Every bidder for the Dodgers needs to withdraw right now

What a mess. What a complete mess. It’s orchestrated by Frank McCourt, so the shock factor is nil, but still.

You wonder how any human being can be so completely clueless, but then we’ve been watching this sorry excuse for an owner for way too long now.

His latest fantasy has him selling the team but keeping the parking lots completely surrounding Dodger Stadium. Hey, now there’s a sweet deal. Thursday marked the first day the siege of the Alamo began in 1836. Getting surrounded by the enemy is never a very good idea.

So every single one of the nine remaining bidders on the team need to get out of the Dodgers pool right now.

Follow the lead of Joe Torre and Rick Caruso. No parking lots, no bid. No auction. McCourt is not only still left in bankruptcy but with another lesson to learn.

He thinks the fans boycotted the team last year? Try mudding up the sales process so badly he’s still holding the team after April 1. Outrage will be so rampant that he’ll be lucky to average 20,000.

You may not have been the biggest fan of Bob Daly when he ran the Dodgers for Fox, but he was dead on when he told The Times’ T.J. Simers last month:

"Here's the test to see if we get a smart or stupid owner. If you make a deal and allow McCourt to keep the land and parking lots, you are out of your mind.”

So listen up, you nine remaining bidders. I don’t care if you’re Magic Johnson or Stan Kroneke or gazillionaire Steve Cohen. You buy the team and are willing to let McCourt keep the parking lots, you are not wanted. You don’t deserve the Dodgers.

No one can require McCourt to include the parking lots. That’s the lousy deal Major League Baseball, in its eagerness to rid itself of McCourt, made. In another McCourt specialty, the lots are held in a separate entity and aren't in bankruptcy court.

It may be wishful thinking to entertain the idea that an MLB team in a major market, with the history of the Dodgers, with a huge TV deal coming, won’t find one idiot willing to make a deal with the devil. McCourt is already claiming he has one such bid.

If so, that person needs to withdraw the offer immediately.

Bankruptcy never should have been allowed in the first place. It was a desperate dodge to avoid MLB taking over the team, selling it and pushing McCourt out. MLB was never going to allow team creditors to go unpaid. They weren’t in real danger.

Now McCourt wants to sell the team and keep the lots to develop them? Really? What local developer would go into business with the most despised man in Los Angeles? It’s almost delusional. It is a complete mess. It is all McCourt. And L.A.’s ongoing nightmare.

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Photo: Frank McCourt. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times.

Bryan Stow attorneys: Let state court decide our claims

The Dodgers should not be allowed to use the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to minimize their liability to Bryan Stow, attorneys for the injured San Francisco Giants fan argued Wednesday.

The Dodgers have asked the Bankruptcy Court to throw out Stow's claim, arguing they should not be held liable for an attack they could not have predicted. On Wednesday, Stow's attorneys asked the Bankruptcy Court to yield to Los Angeles Superior Court, where they filed a civil suit last May against team owner Frank McCourt, the Dodgers and related entities.

Stow's attorneys claimed the Dodgers can repay creditors and exit bankruptcy by the April 30 target date without rushing to litigate the Stow matter.  The attorneys allege the Dodgers are using Bankruptcy Court as a shield "to try to gain unfair strategic and economic windfalls for ... personal injury litigation defendants and insurers."

The filing cited $50 million as a "conservative total estimate" of Stow's damages. His injuries, suffered in an attack in the Dodger Stadium parking lot after the opening-day game against the Giants, include traumatic brain injury and limited movement.

"As a result, he is wheel chair bound and will unfortunately require 24-hour skilled nursing care for the rest of his days," according to the filing.

Frank McCourt to Bud Selig: I can never thank you enough

I don’t know what the world record is for emerging from bankruptcy with the greatest amount of wealth, but you have to think our good buddy Frank McCourt is a serious contender.

Bankruptcy is designed to make sure creditors are paid, and you have to wonder at this point if there was ever any danger of that not happening. But McCourt chose bankruptcy, the courts accepted and it has led to a historic auction, the likes of which Sotheby’s has never imagined.

Hall of Fame baseball writer Ross Newhan finds it incomprehensible that after leaving the Dodgers the laughingstock of baseball and dragging them into bankruptcy, McCourt could not only get the record $1.5 billion he was looking for, but possibly $2 billion and still own the parking lots.

