Los Angeles Dodgers File for Bankruptcy

[spangar]

The Los Angeles Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection after Major League Baseball rejected a television deal that owner Frank McCourt said would have assured financial stability for the team.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig last week said the 17-year TV rights deal with Fox Sports, which McCourt valued at about $3 billion, would harm the franchise in the long term. Baseball took over the team’s business operations about two months ago.
“He’s turned his back on the Dodgers, treated us differently, and forced us to the point we find ourselves in today,” McCourt said today in a statement. “I simply cannot allow the commissioner to knowingly and intentionally be in a position to expose the Dodgers to financial risk any longer. It is my hope that the Chapter 11 process will create a fair and constructive environment to get done what we couldn’t achieve with the commissioner directly.”
The team listed assets of as much as $1 billion and debt of as much as $500 million in a Chapter 11 petition filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. The Dodgers received a commitment for a $150 million loan from Highbridge Principal Strategies LLC, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. unit, to support operations during the team’s bankruptcy, according to the statement.
Payroll Due
The team requires access to at least $20 million to pay compensation due June 30, according to court papers. Manny Ramirez, a former Dodgers player, is listed as the largest unsecured creditor with a claim of about $21 million, according to court papers.
Pat Courtney, a spokesman for Major League Baseball, didn’t immediately return an e-mail left at his New York office seeking comment.
The Dodgers, which moved to Los Angeles in 1958 from Brooklyn, New York, are one of the most storied franchises in American sports. Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947 as the first black player in the major leagues in the modern era.
The team is worth about $800 million, making it the third most valuable baseball team after the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, according to Forbes. The bankruptcy follows the Chapter 11 filing last year of the Texas Rangers baseball team. The Rangers were sold at a bankruptcy auction to a group that included Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan.
Divorce Case
McCourt, a Boston real-estate developer who unsuccessfully bid for the Boston Red Sox, bought the Dodgers from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. (NWS) in 2004 for $430 million. He is fighting with his ex-wife, Jamie, over ownership of the team. A judge last year invalidated an agreement that Frank McCourt claimed made him the sole owner of the Dodgers, leaving the team’s ownership in limbo.
Court documents filed in the divorce case said the McCourts took $108 million in personal distributions from the team between 2004 and 2009, almost half for mortgages and real estate.
In April, Selig said he was appointing a representative to oversee the business and day-to-day operations of the Dodgers because of “deep concerns regarding the finances and operations of the Dodgers.”
“The Dodgers have been one of the most prestigious franchises in all of sports, and we owe it to their legion of loyal fans to ensure that this club is being operated properly now and will be guided appropriately in the future,” Selig said in an April 20 statement. He later named Thomas Schieffer, former president of the Texas Rangers, as the team’s monitor.
‘State of Distress’
Meanwhile, McCourt pushed Selig to approve the Fox Sports deal. He accused Selig in a letter of making “a conscious decision to put the Dodgers in this state of distress.”
In an interview on Bloomberg Television, McCourt said the deal would infuse almost $300 million into the team immediately and “assures the financial health and stability of the franchise for the next two decades.”
Baseball said it was withholding approval until completing an investigation into the club and its finances. On June 20, Selig said he was rejecting the transaction, saying it was “structured to facilitate the further diversion of Dodgers assets for the personal needs of Mr. McCourt.”
“Given the magnitude of the transaction, such a diversion of assets would have the effect of mortgaging the future of the franchise to the long-term detriment of the club and its fans,” Selig said in a statement.
The case is In re Los Angeles Dodgers LLC, 11-12010, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

wow.. im not a dodger fan or anything and i havent heard anything about this recently so this was kind of an eye catcher when i found it

 

[footballplaya52]

smh

 

[Mexi]

yeah it's fucking bull

how the fuck are we still owing all those players money? damn
Marquis Grissom?
Kaz Ishii?
what the hell

Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre, Manny Ramirez

I just want McCourt gone. he's a crook and he's killing the Dodgers
How the fuck do the Dodgers have a smaller payroll than the Twins?????????!!!!!!!

 

[cruzg24]

lmao, I thought the Mets were a mess....

 

[Mexi]

^the mets are in hell too
maybe even worse. at least MLB is controlling the Dodgers day to day operations and exploring seizing the team

 

[fleaTheg]

This is so damn sad, i hate the Mccourts, matt kemps amazing season overshadowed by this shit.