Dodger sale

[Hack Wilson]

Unbelievable. 2 billion, and how it will change the game we know. Players we make even more money, things will even revolve around the top spenders than ever before. Is it the apocalypse -- I don't know, but how is we have a supposedly bad economy and the richest can still spend like gluttons? Selfishly, I fear it bodes ill for one of my favorite teams, the Giants. They will have to ante up, or else.

[bontomn]

I think the game as we knew it changed irreparably for the worse some time ago. The Dodgers sale definitely won't help anyone but the cable company that winds up carrying their games, since no one but Hollywood actors and Lakers players will be able to afford their ticket prices. And, living in San Diego where the Padres ownership and TV package is completely up in the air, I don't feel sorry for Giants fans at all.

[mykeedee]

Yea, 2 billion is crazy big money, but that is the state of todays sport franchises. Did they overspend? of course, and if they think they can get a good return (which I'm sure they will) on their investment then more power to them. I'm a mail carrier in Santa Monica and I can afford to go to a few games a year and after boycotting McCourt last year, I will go to at least a few. I have lots of friends who can afford to go to the games, it's not like you don't drop 50 to 75 bucks for a good nite out with your wife, and that's about what it costs for a couple of reserve seats and a couple of dogs. In fact Costco gives you 2 box seats, 2 dogs and 2 drinks for about 60 bucks. I'm a Dodger fan and I definitely don't feel sorry for the Giants or the Padres or the Mets or any other of the other teams in MLB, I'm just glad to be rid of the McCourt reign of terror. :D :D :D :D :D

[ratioman2]

It's truly amazing what McCourt has pulled off. He bought the Dodgers without putting in any money, extracted about 110 million dollars from the team for his personal use, bought out his wife's 50% share for 131 million, and then sold 100% for 2 billion. And he still owns the parking lots through a joint venture.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/22321/state-of-the-dodgers-crime-does-pay

[PotKettleBlack]

Not the whole of the parking lots. He has a minority share, but still, highway robbery by someone considered the most inept owner in professional sports.

The relative value of the Cubs three years ago and the Dodgers this week is astonishing, even considering that the Cubs are cursed. Easier to get to Cubby-land, so less parking, fewer seats, so less ticket revenue, lower cost of living, so lower ticket, beer and everything revenue (in absolute terms, which are the only meaningful terms for the .1% and up), but more regular attendance, better ownership of the market, better fans (a lot fewer people in Wrigleyville who show up for the 3rd and leave after the stretch... epidemic in Chavez Ravine). So, you'd think the Cubs would be worth more than half of what the Dodgers are worth.

I wonder what the Pirates are worth... think I could pick them up for a six-pack and a pack of smokes?

[ADRIANGABRIEL]

As I understand it, the buyers will be leveraged to their eyeballs and will not necessarily have a lot of cash around to pay players...

[scorehouse]

if selig hadn't of interferred, this would of never happened. the dodgers were sold for a lot less before that moron interceded. way to go mccourt!

[Valen]

You would think they would be leveraged and stretched to their limit by the purchase price. But when you listen to the new owners they do not sound like people who believe they will have cash problems when free agency rolls around this winter. They are talking just the opposite.

[Sheikyerboudi]

Ok, 1st of all the new owners of the Dodgers are the Guggenheim Capital Group. If you don't know who Guggenheim are, well, suffice it to say they paid the 2 billion price tag for the Dodgers with CASH. Even w/stadium upgrades (estimated at 300 Mil) they will have plenty of cash to compete w/the Yankees of the world. In fact, you can probably start calling them Yankees West. Magic Johnson (the frontman for the GCG) is a GOD in LA and will be a tireless promoter of the team. Rumor has it that they will end up w/their own version of the Yankees "Yes" baseball network - worth billions in & of itself. The rest of baseball had better be VERY afraid. Oh, and by the way, screw the Giants 8-)

-FZL (lifelong Dodgers fan - and 60 yrs old)

[katzenjammer]

[quote:d23757a556="Frank Zappa Lives!!!"]Ok, 1st of all the new owners of the Dodgers are the Guggenheim Capital Group. If you don't know who Guggenheim are, well, suffice it to say they paid the 2 billion price tag for the Dodgers with CASH. Even w/stadium upgrades (estimated at 300 Mil) they will have plenty of cash to compete w/the Yankees of the world. In fact, you can probably start calling them Yankees West. Magic Johnson (the frontman for the GCG) is a GOD in LA and will be a tireless promoter of the team. Rumor has it that they will end up w/their own version of the Yankees "Yes" baseball network - worth billions in & of itself. The rest of baseball had better be VERY afraid. Oh, and by the way, screw the Giants 8-)

-FZL (lifelong Dodgers fan - and 60 yrs old)[/quote:d23757a556]

Just musing as I go off on another tangent. I'm 60 also and although I was just a kid as what I consider the golden age of baseball was coming to an end - the mid '60s - how I dream about being able to travel back in time and watch baseball in those old parks - Sportsman's Park, Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds, etc and watch those former players who remain icons compared to todays' billionaire players - Willie, Mickey and the Duke, Stan the Man, Ted Williams, Hank, Yogi, Jackie, Ernie Banks and so many. Yeah, maybe they were being screwed over by the owners. But who's getting screwed now - fans who can't afford to go to a game or have to take out a second mortgage or sell their first born to pay for a few tickets. And to go to a ball game in the sunlight - how often do you get to do that now? Anyway - as I said - just musing as I read in here about how baseball and baseball players have changed from "The Golden Boys of Summer". That's why I like to touch base with the "Boys" in SOM ATGVI - watch 'em run, hit, field, throw, make errors. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.