MLB Takes Over Dodgers Financial Operations

[Outshined_One]

It shouldn't matter whether the Dodgers have a good or bad owner. They should be making money hand over fist regardless. It's the freakin' Dodgers! An iconic team in the second biggest market in the country.

 

They were making money hand over fist. McCourt has been setting up all sorts of shady deals so he could siphon money from the Dodgers into his own pockets. Cripes, even their charitable matters have come under scrutiny.

 

Since it's becoming clear Jamie McCourt is going to end up co-owner of the team, Frank McCourt has been taking every step he can to make her ownership worthless. I'm guessing MLB had to step in simply because McCourt was on a mission to destroy the team.

[TruffleShuffle]

so basically frank mccourt is a complete scumbag.

[SouthSideRyan]

so basically frank mccourt is a complete scumbag.

 

Just a shade better than Loria

[Soul]

Maybe they should let Cuban move in as Dodgers owner.

 

 

 

Hey -- Cuban's a lot of things, but he'd never self-sabotage a business over a soon-to-be ex-wife.

[javy knows my name]

so basically frank mccourt is a complete scumbag.

 

Just a shade better than Loria

 

Would you link me to a good read about what exactly he did to the Expos?

[BeerHere]

The regulars had a habit of digging into the (very) personal info of posters they didn't like. Probably got sued.

 

Heh, so it happens other places as well besides here. Pathetic

 

When did that happen here?

 

June last year.

 

Do tell

 

I too would like a follow up to this question. What happened to NSBB involving regulators and personal information? (BeerHere works for a very large IT organization that frequently deals with regulators, information security and privacy) Is there anything that I can do? PM Tim?

[Little Slide Rooter]

The regulars had a habit of digging into the (very) personal info of posters they didn't like. Probably got sued.

 

Heh, so it happens other places as well besides here. Pathetic

 

When did that happen here?

 

I think he's talking about when those overseas hackers took advantage of our vulnerable front page

 

That was last year then, I remember, there was some strange graphic that said you have been hacked by such and such.

[SouthSideRyan]

so basically frank mccourt is a complete scumbag.

 

Just a shade better than Loria

 

Would you link me to a good read about what exactly he did to the Expos?

 

Best I could track down in one place,

 

At the heart of the assertions against Loria are allegations that he did not enter into his role as general partner of the relaunch of Les Expos in good faith. When he came aboard with a 24% ownership stake, the plans for the revitalization of the franchise were contigent upon approval of a new stadium plan, tentatively named "Labatt's Park" based on the brewery's agreement to provide a big chunk of the finances in exchange for the naming rights. The payroll for the team's plans were constructed to allow for extended deals to then-up-and-coming young stars like Vlad Guerrero and Jose Vidro, keeping salaries down but allowing for growth in the coming years when the 'Spos were expected to move into a new 35,000 seat downtown outdoors stade.

 

Shortly after taking control of the 'Spos, the Yokels allege that Loria went in a drastically different direction, blowing past agreed-upon spending limits to sign players of questionable value such as Lee Stevens, Graeme Lloyd and the forgettable Hideki "Fat Toad" Irabu to long term deals, while alienating local sponsors by pulling "comp" ticket deals, and finally even attempting to undermine Labatt's support of the new stadium plan by trying to re-open the bidding for the new stadium's naming rights. The final - and perhaps most publicized - step in Loria's Sherman-like march through Montreal was when he decided to pull the team off of TV and English radio entirely in an alleged "effort" to force the local media to pay him appropriate rights fees.

 

The Yokels allege that despite representations to the contrary, Loria never intended to follow through on his promises to lead the rebirth of the franchise in Montreal, and poisoned/sabotaged the franchise at every step to destroy the market and enable him to move the team Stateside, which ironically was projected to be in none other than Washington DC. Loria's decision to sign players against the agreed-upon plan resulted in payroll increases, which in turn allowed him to make "cash calls" against the rest of the ownership. The Yokels, already suspecting a wolf in their midst, refused to meet the cash calls, at one point with Stephen Bronfman offering to buy out Loria. Loria used the unanswered cash calls to increase his ownership stake, and both sides of the dispute failed to come up with their share of the funds for the new stadium plan, which by then had lost its tenuous government support at both provincial and national levels.

 

Midway through '01 - his last year in Montreal - Loria let the 1$CAD annual option on the downtown tract of land for Labatt's Park lapse, effectively bringing the stade plans - already on life support - to an abrupt end. Within a few months, Loria would consummate his "sale" of the 'Spos to MLB as part of the infamous Red Sox/Marlins/Expos franchise swap, launching the 'Spos headlong towards the "contraction" bugaboo that served as perhaps the key bargaining chip in the '02 CBA between MLB and the MLBPA.

