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Frank McCourt reportedly mulls sale of stake in Dodgers

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For months, Frank McCourt has maintained he is the victim of a double standard, that the Dodgers and New York Mets each are in a financial bind and Commissioner Bud Selig is lending a hand to the owners of the Mets but refusing to help the Dodgers.

The response from Major League Baseball usually starts with this: The Mets’ owners were willing to sell a share of their team to raise cash, but McCourt preferred to pursue loans that would burden the Dodgers with additional debt.

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However, McCourt told MLB recently that he would be willing to consider the sale of a minority share, according to a person familiar with the matter. It is doubtful that any such move could satisfy McCourt’s immediate cash crunch, since MLB generally takes weeks or months to investigate the background of any potential minority investor.

McCourt has not provided any names of prospective minority owners to MLB so that they might be cleared to see the team’s financial data, the person said. Also, any sale of a stake in the team would be subject to MLB approval and would require him to establish sole ownership of the Dodgers or get the consent of ex-wife Jamie McCourt, who has asserted her right to half-ownership of the team under California community property law.

The divorce settlement that the McCourts announced on Friday included a provision for an Aug. 4 trial to determine ownership of the Dodgers. That settlement was invalidated by Selig’s decision Monday to reject a proposed television contract between the Dodgers and Fox.

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-- Bill Shaikin

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