One last ghastly nightmare of Dodgers and Frank McCourt

And now to scare the living bejeebies out of you …

One of the more interesting names to surface this week out of the group that has submitted bids for the Dodgers is Stan Kroenke.

That would be the Kroenke who owns the NFL’s St. Louis Rams. The Kroenke who also owns the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, the MLS’ Colorado Rapids and is the largest shareholder of the  Premier League soccer team Arsenal. Also, it should be noted he started his own regional sports network for his teams in Denver.

Now, I’m just playing devil’s advocate here because, you know, it’s so much fun. But what if Kroenke doesn’t want to just buy the Dodgers, but to follow up on the proposal first suggested by Peter O’Malley and later picked up briefly by Frank McCourt, and also build an NFL stadium in the Dodger Stadium parking lot?

And bring the Rams back to Los Angeles.

Kroenke’s Rams have an opt-out in the stadium lease at Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis after the 2014 season.

The Rams return, USC’s Jeff Fisher is back as head coach, the Embraceable Ewes live again!

Dodgers Web musings: Last 100 days of Frank McCourt

Come on, join the countdown! Every Dodgers fans should be in on it. A reason to get all giddy.

Some count the days to when catchers and pitchers report, some to opening day. But as Mike Petriello points out at Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness, there is something bigger for Dodgers fans to compute as the 2012 season looms.

It’s now down to the final 100 days of Frank McCourt, bankrupt Dodgers owner.

Now doesn’t that make you smile?

Initial bids to join the team’s auction are due Monday. Major League Baseball will then whittle the list down to an approved group. McCourt has until April 1 to select the winning bid. And then on April 30, he is to hand over the keys and ride into the Beverly Hills sunset, hopefully sans parking lots.

Also on the Web:

-- ESPN’s Lester Munson takes an in-depth look at the looming lawsuit between McCourt and the Bingham McCutchen law firm that botched up his postmarital agreement with ex-wife Jamie.

Munson wrote there is little doubt it is shaping up as one of the largest malpractice lawsuits in American history, and estimates that if the team auction goes badly, the award could be as high as $500 million.

That seems pretty outlandish, considering he’s only paying Jamie $131 million in their divorce settlement, and she was going to probably get that anyway. McCourt would have to prove the botched PMA forced him to sell the team. And it seems that only rings true in that his taking the team in to $573 million in debt might not have come to light without the divorce.

-- Clayton Kershaw visited the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. MLB has the video:

  

-- The Dodgers have added a pair of catchers, Matt Wallach and Griff Erickson, to their list of nonroster spring invitees. Matt is the son of third base coach Tim Wallach.

-- ESPN/LA’s Jon Weisman has a list (updated) of players he argues were team MVPs during their days as a Dodger and on a competing club.

-- Forbes’ Mike Ozanian examines the unusual concessions McCourt was able to get MLB to agree upon in order for him to agree to sell the team.

-- The Times’ Jim Pelz on Dodger Stadium again hosting supercross Saturday night.

-- Thanks to Paul Oberjuerge for uncovering this post from The Baseball Diaspora on the 2011 Bobblehead All-Americans. Andre Ethier, in throwback baby-blue jersey, makes the team.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Dodgers put debt at $573 million

The Dodgers told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Friday exactly how much they owe: $573 million.

The Dodgers included the figure in their reorganization plan, the formal document that explains how a company intends to get out of bankruptcy. For the Dodgers, that way is a sale of the team.

The Dodgers said all creditors would be paid in full, primarily with proceeds from the sale of the team. The new owner will inherit deferred player contracts, according to the plan.

The plan is set for court approval April 13, with the winning bidder for the team identified before then.

The plan does not specifically address how the ownership transfer might affect the Dodgers' legal issues with the family of Bryan Stow, the San Francisco Giants fan beaten and critically injured in the Dodger Stadium parking lot last March. Stow's family has filed a claim in Bankruptcy Court and has sued the Dodgers in Los Angeles Superior Court.

"LAD disputes liability for Mr. Stow's injuries and intends to challenge Mr. Stow's proof of claim," the Dodgers' filing read, with "LAD" used as an abbreviation for the Dodgers. "To the extent that LAD ... may be found liable to Mr. Stow, the debtors believe that this claim may be covered by insurance."

Mark Cuban on buying Dodgers: 'L.A. would never be the same'

 

All the super rich who claim they want to buy the bankrupt Dodgers are facing Monday’s deadline for getting their initial bids in, and that could put a damper on the pre-purchase quotes.

Bidders are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement, meaning they’re not supposed to be discussing the process with the media, outsiders or their favorite latte baristas.

Where’s the fun in that?

Apparently Mark Cuban has already signed up, since he went on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" Thursday and was ever so careful not to spill any negotiating secrets, which could simply prove a negotiating tactic.

Leno asked Cuban about the rumor he "might be buying the Dodgers. Any truth to that?” Guess it’s a rumor on late-night talk shows.

