Dodgers to be sold

[Formerly Snayke]

Apparently this improves the Rams' chances of staying in St. Louis.

[SouthSideRyan]

Think about how evil Jeff Loria is, take a little off of that and you have Frank McCourt. I'm sickened that he's making a killing off of this deal.

 

Where's that guy that was arguing with me that Ricketts paid twice as much as what the Cubs are worth?

 

McCourt bought the Dodgers for $430 million. And he's going to keep the extremely valuable parking lots around the stadium. Incredible.

 

My quick skimming had them buying the land around the stadium. I assume this included the parking lots?

 

And you undersell how underhanded this entire thing was. McCourt bought the team with its own debt. He provided virtually no money of his own, bled the team's revenues dry, sold the [expletive] team parking lots to a separate McCourt-owned entity, and on and on. It's disgusting.

[Guest]

Think about how evil Jeff Loria is, take a little off of that and you have Frank McCourt. I'm sickened that he's making a killing off of this deal.

 

Where's that guy that was arguing with me that Ricketts paid twice as much as what the Cubs are worth?

 

McCourt bought the Dodgers for $430 million. And he's going to keep the extremely valuable parking lots around the stadium. Incredible.

 

My quick skimming had them buying the land around the stadium. I assume this included the parking lots?

 

And you undersell how underhanded this entire thing was. McCourt bought the team with its own debt. He provided virtually no money of his own, bled the team's revenues dry, sold the [expletive] team parking lots to a separate McCourt-owned entity, and on and on. It's disgusting.

 

Yeah, the land around the stadium includes the parking lots.

 

ETA: Looks like you're right on the parking lots.

[seanimal]

Magic is positive this is the right thing to do.

 

Because if anyone knows about being positive.....

 

 

 

....too soon?

 

does he have type 2 diabetes too?

[Tracer Bullet]

Seth Meyers: it's like he fell up a flight of stairs and healed his broken leg.

[Clem Fandango]

Do the Dodgers really pull in that much money that a $2 billion price tag is reasonable? I know they're in one of the largest markets, but they don't seem like one of those teams that people outside of their market goes crazy for, unlike the Red Sox, Yankees, and Cubs.

[jersey cubs fan]

Do the Dodgers really pull in that much money that a $2 billion price tag is reasonable? I know they're in one of the largest markets, but they don't seem like one of those teams that people outside of their market goes crazy for, unlike the Red Sox, Yankees, and Cubs.

 

Every 60+ year old NY business man is in love with the Dodgers. Fox had a huge television rights offer on the table for the Dodgers. Everything going on in the media world has shown that content is king, and the Dodgers are big content.

[Guest]

Do the Dodgers really pull in that much money that a $2 billion price tag is reasonable? I know they're in one of the largest markets, but they don't seem like one of those teams that people outside of their market goes crazy for, unlike the Red Sox, Yankees, and Cubs.

 

Every 60+ year old NY business man is in love with the Dodgers. Fox had a huge television rights offer on the table for the Dodgers. Everything going on in the media world has shown that content is king, and the Dodgers are big content.

They regularly draw 3+ million too. They're probably the best buy in the NL.

[C.C.]

Magic Johnson's group bought them for $2.15 billion.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303404704577308483250633906.html

 

Magic is positive this is the right thing to do.

 

Because if anyone knows about being positive.....

 

 

 

....too soon?

 

20 years too late.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Maybe it's just posturing like the Marlins, but I hate seeing the Dodgers already talking about how much they want to spend. And under competent ownership, they should.

 

Without one of those fancy billion-dollar local cable deals, the Cubs are about to become the equivalent of a mid-market team.

[davell]

What's our timetable for that? WGN runs out in 2014? Comcast is 2019 or so?

[Sammy Sofa]

What's our timetable for that? WGN runs out in 2014? Comcast is 2019 or so?

 

I think the WGN part would be the main sticking point, at least in terms of maximizing the rest of the Comcast deal, given the Ricketts' involvement with Comcast.

[C.C.]