The Times’ Bill Shaikin reports that, aside from TV rights, team revenue and the parking lots, whether the sale price is ultimately closer to $1.5 or $2 billion could largely depend on how much renovation Dodger Stadium is deemed to need.

McCourt now claims it doesn’t need significant renovation, which sort of goes against his grand 2008 plan for a transformation that was estimated then to cost $500 million. And, oh yeah, was supposed to be completed before the start of the 2012 season.

In a stunning development, McCourt found financing a tad difficult to come by.

Yet despite everything, despite the embarrassment of bankruptcy, an ugly public divorce that exposed his and wife Jamie's horrendous greed and perhaps the worst year in team history, McCourt is about to exit richer than anyone –- no doubt including him -- ever dreamed.

The McCourts purchased the Dodgers for $430 million in 2004 without spending a dime of their own money, using equity in a Boston parking lot. Now even after paying Jamie a settlement of $131 million once the team sells, paying off $573 million in debt and possibly more than $200 million in sales taxes, McCourt could walk away with around $1 billion?

Wonder if Jamie would like to rework that settlement.

No one has any real clue which of the 11 surviving bidders will get the team, though if it does become more of a vanity purchase than a practical one, the deep pockets of Steve Cohen and Magic Johnson’s group are impressive. Newhan said the Joe Torre-Rick Caruso group has picked up the backing of a member of the David Thomson family, the wealthiest in Canada. Groups could yet merge, and still floating out there are local billionaires Ron Burkle and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong.

No one knows this better than Frank McCourt. His feud with Commissioner Bud Selig is looking like the best thing that ever happened to him.

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Newhan also had this interesting mention in his blog post:

“… sources also revealed that none of the investors are particularly happy with the Dodgers' eight year, $160 million, back loaded signing of Matt Kemp, and the two year, $19 million contract to Clayton Kershaw.”

Jon Weisman at Dodgers Thoughts found this particularly unsettling, arguing the Dodgers were simply giving competitive salaries to their two best players.

Which is true, of course, but if you’re about to be the new owner, no doubt you would like to be the one negotiating the salaries. It is your future debt, and neither contract had to be done now.

Kemp’s salary, compared to subsequent deals signed by Albert Pujols ($240 million) and Prince Fielder ($214 million), could prove a relative bargain if he continues to produce anywhere near his 2011 level.

Of course, the difference is Pujols and Fielder have performed at the highest level for several years. Kemp reached true elite status only last year, and the Dodgers are counting on the 2011 version and not the 2010 one.

Kershaw’s deal is another matter. Two is an unusual number of years to give a player in the first year of arbitration. The Dodgers guaranteed him $6 million this season, meaning he gets $13 million next year. For that, they essentially got nothing in return, save for avoiding a year of arbitration.

So the Dodgers have taken an expensive gamble that Kershaw doesn’t blow out his elbow. Normally if a team does make that kind of commitment, the contract is extended to at least buy out a year or two of free agency.

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Photo: Commissioner Bud Selig with Dodgers owner Frank McCourt during a ceremony in 2006. Credit: Ric Francis / Associated Press

Second cut looming for Dodgers bidders

The 11 bidders remaining in the Dodgers sweepstakes have been asked to submit a revised bid and supporting information within one week, multiple people familiar with the sale process said Wednesday.

The field of bidders will then be cut, with the surviving parties submitted to Major League Baseball for approval, said the people, who could not be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the sale process.

Blackstone Advisory Partners, the investment bank handling the sale for outgoing owner Frank McCourt, accepted initial bids until Jan. 23 and cut the field of bidders to 11 on Jan. 27. That cut reflected Blackstone's assessment of which parties had the ability and desire to bid at least $1.5 billion for the Dodgers.

The complete list of 11 bidders -- featuring such household names as Magic Johnson, Joe Torre and Peter O'Malley -- can be found here.

The remaining bidders have met with Dodgers executives and reviewed additional financial data, and McCourt and Blackstone hope the bids will go up. In addition to a bid amount, however, Blackstone now has asked each group to identify its investors, explain how the purchase of the team would be financed and propose a five-year business plan.

Bryan Stow attorneys ask court to reject Dodgers statement [UPDATED]

Attorneys for Bryan Stow on Wednesday asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to reject a proposed disclosure statement necessary for the Dodgers to exit bankruptcy.

