McCourts' Dodger Ownership Nears End

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright November 5, 2011
All Rights Reserved.                                         

     Since leveraging himself to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers from Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp in 2004 for $430 million, the Boston-based jetsetters Frank and Jamie McCourt, ran the franchise like a Las Vegas Casino.  NewCorp bought the team March 19, 1998 for $360 million from Peter O’Malley.  Expecting a red carpet, the McCourts went over the deep-end, sparing no extravagance rubbing elbows with LA’s celebrity-studded elite, purchasing more flashy real estate and jewels than A-list ballplayers.  Once owned by the venerable O’Malley family, the Dodgers became tainted with the McCourt’s distasteful lifestyle, abuzz with salacious gossip unbefitting owners of a professional sports franchise, certainly not America’s favorite pastime.  When the couple aired their dirty laundry in public Oct. 14, 2009, they exposed the ugly underbelly of a nauseating Hollywood divorce.

            When Major League Baseball took over Dodger baseball operations in April 2011, Frank filed for bankruptcy protection June 27 to block MLB from forcing a sale of the team.  Frank and Jamie never really got the extent of their disgraceful management, choosing instead to fire whomever they wished.  They canned Dodger Hall-of-Fame-eligible first baseman Steve Garvey June 21 from his PR job for daring to suggest in a radio interview the team was badly mismanaged.  McCourts’ heavy-handed dictatorial style deteriorated after MLB intervened to stop further damage to one of the league’s most coveted franchises.  Neither Frank nor Jamie in their blind pursuit of wealth, glamour, fame, and, more to the point, self-aggrandizement, saw the damage they wreaked on the franchise.  All Dodger employees, including garrulous General Manager Ned Coletti, were muzzled.

            Last days in Dodgerland were marked by rampant paranoia in Dodger personnel both on and off the field.  No one dared to tell the truth about the dark cloud hanging over the team.  Despite the added stress, the team still managed a winning season with special kudos for key players like pitcher Clayton Kershaw and outfielder Matt Kemp.  When Frank finally surrenders control, new ownership will only need a top pitcher and stick in the lineup to take the team deep into the playoffs.  Deciding which ownership group would best serve the team’s championship objectives is anyone’s guess.  As long as ownership is not mortgaged to the hilt like the McCourts, things should work out.  Whether it’s Dallas Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban, former player agent Dan Gilbert, billionaire market mogul Ron Burkle, real estate investor Alan Casden or former ballplayers Steve Garvey or Orel Hershiser, it doesn’t matter.

            Former Dodger owner Peter O’Malley expressed interest in possibly buying back the team with the help of billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad.  Broad has the wide support in the Los Angeles community and connections to go with it.  Speculating about a price, New York University’s Tisch Center professor Robert Boland estimated that bidding will start somewhere around $800 million, potentially ending well over a billion.  With TV contracts estimated in the billions, the Dodgers should be worth every penny of the hefty price tag, capitalizing on today’s competitive bidding.  Frank should make hefty profits from his 2003 $430 million purchase from Murdoch’s NewsCorp.  “I think people of LA are very happy now,” said actor and sports talk show host Robert Wuhl, reflecting on McCourt’s decision to sell the team.  Whatever success he had on the field, he erased it in the front office.

            No ball club can expect such chaos at the top not  to trickle down on the field.  While Dodger personnel and ballplayers denied clubhouse distractions, the McCourts’ messy divorce and mismanagement detracted from the team’s success.  When MLB decided it was in the best interest in the game to take over Dodger management, Frank dug in his heels.  He hid behind his June 27 bankruptcy filing to buy him more time, knowing the inevitable.  “There is no owner who, during the period of 2004 to 2011, that we’ve spent more time with on his business problems, his business issues and his desire to be treated differently under applicable rules, the Frank McCourt,” said MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred.  From the get-to, the McCourts were ill-equipped to manage a professional sports franchise.  When their marriage fell apart in 2009, the house of cards collapsed.

            McCourts’ inability to control or conceal their lavish lifestyle hit the Dodger brand with a wrecking ball.  Few people can contain their nausea over the sickening public displays, disgracing the franchise and MLB.  Frank and Jamie’s blinding narcissism eventually sunk the franchise.  Not only did they run out of cash, they ran out of the good will needed to successfully manage the franchise.  Plundering the team’s finances to satisfy insatiable needs for status and prestige eventually came back to bite the team.  Passing the baton to new ownership should help repair the PR damage quickly.  As long as the next owner has sufficient deep pockets and gives management the tools needed for success, the Dodger brand can be rebuilt.  U.S. bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross has his work cut out for him picking an ownership group that satisfies all parties’ requirements for cash and class.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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