Tuesday, November 1st was a momentous night for the Los Angeles Dodgers and LA sports in general. After two years of disastrous divorce proceedings and revelations that he and his wife had treated the team as their private ATM machine, McCourt and Major League Baseball have announced that the team will be sold at auction. The Times' Bill Shaikin has been on the case from the beginning, and broke the big story last night. An excerpt:
"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 Blackstone Group LP will manage the sale process," the statement read in its entirety.
Baseball hopes a new Dodgers owner can be in place by opening day next year.
The deal was concluded at about 8:30 p.m. Pacific time, said a person familiar with the discussions but not authorized to talk about them. McCourt, who was in New York for the negotiations, is expected to meet with reporters in Los Angeles at a later date.
There is no guarantee that the new Dodgers' owners will be bring the team more wins than the McCourts, but there's little doubt that they will be better owners. As long as things go smoothly, LA TACO promises never to mention the names Frank & Jamie McCourt ever again.