Stow, the fan beaten and critically injured in a Dodger Stadium parking lot beating last March, has sued the Dodgers in Los Angeles Superior Court and filed a claim in Bankruptcy Court. The Dodgers earlier this month asked the court to throw out Stow's claim.

Stow's attorneys are expected to file a formal objection to that request next week. The papers filed Wednesday relate to a disclosure statement necessary for the Dodgers to proceed with their plan of reorganization — that is, the sale of the team.

In Wednesday's filing, Stow's attorneys asserted that the Dodgers do not need to resolve the claim in order to proceed with the sale of the team. They also alleged that the Dodgers are trying to use the bankruptcy process as an end run around Superior Court, as the defendants in that suit include the Dodgers and other entities in bankruptcy as well as parties not in bankruptcy, including team owner Frank McCourt.

"The proposed releases seem designed particularly to protect Mr. Stow's non-debtor defendants from facing trial in state court," attorneys for Stow wrote.

Frank McCourt haunting Fox in Padres deal

Once upon a time, Frank McCourt and Fox Sports were the best of friends. McCourt needed money to retain ownership of the Dodgers, and Fox was more than happy to give it to him so the company could lock up the Dodgers through 2030.

That was last spring, before Commissioner Bud Selig rejected the deal. When the Dodgers filed for bankruptcy, Fox turned its back on McCourt and aligned with Selig. Fox sued the Dodgers, and in return the Dodgers sued Fox, with fighting extending into two courts before McCourt agreed to sell the team and keep the current Fox contract intact.

McCourt still haunts Fox, however. Fox is weeks away from launching a San Diego cable channel centered on the Padres, but the deal remains in limbo in part because of McCourt.

Fox and the Padres were "close to announcing a new TV deal" last May, according to the North County Times. However, Selig has yet to approve the deal. And, at last month's owners meetings, a decision to approve Jeff Moorad as the Padres' new majority owner was unexpectedly tabled.

The two issues are related. One of the MLB concerns in approving Moorad involved the Fox deal -- in particular, whether the Fox contract provided an up-front payment that Moorad could use to complete his purchase from outgoing owner John Moores.

The proposed contract included an up-front payment of more than $150 million, a person familiar with the deal told The Times. 

Dodgers' sale: Falling deeper into the Frank McCourt rabbit hole

Even as we supposedly approach the end of this mescaline-shrouded trip of an ownership sale, the tale continues to grow curiouser and curiouser.

Really, the whole thing is so completely bizarre. The cast of characters is all over the map, beginning, of  course, with Frank McCourt, who bought the Dodgers with equity in a parking lot, mismanaged the team into bankruptcy and almost a billion in debt, and is still about to exit a ridiculously wealthy man.

And then there are the bidders. They include a guy who once interviewed to be their general manager (Dennis Gilbert), a guy who used to be their general manager (Fred Claire), a guy who used to be their manager (Joe Torre), a couple who used to play for them (Steve Garvey, Orel Hershiser) and a guy who used to own them (Peter O’Malley).

Then there are guys who won NBA championships (Magic Johnson), one who owns the current champion (Mark Cuban) and another who owns an NFL team (Stan Kroenke).

There are stupid-rich investment guys (Steve Cohen, Tom Barrack, Stanley Gold), stupid-rich guys who may yet jump in (Patrick Soon-Shiong, Ron Burkle), guys who are agents (Arn Tellum), who built TV networks (Leo Hindry) and actual TV networks (Fox, Time Warner, Comcast). Alas, sadly the Dilbeck Investment Group has been left a financial casualty, although the good news is I do get to keep the 2005 Accord.

Some have advanced and some have not, though apparently they can get slip back in if they only up their initial bid by another $200 million or so.

And yet somehow this ongoing sale still grows more fantastic. The Times’ Bill Shaikin reported that in addition to the original final eight approved by McCourt for the auction, there is a ninth named Jared Kushner, the 31-year-old son-in-law of Donald Trump. Listen, David Lynch hit on the head couldn’t come up with this stuff.

Kushner is the son of New York real estate mogul Charles Kushner, who served prison time for what the New Times said was for “orchestrating one of the more memorable get-even schemes perpetrated in the name of sibling rivalry. He had hired a prostitute to entrap his brother-in-law and captured their encounter on hidden camera to show his sister.” Aldous Huxley on a psychedelic flashback couldn’t come up with this stuff.