 

Upon his departure from Montreal, Loria et als took with him pretty much everything that wasn't nailed down, including scouting reports, player data, and even most of the contents of the Expos' store at Stade Olympique, with rumours of high-priced signature Vlad Guerrero life-sized cardboard cutouts making periodic appearances on e-Bay from sellers in southern Florida over the following two seasons. MLB turned a blind eye, and perhaps as a payoff for his duplicity in the take-over of the 'Spos, even allowed Loria to take the Expos' brand-new, state-of-the-art spring training complex with him to the Marlins, relegating the 'Spos to the Marlins' former digs on the Space Coast.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Loria once bit a man's finger clean off because the man pointed at him in a "wrong fashion".

[NCCubFan]

The regulars had a habit of digging into the (very) personal info of posters they didn't like. Probably got sued.

 

Heh, so it happens other places as well besides here. Pathetic

 

When did that happen here?

 

I think he's talking about when those overseas hackers took advantage of our vulnerable front page

 

That was last year then, I remember, there was some strange graphic that said you have been hacked by such and such.

I believe Tim had to do a lot of rebuilding from that attack. Some features still aren't working properly.

[Sammy Sofa]

The regulars had a habit of digging into the (very) personal info of posters they didn't like. Probably got sued.

 

Heh, so it happens other places as well besides here. Pathetic

 

Hey, Keener, why don't you explain to everyone what you're complaining about here.

[Sammy Sofa]

So this presumably makes it unlikely that they'll be able to drop a big contract on someone like Kemp after his current deal is up at the end of the 2012 season, right?

[Mark Priors Calves]

The regulars had a habit of digging into the (very) personal info of posters they didn't like. Probably got sued.

 

Heh, so it happens other places as well besides here. Pathetic

 

Hey, Keener, why don't you explain to everyone what you're complaining about here.

I'd like to know, too.

[Guest]

so basically frank mccourt is a complete scumbag.

 

Just a shade better than Loria

 

 

Are we sure he's even that good anymore?

 

http://itsaboutthemoney.net/archives/2011/06/20/commissioner-selig-frank-mccourt-must-go-a-petition/

 

Long and detailed story on McCourt's Dodger ownership.

 

In sum: McCourt borrowed against the Dodgers to buy the Dodgers, with none of his own money. He's basically skimmed tens, if not hundreds of millions off the Dodgers to fund his lifestyle.

[davell]

I was just coming here to post that article. Wow. I'm glad Selig turned down the Fox deal, but good lord, this could get messy beyond belief. McCourt makes a living out sueing folks and my guess is he'll have no issue taking MLB to court. The Dodgers and their fans certainly deserve better than this. And by the looks of things, I could see this thing dragging on for a VERY long time.

[SouthSideRyan]

I was just coming to post that article.

[davearm2]

I was just coming here to post that article. Wow. I'm glad Selig turned down the Fox deal, but good lord, this could get messy beyond belief. McCourt makes a living out sueing folks and my guess is he'll have no issue taking MLB to court. The Dodgers and their fans certainly deserve better than this. And by the looks of things, I could see this thing dragging on for a VERY long time.

Well the Dodger fans that beat the snot out of that Giant fan deserve this.

[SouthSideRyan]

Aaron Miles and Rafael Furcal as well.

[Cubswin11]

I don't know how this will end, but I hope MLB will seriously allow Cuban to be a serious buyer/bidder. Bringing in/approving a guy with his status might allow this thing to get moving faster.

[SouthSideRyan]

I don't know how this will end, but I hope MLB will seriously allow Cuban to be a serious buyer/bidder. Bringing in/approving a guy with his status might allow this thing to get moving faster.

 

I don't want Mark Cuban to be the owner of a team we'll be competing against.

[CyHawk_Cub]

I don't know how this will end, but I hope MLB will seriously allow Cuban to be a serious buyer/bidder. Bringing in/approving a guy with his status might allow this thing to get moving faster.

 

I don't want Mark Cuban to be the owner of a team we'll be competing against.

 

^^This.

[Sammy Sofa]

I don't want Cuban getting the Dodgers. I will not let my dream of the Cubs signing Kemp for 2013 die. I WILL NOT.

[Banedon]

Baseball won't let Cuban in anyway.

[jiml60]

Move the Dodgers back to Brooklyn!

[cl smooth]

dodgers just filed for BK:

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/news/story?id=6708046