MLB

Here’s Why Major League Baseball Took Over The Los Angeles Dodgers

Yesterday, MLB commissioner Bud Selig announced that Major League Baseball will take over operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers from owner Frank McCourt. The linked report described this as an “extraordinary step,” but these were extraordinary circumstances. Selig had the following to say:

“I have taken this action because of my deep concerns regarding the finances and operations of the Dodgers and to protect the best interests of the club.”

What exactly made the Dodgers’ situation so bad that Selig found McCourt unfit to operate a franchise? McCourt himself released a statement saying:

“Major League Baseball sets strict financial guidelines, which all 30 teams must follow. The Dodgers are in compliance with these guidelines. On this basis, it is hard to understand the commissioner’s action today.”

Ah, but those familiar with the Dodgers’ situation don’t find Selig’s decision so “hard to understand,” it’s safe to say. That’s due in large part to McCourt’s divorce from wife Jamie, which began in October 2009 and just kept getting uglier and uglier. You had Frank McCourt accusing Jamie McCourt of having an affair with her driver (this was after he fired her from her position as the Dodgers’ chief executive). Then, you had Jamie trying to get reinstated to her chief executive position.

Needless to say, what ESPN called a “legal arms race” between the McCourts last year didn’t come cheap. In fact, said writer Molly Knight, it quite possibly added up to “the most expensive divorce in California history.” Adding possibly the most expensive divorce in California history on top of an enterprise involving millions upon millions of dollars in personnel investments seems a bad financial recipe.

And if that doesn’t make it sound like the Dodgers were in an unhealthy financial situation under McCourt’s stewardship, consider this: McCourt charged his own team $14 million worth of rent to use Dodger Stadium. Or how about this, also from Knight’s piece:

In the six years he’s owned the Dodgers, Frank has borrowed an estimated $390 million against the team — staking future ticket sales — which he used to live the high life, complete with a private jet ($2 million a year) and a hairstylist who came to the house five days a week ($150,000 a year).

Yes, McCourt always held firm that his divorce was unrelated to the Dodgers’ payroll going down by over $20 million between 2008 and 2010, Knight said several former Dodgers employees vouched for that he always wanted a payroll of around $80 million, and the Dodgers did make the playoffs four times after McCourt bought the team in 2004.

But the team took a step back last year, and the McCourts’ divorce turned the franchise into a sideshow. Selig catches a ton of heat from many, many angles, but few will blame him for this. Sure, there are reports that McCourt will sue Major League Baseball now, which could lead to an even bigger distraction, but in this case, the situation was just that bad that Selig had to do something, and he did.

Oh, and that reminds us, we haven’t even gotten to the weirdest Dodgers tidbit, so we’ll close on that note. The McCourts at one point employed a Russian man named Vladimir Shpunt to help the Dodgers, despite the fact that he knew little about baseball. How exactly could he help the team?

Frank and Jamie McCourt paid him to help the team win by sending positive energy over great distances.

Shpunt says he is a scientist and a healer, not a magician. His method could not guarantee the Dodgers would win, he says, but it could make a difference.

[...]

In the five years he worked for the Dodgers, he attended just one game. Instead, he watched them on television in his home more than 3,000 miles from Dodger Stadium, channeling his thoughts toward the team’s success.

[...]

Bert Fields, an attorney for Jamie, said the Dodgers paid Shpunt a stipend, plus a bonus of “certainly six figures and even higher” depending on whether the Dodgers won the National League West title and how far the team advanced in the playoffs.

Still think the team didn’t need to get taken away from the McCourts?

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