Baby-faced Jared Kushner has zero experience in sports management, though that hardly makes him unique in this group. His claim to fame is buying the New York Observer in 2006. He is now on his fourth editor. He also used family money to purchase a Manhattan office building for a record $1.8 billion in 2006, which the New York Times said is now bleeding money.

Shaikin said Kushner family money would primarily be used for his bid on the Dodgers. Ain’t that just swell? A silver-spooned sports neophyte with inherited money and connected to Trump. What could go wrong?

Maybe you think it cannot possibly grow more preternatural, but just wait, tomorrow calls.

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Dodgers' Frank McCourt: MLB owners' new inspiration

Hey, fight that laughter. I’m serious. Well, you know, mostly serious.

So how could the man who mismanaged the Dodgers so badly that  Commissioner Bud Selig had a lieutenant take over the team's daily control, who shamed the team by dragging it into  bankruptcy court, who has become a local and national laughingstock and whose fans deserted him in record numbers act as a beacon to his fellow Major League Baseball owners?

Because he’s about to make them all richer. OK, make that, even richer.

Not only are the Dodgers about to break a record for a baseball team sale price, they’re going to shatter it. And it appears they may be sold at twice what Forbes estimated their value to be less than a year ago.

Forbes has pretty much set the standard for evaluating the worth of professional sports franchises, and it is usually very accurate. But Forbes, like most everyone else, apparently misjudged the escalating effect of media rights deals.

In March, Forbes estimated the Dodgers to be worth $800 million. And then their attendance dropped by more than 600,000 in 2011.

No matter, McCourt believes he will get at least $1.5 billion in the sale of this team, maybe more. All indications from the veiled process indicate he’s going to get it. Larry King, part of the Dennis Gilbert group, said they failed to advance to the second round after an initial bid of $1.25 billion.

The current record for the sale of a team is the $845 million the Cubs brought in 2009.

If the Dodgers get twice what they were estimated to be worth, MLB owners will sit back and lap up a trickle-down effect. It’s the rising-tide effect. And the irony is too great. The one owner they most despised and wanted gone is about to make them all wealthier on his way out.

It has William Juliano at The Captain’s Blog wondering if McCourt’s success might inspire other MLB owners to sell, particularly those in major markets. The troubled Mets seem a prime candidate.

At least eight bidders have advanced to the second round of the auction. Eight deemed well-heeled enough to approach McCourt’s desired price. They’re hardly all from Los Angeles, which is going to leave at least seven of the obscenely rich who desire an MLB team without one.

Other owners are surely taking notice. Just don’t expect a note of gratitude to be headed McCourt’s way.

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Potential Dodgers owners already reaching out to Derrick Hall

Could Derrick Hall, the Dodgers’ former vice president of communications and the Arizona Diamondbacks' current president and chief executive officer, return as the Dodgers’ next team president?

Yahoo Sports’ Steven Henson said several groups in the running to purchase the team from Frank McCourt have already approached Hall about becoming the Dodgers’ lead executive should they prove to have the winning bid.

Henson wrote a terrific piece about Hall, 43, and his recent battle with prostate cancer. Hall had surgery two months ago and received great news after a recent follow-up test.

Hall is one of the most likable, intelligent and dynamic individuals you could ever meet. He is a huge reason the Diamondbacks were selected as the best sports organization in the world to work for by the United Nations. You know, the kind of honors that used to go to the bankrupt Dodgers.

Hall was the first to figure out what Frank and Jamie McCourt were about and tender his resignation. He is such a bright star in baseball circles that many see him as a leading contender to replace Commissioner Bud Selig when he retires. Should that ever actually happen.

Mark Cuban, Dennis Gilbert out of Dodgers' ownership derby

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and local baseball executive Dennis Gilbert did not advance to the second round of the Dodgers' ownership bidding, according to two people familiar with the process but not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Cuban told The Times in November that he did not believe the Dodgers were worth $1.2 billion. Outgoing owner Frank McCourt believes he can sell the team for at least $1.5 billion.

Gilbert, the former agent and current Chicago White Sox executive, had partnered with former talk show host Larry King as well as Jason Reese and Randy Wooster of Imperial Capital.

At least eight bidders have been selected to advance to the second round, including East Coast hedge fund giant Steven Cohen, a group led by Magic Johnson, and another group headed by local developer Rick Caruso and former Dodgers manager Joe Torre.

McCourt has agreed to identify the winning bidder by April 1.

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Photo: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Credit: Danny Moloshok / Associated Press