What happened to the LA Dodgers?

[hal]

I haven't followed baseball closely for years, but if there were to be any recession proof teams in the MLB, I would have thought that the Dodgers would be one of them.

They filed for bankruptcy protection today - WTF?

Looks like a real mess... http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodg...1242.story

[Will Collier]

It's all Manny's fault.

(As far as I can tell--and I haven't paid that much attention--it's due to the owner losing half his $$$ in an ugly divorce.)

[ztirffritz]

The team was owned by a couple going through a War of the Roses style devorce. The woman was having an affair with their chauffeur, I'm sure the husband was dipping his stick someplace where he shouldn't have been too. In any case, the team was a casualty as they both raced to hide their assets from each other for the divorce. MLB took over operations for the team for a while, but I guess they finally called it.

[Uncle Wig]

Time for Brooklyn to step in and get their team back!

[OWC Jamie]

Too much borrowed money.
McCourt should have stuck to paving paradise and building parking lots. :-)

[hal]

Uncle Wig wrote:
Time for Brooklyn to step in and get their team back!

that would be amazing...

[Filliam H. Muffman]

The TV contract would have given them about $250 million very quickly and allowed everything to keep going. My impression is there is a huge amount of baseball politics going on behind the scenes and it will take a few years before the real stories get out.

[hal]

Is the divorce the reason why the stands are empty. That place used to be one of the top attendance draws in the league - even if they didn't have a contending team. The fans just vanished...

[Filliam H. Muffman]

hal wrote:
Is the divorce the reason why the stands are empty.

I get the impression the area around the stadium is not as friendly as it used to be.
Friend describes fan attack

[numbered]

This oughta be a movie. The divorce has opened up an incredible world of scandal and greed. The schadenfreude is great for Giants fans.

The McCourts have lived for several years on money they have taken out of the team as debt. As a loan, no taxes are due, and the payback would only have to be when they sell the team. Houses, planes, cars, no problem!

Then, they created some poison pills. Not all has come to light, but the latest is that they have taken various revenue streams (eg, parking, concessions) and "sold" them through other companies. In this way, new owners of the Dodgers would not get this revenue unless McCourt agreed. This was done to prevent MLB from taking the team over.

MLB took over anyway, but it is not clear who is calling the shots.

Recently, McCourt made an agreement with Fox for local media that would have provided about $400m. But a big chunk of the money would not go to the team--it would go to pay off McCourt's wife for the divorce. MLB turned down the contract since they want a competitive team and want McCourt gone. This sent the divorce settlement back to the drawing board since the only asset is the team.

What MLB wants is to force a sale and get rid of McCourt. McCourt wants to hang on. Stalemate ensues.

The bankruptcy filing is because they cannot meet payroll without fresh financing and no one would provide it without a judge in the middle. The Dodgers owe large sums to a number of former players. The largest is $21m to Manny.