Frank McCourt’s official line is that the Dodgers are not for sale. But whether they’re ultimately sold is kind of out of his hands. If the latest court ruling is upheld, Jamie McCourt is going to be owed a ton of money for her share of the team, Frank doesn’t have it handy, and the only way for him to get it would be to sell the Dodgers.
Against that backdrop, BusinessWeek reports that a couple of people are indicating that they’d be interested: private equity dude Alec Gores and real estate mogul Alan Casden.*
I don’t read much business press so I’ve never heard of either of them. But that’s what Google is for. Here’s a recent writeup on Gores:
Kind of sounds like a baseball owner. Likes sports. Likes media. Does business with his family. Hangs out with weird celebrities. I also heard that Ron Burkle was interested in buying the Pirates once upon a time, so maybe Gores want the Dodgers as a way to figuratively flip the bird at a business rival! Oh, and Gores was raised in Flint, Michigan. I was in part, so I’m going to make him my favorite for no other reason than that.
Mixed-use development guy? Hey, that also sounds like a baseball owner! Ever been to Dodger Stadium? Seen how big that parking lot is? It could easily fit a Home Depot and a couple of condos! And if he’s into the light rail scene, maybe Dodger Stadium will finally get some friggin’ mass transit. It’s brutal getting in and out of there.
Eh, rich people. I don’t really pretend that I understand them, so I’m just snarking here. I just hope that when they take over baseball teams they do the right thing and plow an insane amount of money into players, try to keep a lid on beer prices, make sure the team’s announcers aren’t awful and at least pretend to be happy when the team wins.
*Mark Cuban is given quick lip service too, but it’s based on old, old news. And frankly, I’m kind of bored talking about Cuban.
