A's owner Lew Wolff to Frank McCourt: 'No interest whatsoever' in buying Dodgers

In the first morning of the baseball owners' meetings, the Oakland Athletics issued a statement Wednesday saying the owner of their team, Lew Wolff, had "no interest whatsoever" in buying the Dodgers and had told that to embattled Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.

As concern grows about McCourt's ability to maintain financial control of the Dodgers through what could be several more years in divorce court, and as Commissioner Bud Selig and the other owners indicate they are in no mood to help McCourt, speculation has run rampant about whether he would be forced to sell the team.

In his ESPN.com column on Tuesday (subscription link), Buster Olney speculated that Selig might solve two problems at once by shepherding a sale of the Dodgers to Wolff. Selig has delayed a decision on Wolff's request to build a new A's stadium in San Jose for more than a year, and Olney suggested that Selig could do with the A's what he did with the Montreal Expos -- get the owner of the troubled team a new team and then let Major League Baseball figure out what to do with the troubled team.

MLB has refrained from any public comment on the Dodgers' situation, and it was no coincidence that the A's statement Wednesday was sent not only to the media but to the commissioner's office.

The statement, in response to Olney's speculation:

"There is no truth to this report. Mr. Wolff has no interest whatsoever in purchasing the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise. Furthermore, he has no knowledge of the source of any such rumor, and he has informed Major League Baseball and Dodgers ownership of his position."

-- Bill Shaikin in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Comments

[Greg]

Bill, usually love your work, and I guess this sort of stuff is "newsworthy" but really, as an owner of one team, what can Wolff say to the owner of another team? Forget the PR disaster that would be on Wolff's hands in Oakland but even if Selig and the rest of the owners have the knives out for McCourt (as you seemed to imply in your article the other day), they can't very well stab him in the face, could they?

[Bill Shaikin]

Greg: You make an excellent point. However, it is interesting that the conversations about the future of the Dodgers have risen to the level where Wolff would feel compelled to issue a statement of denial to McCourt and to MLB about sheer speculation, rather than just laugh it off.

[OldBrooklynFan]

Buster Olney the speculator....Speculator Buster Olney.

[Little Red Riding Hood]

I recommend never trust a Wolff.

[Hollywood Dodger Mark]

Wow. Its gone this far?

[Ed]

I propose that we as fans buy the Franchise!! on average 40,000 fans fill dodger stadium. at 700,000,000 price tag, that would average out to be approx 17,500 a person. SCREW IT!! LOL i know i know