their separate ways. The two used THEIR money to buy the team, so when the two decided to get divorced, who had control over the team? This is where things took a turn for the worse for the club. Jamie was fired from her position as CEO of the Dodgers following that season and that opened the floodgates. With little details following what had happened with what took place inside the courtrooms, I believe that this is what lead to the downward spiral for Frank. When it was argued who got control over the team, I believe that lawyers wanted to open up the books to see the financial stability of the team because then the decision on whether to incorporate the team into the settlement or not. Having said that, the Los Angeles Times had reported that Jamie and Frank had settled with Jamie receiving $100 million, the couple's seven luxury homes and indemnity from any tax liability. Frank would NOT be willing to give the team up. With the speculation that Frank may have been taking money from the team and not being able to pay salary for some players, a red flag arose. And let’s be serious, the deal with FOX was only not only going to pay for the team, but how can you not believe that the money he would be getting would be going back into the team? The deal in my opinion was meant to help pay back money he probably owed outside of baseball.
I had heard some people argue that Selig blocking the FOX deal was a shrewd move on his part and that McCourt put the team up for sale by auction. Many people had speculated that this would be an attempt to get someone Selig wanted to run the team. Selig already had a bad perception among fans, but let’s compare this situation to another…the Texas Rangers.
MLB had control over that team for some time until a buyer came along to take control following the auction of the team. For them, there was only two serious buyers in the end, one group led by Nolan Ryan and another by Mark Cuban (who failed to buy the Cubs, and as we know now, the Rangers and the Dodgers). The team was awarded to Ryan and his group. Look at the team now, for the longest time, it was a ball club that hadn’t done much. Since 1972 up to the time Ryan got the team, there was a 4 year stretch where the club went to the playoffs. But in terms of accomplishment, the club has done more to establish their identity among MLB in the last two years under Ryan than any other time of the Franchise’s history. This was a good move by Selig to “force” the sale and oversee the action of the sale of the Dodgers to a new owner. The history going forward, at the very moment is very bright. Had Selig not stepped in, who knows, McCourt could have lowball the sale of the team to a “friend” and may have found some way to still be involved with the team. Seldom did we see McCourt do much to make the Dodgers a viable contender through free agency over the few years to make this team an attractive place. But with the leadership with Magic at the top (although the minority owner, of the members involved in the purchase of the team, I expect Magic the one to have the most influence on day-to-day operations). McCourt sells the team for 2 Billion (much more than what the team and surrounding land is worth) and The Dodgers got someone in who cares and the team has a bright future to be a force and attractive name again in baseball. Like other sports, the Dodgers being relevant is important to baseball just as the Raiders to the NFL and clubs like the Rangers and Canadian teams in hockey. We wouldn’t be here had Frank and Jamie decided to get divorced. Is this a instance where we can all be happy to see a family split….YES!
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