Los Angeles Dodgers File for Bankruptcy
Here's the latest twist in the LA Dodgers sordid melodrama: Frank McCourt has taken the baseball team to bankruptcy court. The little-loved owner filed for bankruptcy three days before the team's payroll was due, according to NBC Sports and he's said he has $150 million in interim financing for the proceedings. The Wall Street Journal Dealbook has the official bankruptcy filing documents (PDF here) and The Los Angeles Times has McCourt's full press statement (excerpted below). As Dealbook noted, the "Dodgers say they owe [former star Manny] Ramirez $21 million. Vin Scully, the beloved longtime baseball announcer, is owed about $153,000, according to the bankruptcy filing."
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Here's the excerpted McCourt press statement:
"The Dodgers have delivered time and again since I became owner, and that’s been good for baseball," McCourt said. "We turned the team around financially after years of annual losses before I purchased the team. We invested $150 million in the stadium. We’ve had excellent on-field performance, including playoff appearances four times in seven years. And we brought the Commissioner a media rights deal that would have solved the cash flow challenge I presented to him a year ago, when his leadership team called us a ‘model franchise.’ Yet he’s turned his back on the Dodgers, treated us differently, and forced us to the point we find ourselves in today. I simply cannot allow the Commissioner to knowingly and intentionally be in a position to expose the Dodgers to financial risk any longer. It is my hope that the Chapter 11 process will create a fair and constructive environment to get done what we couldn’t achieve with the Commissioner directly."
