LA Dodgers Up For Sale: Mavericks' Mark Cuban Interested?
The Los Angeles Dodgers are being sold after current owner Frank McCourt, surrounded by financial scandal and publicly shunned by the MLB commissioner, has filed for bankruptcy.
The MLB and Los Angeles Dodgers released a joint statement concerning the matter.
"The Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball announced that they have agreed today to a court supervised process to sell the team and its attendant media rights in a manner designed to realize maximum value for the Dodgers and their owner, Frank McCourt,” The statement said. “The Blackstone Group LP will manage the sale process."
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McCourt wrote a letter to his employees to explain his decision.
"I have made this decision because I believe it is in the best interests of our organization, our loyal fans and the community at large," McCourt wrote in an email, according to MLB.com.
The announcement was two years in the making for McCourt, who after a highly publicized divorce recently reached a settlement in which his ex-wife and former Dodgers’ club president Jamie would receive $130 million.
The settlement was the cause for McCourt filing for bankruptcy, and has caused some to raise eyebrows concerning his misappropriation of Dodgers’ funds.
Bud Selig, MLB Commissioner, has made it no secret that he would like McCourt out of the league.
"The Dodgers are in bankruptcy because McCourt has taken almost $190 million out of the club and has completely alienated the Dodgers' fan base," a statement released from the league said.
While McCourt has expressed an interest in selling the team’s broadcast rights to a television network, Selig has made it clear that the only way to bring the team out of bankruptcy is for the owner to sell his team.
McCourt, a former real estate developer, purchased the team for $430 million in 2004. Although no official announcement has been made about new ownership, NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban expressed an interest to CBS Sports Tuesday.
Cuban told the network that he had previously spoken to McCourt about taking ownership of the team, but he did not believe the owner’s asking price of $1 billion was feasible.
