Chad Moriyama Dodgers, Sabermetrics, Scouting
Mike Ozanian of Forbes brings the potentially awesome news that the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership bidders want the parking lots as part of the deal.
The five remaining groups bidding for Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers want the roughly 130 acres of land Dodger Stadium’s parking lots sit on to be included with their current offers for the team. The current bids for the Dodgers range from $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion.
According to a high-ranking baseball executive familiar with the bids who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the potential owners do not simply want the right to lease the parking lots at Dodger Stadium from team owner Frank McCourt, they want outright ownership of the land. The Dodgers would not comment but in the past have said on several occasions that the parking lots were not part of the auction.
Talk about an outstanding turn of events.
I hope the executive in question is correct, as this report is in contrast to everything that has been speculated before.
To us fans, it represents a major issue.
Regardless of which group wins the bid, I think not having any association left with Frank McCourt will get fans back into the stadium, just on the basis that we (the fans) would be totally done with that scumbag.
Dodger fans get criticized a lot for a lot of dumb stuff, but we can always be relied on to show up in droves unless your ownership gets boycotted by fans, so cutting ties with the man who somehow managed to make fans angry enough to not show up is probably the best move going forward.
TBH, I’m whatever about the parking lots. There are plenty of baseball teams out there who don’t own their parking lots.
Of course the best case scenario would be that the Dodgers (and LA) are completely rid of Frank McCourt and while I am not a fan of his, I’ve always ever considered him to be just another selfish human being. Not altogether different from the rest of us and I never truly understood why so many fans took his actions so personally. While most of us would probably not have gone as far as he did in terms of asset stripping for our own benefit, that’s largely meaningless IMO. But whatever.
Great news if true.
The real interesting bit for me however is I think I have a better understanding of why Cohen needs Soon-Shiong. Because his opening bid includes so much cash, he probably doesn’t have much cash in reserve to increase the bidding once MLB returns the 4 or 5 or however many groups back to McCourt.
The fans are still just waiting for a reason to be pissed at him from the response I’m seeing.
Ya, pretty much right? If you saw the comment thread over at MSTI a few days ago, somebody make some real pie in the sky list of requirements, which if not met, would result in him (or her) being devastated.
Devastated seems quite a strong word…
I think there’s a contingent of people out there for whom unless the ghost of Walter O’Malley walks through the door as the new owner, would find reasons to hate new ownership.
I’ve always said, they’re just looking for a reason not to go back if anything Frank McCourt related pops up.
So to not buy the parking lots is insane, because the ownership gets off to a bad start.
You just dropped ~1.5 billion and pissed off a ton of fans.
You think so? Remember, the majority of fans out there (and you even have a semi-not-really-regular feature making fun of them) are casual fans who still think Win-Loss records are an accurate measurement of a pitcher’s ability.
I agree that there is going to be a contingent of fans who will not go back unless they personally escort Frank McCourt on the next flight to BOS, but I would think that’s a small group.
Because ultimately, it’s not up to the potential new owners whether to buy the parking lots or not; It’s not currently for sale. Sure, they can make bids on it, but nobody can force Frank McCourt to sell the parking lots.
Well I didn’t believe the fan boycott last year would work for the exact reasons you are citing to me now, but I was wrong.
Heh, touché. I would say that was a confluence of events and still, I maintain that casual fans care about the headline news: “Dodgers have new manager” rather than the subtitle: “McCourt still owns parking lots that are leased back to new owners.”
But that’s a hell of a point.
Yeah…Now Go Josh!!
lol wat
So disappointed in people who comment without being educated enough on a topic….Question..How come whenever you punch up Josh Macciello’s name your website comes up the first couple of spots when there has been no recent activity? Hmmm..My friends pay lots of money for that to happen with their businesses…but why does yours pop up so often? Either you pay lots of money, than I have to question a motive, or you have an in with someone who is tech savvy…Just wondering why the attention to a guy who has not been in the media for quite some time..LA Weekly doesn’t count it just brings me back to my opening statement. Anyone who relies on that paper for truth, their opinions are meaningless. Cmon Chad you are an intelligent man do your homework. Everyone deserves the truth. Enough lies.
You’re accusing me of caring so much about him that I use connections and/or money to keep my site at the top in some attempt to sully his name?
Really?
It’s probably at the top because before he tried to buy the Dodgers, nobody knew who he was, hence the running joke that he’s not even Google-able.
If there’s an issue with my site appearing at the top of search results, take it up with Google, I have no idea.