While Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is busy making publicity rounds trying to reignite support from fans, he might be better served spending his time trying to raise funds. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Dodgers may not have enough money to meet payroll for the month of May. Their report adds that “the team also certainly will face insolvency by July.”
For those reasons, McCourt supposedly has been cooperative with MLB and Tom Schieffer who are overseeing the team in the interim. Unfortunately MLB has not yet seized the team so McCourt is still responsible for meeting payroll obligations. What he’s really waiting on is whether MLB will approve the TV deal he and FOX have negotiated. The deal is for 17 years and $3 billion, and it includes a $285 million up-front payment that McCourt could use to cover up-front expenses.
If MLB does not approve the deal and McCourt doesn’t have enough money to cover payroll, MLB will likely have to seize control of the team the way they did with the Texas Rangers last year.
Not that I have anything against FOX (this site is actually partnered with FOXSports.com through Yardbarker), but I don’t want the deal to be approved for one simple reason: I want McCourt out as the team’s owner. He is dishonest, disreputable, frugal, selfish, and more interested in making money than having his team win. He has ruined the reputation of the Dodgers and should no longer have the privilege of owning them. Actually, he never should have been allowed to buy them in the first place.