Couldn't they should buy themselves out of the Comcast deal? Although, that would be pointless because it's not like they are going to be any good for the next 3 years or so.

[Soul]

Do the Dodgers really pull in that much money that a $2 billion price tag is reasonable? I know they're in one of the largest markets, but they don't seem like one of those teams that people outside of their market goes crazy for, unlike the Red Sox, Yankees, and Cubs.

 

Eh, there are some Dodger fans scattered around the country. It's not the Cubs or Yanks, for sure.

 

It seems like a lot of money to pay, but look at McCourt. He went from $420 million to $2 billion in just 20 years of ownership. *AND* he gets to keep part of the enterprise.

 

Yikes. He made out like a bandit. And he sucked.

[El Duderino]

20 years of ownership?

[Sammy Sofa]

8, 20; whatever.

[treebird]

Do the Dodgers really pull in that much money that a $2 billion price tag is reasonable? I know they're in one of the largest markets, but they don't seem like one of those teams that people outside of their market goes crazy for, unlike the Red Sox, Yankees, and Cubs.

 

Eh, there are some Dodger fans scattered around the country. It's not the Cubs or Yanks, for sure.

 

It seems like a lot of money to pay, but look at McCourt. He went from $420 million to $2 billion in just 20 years of ownership. *AND* he gets to keep part of the enterprise.

 

Yikes. He made out like a bandit. And he sucked.

 

how can 2 billion be too much to pay? just look at the last owner: he got some idiot to pay 2 billion for the team!

[Guest]

Andrew Ross Sorkin reports in the New York Times this morning that the chief backers behind the Dodgers new ownership don't exactly have the money for the team. Instead, they anticipate that they will borrow money to purchase them … but they haven't exactly secured that money? The lead man behind the sale, Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter, apparently is expecting to use some money from his insurance group to pay. As Sorkin reports: "Using insurance money—which is typically supposed to be invested in simple, safe assets—to buy a baseball team, the ultimate toy for the ultrarich, seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen." Which, fine! Guggenheim Partners can deal with that. But Sorkin also reports that Walter may not have actually told his investors that he wanted to purchase the team and that he wants their money.

[Sammy Sofa]

If only this could somehow void Matt Kemp's new deal.

 

But hey, at least it's going as well as Magic's theater chain did.

[Soul]

I'm not sure how that's supposed to work then. They don't have the money or the consent of those who will pay.

[mul21]

So they're grossly overpaying, supposedly in cash, and don't have the funds to pay? Sounds like McCourt v2.

[Guest]

So not cool...

 

The Dodgers’ new owners could reap hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits from the confidential terms of a U.S. Bankruptcy Court settlement between former owner Frank McCourt and Major League Baseball …

 

Guggenheim Baseball, the Dodgers’ new owners, can negotiate a new television contract as soon as this fall, with Fox Sports, Time Warner Cable and perhaps CBS expected to bid. If the Dodgers accept an annual rights fee, they would simply pay 34% of whatever money they receive into the revenue-sharing pool.

 

However, the Dodgers are expected to pursue a regional sports network, on their own or in partnership with Fox, TWC or another television outlet. Guggenheim could establish a media company separate from the Dodgers, then have the company pay the team in accordance with the proposed Fox contract and keep the remaining revenue.

 

The difference here between what the Dodgers are doing on the one hand, and what the Yankees do with YES or the Red Sox do with NESN, is that 34%. In their cases, they pay that 34% of media rights fees — plus a surcharge if the team is getting lowballed by its sister regional sports network. With the Dodgers, their new Fox deal is charged at 34%, but even if a new Dodgers cable network pays them tens of millions more a year, and that money is not touched by MLB.

 

Shaikin suspects that this will cause some tensions within the ownership ranks, as the Dodgers — by virtue of litigation with an irresponsible former member of their ranks — got something they didn’t. Worth watching.

 

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/17/the-bankruptcy-court-gave-the-dodgers-something-no-other-team-has/

[Sammy Sofa]

Ugh, I'm tired of hearing about other teams savoring that sweet, sweeet TV money. This stupid WGN deal can't end soon enough.