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Monday, November 09, 2009

L.A. Times: Mark Cuban says he’d be interested in buying the Dodgers

Mark Cuban, the high-profile owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, said today he would consider adding the Dodgers to his portfolio.

As the unusually public Dodgers’ divorce saga plays out, Cuban said he has heard from many Dodgers fans appealing to him to buy the team.

“More than I can count,” Cuban wrote in an e-mail.

Frank McCourt contends he is the sole owner of the Dodgers and insists the team is not for sale. Jamie McCourt contends she is a co-owner, and her lawyer has said she has lined up financing for a possible bid to buy out her estranged husband.

Cuban bid unsuccessfully to buy the Chicago Cubs and has expressed interest in buying his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates. He said his interest in the Dodgers would be conditional on the ability to buy a controlling share as part of an ownership group.

“I’m not a fan of debt-driven acquisitions,” Cuban wrote. “If a unique situation came up where I could contribute capital to buy out a majority shareholder and gain control, with existing shareholders or note holders staying in place, I would consider it.”

That situation is not currently available with the Dodgers. There are no shareholders outside the McCourt family, according to court documents.

OH YES. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. Uh, I mean, I would welcome this development.

Tripon Posted: November 09, 2009 at 10:42 PM | 26 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: dodgers, rangers

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1. Buzzards Bay Posted: November 10, 2009 at 01:30 AM (#3383586)

Decline phase for what,may be the question
many criminal justice scholars assert a decline rate in frequency with age
it's only an example,nothing more
the bozo factor may be in decline phase

game-set-perfect match

" I'm not a fan of debt-driven acquisitions"

THAT is a MLB melody

2. phredbird

Posted: November 10, 2009 at 01:47 AM (#3383597)

this would be awesome

3. The Kids Are Enright (1k5v3L)

Posted: November 10, 2009 at 01:48 AM (#3383599)

Isn't Jamie McCourt's squeeze an heir to the Pillsbury fortune? He just just swoop in and buy the Dodgers for as a birthday present to her.

4. RMc is the loyal supporter of the MLB event Posted: November 10, 2009 at 02:11 AM (#3383612)

Then his UFL team could play in Dodger Stadium!

Wait, what?

5. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: November 10, 2009 at 02:16 AM (#3383618)

I'd welcome him just for the spotlight he'll shine on the seriously terrible umpiring MLB is throwing out there.

6. AJM Posted: November 10, 2009 at 02:17 AM (#3383621)

Shouldn't we only link to something when Cuban says he's not interested in buying a team? It'll save a lot of time.

7. Gamingboy Posted: November 10, 2009 at 02:18 AM (#3383622)

And thus, by making the fact he's interested known, Mark Cuban brings about the end of his chances of buying the Dodgers.

8. God Posted: November 10, 2009 at 02:39 AM (#3383636)

Isn't Jamie McCourt's squeeze an heir to the Pillsbury fortune?

That's why she fell for him in the first place. You rub his belly, and he giggles.

9. zachtoma Posted: November 10, 2009 at 03:00 AM (#3383656)

10. scareduck Posted: November 10, 2009 at 03:45 AM (#3383701)

Still, I'll remain cautiously hopeful that he can get somewhere, sooner or later; his strategy now appears to be tenacity and sheer force of will.

And waiting for the McCourts to make a pratfall.

Cue Chevy Chase in 5, 4, 3, 2, ...

11. Maholm Shuffle Posted: November 10, 2009 at 03:48 AM (#3383704)

I'd welcome him just for the spotlight he'll shine on the seriously terrible umpiring MLB is throwing out there.

Yeah, that's gotten no attention lately.

Does he really bring anything other than "not your typical corporate owner"?

12. Earvin 'Gold Stars' Johnson Posted: November 10, 2009 at 03:50 AM (#3383706)

his strategy now appears to be tenacity and sheer force of will.

Ready money helps too.

13. Tripon Posted: November 10, 2009 at 03:50 AM (#3383708)

That would be great, but haven't Selig and the owners already balked at letting Cuban into the fold when he wanted to buy the Cubs? And he's not likely to have helped himself any with his "what's the big deal about steroids?" routine. Still, I'll remain cautiously hopeful that he can get somewhere, sooner or later; his strategy now appears to be tenacity and sheer force of will.

The threshold for owning the Dodgers is obviously lower, and I think Selig would actually welcome a deep pocketed owner for a change if only because he wouldn't have to worry about the owner going bankrupt under his watch.

14. scareduck Posted: November 10, 2009 at 03:51 AM (#3383709)

Does he really bring anything other than "not your typical corporate owner"?

A willingness to criticize his fellow owners publicly. That's huge.

