Major League Baseball announced that Frank McCourt has been relieved of his day-to-day duties and financial management of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the league will take over from here.
This move comes a week after McCourt took a loan from the Fox regional sports network in Los Angeles in the amount of $30 million. Fox, the Dodgers’ broadcast rights partner, is said to have granted the loan to cover payroll and day-to-day expenses for the team for month of April. It was unclear if dipping into the well of Fox would be a regular routine in the coming months so the league moved in.
In a statement to the Associated Press Commissioner Selig said:
“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. I have taken this action because of my deep concerns regarding the finances and operations of the Dodgers and to protect the best interests of the Club, its great fans and all of Major League Baseball.”
It is no secret that Frank McCourt has financial worries. It all came out in the wash during his nasty divorce trial of 2010 and revealed he and his ex-wife Jamie went through cash like drunken sailors while using the Dodgers as their personal piggy bank.
Like many homeowners in today’s economy, the McCourts overextended themselves, raiding the equity of the Dodgers to fund their lavish lifestyles. When Frank was faced with paying his soon-to-be ex-wife up to half the value of the team, he couldn’t scare it up while his lenders dried up because of his insufficient cash position in the Dodgers and other assets.
Jamie McCourt claims she co-owns the Dodgers and Frank needs to buy her portion out. His attempt at closing that argument got squashed in court when the judge decided the team’s ownership was indeed owned by both spouses.
The revelations about how the Dodgers’ revenue was used by the McCourts and Frank’s desperate attempts to gather the money to buy Jamie out had been monitored by MLB. With the news of the bridge loan from Fox, the final straw appears to have broken the league’s back.
Add this to the embarrassment and disgrace of the Opening Day attack against a San Fran Giant fan in the Dodger Stadium parking lot that led to the revelations about why there so little security in place.
More Dodgers: Dodgers owner faces public, finally after attack on Giants fan at Dodger Stadium
Used with permission of the author.
Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles.
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