15. Earvin 'Gold Stars' Johnson Posted: November 10, 2009 at 03:51 AM (#3383711)

OH YES. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. Uh, I mean, I would welcome this development.

That, too.

16. Jeff K. Posted: November 10, 2009 at 03:56 AM (#3383716)

Selig and Reinsdorf, et al didn't balk at Cuban because they didn't have to. His bid was supposedly (I never saw final numbers if they were released) considerably below the rest. Because, and while I'm a vocal critic of his business acumen while happy for what he did for my Mavs, I'll give him credit well-deserved for sticking to his guns on creative financing in the bids.

17. scareduck Posted: November 10, 2009 at 06:03 AM (#3383795)

Jeff K. -- Cuban originally had a reported $1.3B bid on the table, but the problem was that a large part of that would have been debt; the subsequent bank meltdown made that impossible, and as Cuban said, there was no way he was going to bid $1B of his own money (what he elliptically owned up to in his blog post) to own the team. Whatever his bid actually was, it ended up being more than what Ricketts put on the table, $900M. Cuban asked for an extension, didn't get it, and here we are.

18. cardsfanboy

Posted: November 10, 2009 at 06:16 AM (#3383805)

That would be great, but haven't Selig and the owners already balked at letting Cuban into the fold when he wanted to buy the Cubs? And he's not likely to have helped himself any with his "what's the big deal about steroids?" routine. Still, I'll remain cautiously hopeful that he can get somewhere, sooner or later; his strategy now appears to be tenacity and sheer force of will.

Also the economy is different now than it was a couple of years ago, MLB can't really block a person with the finances to support a team from acquiring them right now. There probably isn't going to be a lot of groups trying to buy baseball teams right now so you don't have the choices they may have believed they had in the past.

19. ValueArbitrageur Posted: November 10, 2009 at 07:38 AM (#3383834)

Cuban is clearly a brilliant businessman, his negotiation of the right to collar his Yahoo stock made him at least a billion dollars. He's started and sold numerous businesses before Broadcast.com.

But he'll never be allowed in the MLB. And McCourt ain't selling the team until after he's firesold every player he can attempting to keep his ownership.

20. Tripon Posted: November 10, 2009 at 07:43 AM (#3383836)

But he'll never be allowed in the MLB. And McCourt ain't selling the team until after he's firesold every player he can attempting to keep his ownership.

I don't think MLB would allow that. Its one thing to allow a cash poor owner like McCourt to own the Dodgers. Its quite another when its obvious to everyone that he can't afford to run the team anymore. They don't need a headache like the Dodgers attendence dropping to under 2 million because McCourt traded away its all its good, marketable players.

21. Gonfalon Bubble Posted: November 10, 2009 at 08:12 AM (#3383845)

After hearing Cuban's statement, Commissioner Selig began talking up the ownership bid of a rival consortium consisting of Barry Bonds, Lenny Dykstra, Anna Benson, Ugueth Urbina, and that guy who abducted the little girl and kept her in a series of backyard tents.

22. Greg Goosen at 30 Posted: November 10, 2009 at 08:50 AM (#3383859)

The perfect owner for the Dodgers is Wendy Selig-Prieb.

23. Avoid running at all times.-S. Paige Posted: November 10, 2009 at 09:28 AM (#3383863)

A willingness to criticize his fellow owners publicly. That's huge.

Cuban would have a field day with umpiring as well. Actually, I think the primate community should be signing petitions, holding tea parties, etc. to get Cuban into mlb. He's likely to become a regular poster here once he has a definite interest in baseball and then we're talking about a bunch of primates getting front office, heck, even field level positions. I'd enjoy the legalistic arguing styles of a primate manager. Imagine someone getting thrown out of a game for ridiculous libertarian statements! Cuban would be good for BTF. Not necessarily for baseball. But good for BTF.

24. Flynn Posted: November 10, 2009 at 12:21 PM (#3383870)

Buy the Pirates instead.

25. Jolly Old St. Neck Wound, Moral Idiot

Posted: November 10, 2009 at 12:25 PM (#3383871)

Buy the Pirates instead.

Or even better, the Redskins.

26. OsunaSakata Posted: November 10, 2009 at 03:06 PM (#3383917)

Also the economy is different now than it was a couple of years ago, MLB can't really block a person with the finances to support a team from acquiring them right now. There probably isn't going to be a lot of groups trying to buy baseball teams right now so you don't have the choices they may have believed they had in the past.

Although the jobs outlook hasn't improved, Wall Street has done better. There's probably a hedge fund manager MLB can find to be a good soldier.

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Monday, November 09, 2009

L.A. Times: Mark Cuban says he’d be interested in buying the Dodgers

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