Answered Cuban, “I’m not allowed to really talk about it, but …” At which point Leno interrupted and said, “That means yes.” Laughs all around.

Leno tried again, “Would you like to buy the Dodgers if it was possible?” Do his writers read newspapers (or blogs)?

“It could be fun," Cuban said. "Could you imagine? L.A. would never be the same.”

Judge to Frank and Jamie McCourt: 'Good luck to you'

Frank and Jamie McCourt filed for divorce on Oct. 27, 2009, six days after the Dodgers made their most recent playoff appearance.

The high-profile saga cost the family its ownership of the Dodgers and cost the parties more than $20 million in legal bills, believed to be the most expensive divorce in California history. The proceedings reached an anticlimactic end on Thursday, when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon approved a divorce settlement that requires Frank McCourt to pay his ex-wife $131 million.

The McCourts agreed on settlement terms in October, but the attorneys required another three months to agree on the language of the 23-page document that finalized those terms. On Thursday morning, as Frank McCourt sat on the bench outside Gordon's courtroom and Jamie McCourt sat on another bench down the hall, attorneys shuttled from one McCourt to the other to review the document.

Gordon then held a three-minute hearing in which both of the McCourts testified they had read the agreement, consulted with their attorneys about it, freely consented to it and wished to sign it. Gordon then ratified the agreement.

"Thank you, folks," Gordon said. "Good luck to you."

Disney family, Peter O'Malley consider joint Dodgers bid

Peter O'Malley and Stanley Gold recently met to discuss whether the family of the former Dodgers owner and the family of the late Roy Disney might join forces in bidding for the Dodgers.

The meeting was confirmed by a person briefed on the discussion but not authorized to discuss it. The person said he did not know whether O'Malley and Gold would meet again.

Opening bids for the Dodgers are due Monday, although prospective bid groups are expected to consider mergers before and after that day.

Roy Disney is the nephew of Walt Disney. Gold runs the family investment firm. Both Gold and O'Malley have met with prospective investors, trying to line up financial backing for an auction in which the Dodgers could fetch in the range of $1.5 billion.

Also Wednesday, federal agents arrested Jon Horvath, a New York technology analyst; he is charged with insider trading. The Wall Street Journal reported that Horvath works at a division of SAC Capital Advisors, whose founder Steven Cohen is bidding for the Dodgers. 

Dodgers Web musings: The sinking payroll (videos)

It was there at the bottom of The Times' Bill Shaikin story Tuesday about the Dodgers signing Andre Ethier and James Loney to one-year deals, and the news of the arbitration figures submitted by the team and Clayton Kershaw.

"If Kershaw and the Dodgers split the difference in their proposals, the team would be likely to open the season with a 25-man roster earning about $92 million.

"The Angels are expected to open the season with a 25-man roster earning about $150 million."

That’s a huge ouch, and if hardly unexpected, still stunning. That’s a $58-million difference for two teams separated by a 30-mile stretch of the Golden State Freeway. And it's a good $5 to $10 million less than last year's Dodger payroll.

One team is on the rise, the other in limbo. One committed to winning, the other in bankruptcy court.

Also on the Web:

— ESPN/LA’s Ramona Shelburne looks at why there is so much more interest in purchasing the Dodgers now than in 2004.

— Clayton and Ellen Kershaw’s new book "Arise" earned plenty of attention. Here’s a Web interview with the two from MLB.com.

  

And here are several stories on the young couple, their book and effort to build an orphanage in Africa: Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports, Ken Gurnick at Dodgers.com, Mike Martinez at Fox Sports West and Shelburne at ESPN/LA.

— LA Observed’s Phil Wallace argues that a top priority for the new owner should be rebuilding a barren farm system.

— MLB.com's Evan Drellich examines how the 10 players listed as the Dodgers' top prospects last spring performed in 2011.

— MLB.com’s Barry Bloom, at Dennis Gilbert’s annual scouts dinner last Saturday, writes that it’s time the Hall of Fame recognized scouts.

— Forbes’ Mike Ozanian examines Rupert Murdoch’s effort to partner up with another buyer on the Dodgers.

And in a video, Ozanian interviews sports attorney Rich Brand, who has worked on media rights deals with several teams, on the value of the Dodgers’ future media-rights deal and what Frank McCourt’s legal agreement with Fox means.

 

— Steve Dilbeck

 

Dodgers on the Web: Scouts dinner to honor several Dodgers

The Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation is hosting its annual "Spirit of the Game" fundraising dinner and auction at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on Saturday. Ticket information: 818-224-3906.

Several scouts and former players will be saluted, and here are a few stories written about the honorees in connection to the event:

-- The Times' Bill Shaikin has a nice overview of the reasons behind the dinner and the effect advanced baseball statistics have had on scouts.

-- Times columnist Bill Dwyre checks in with another honoree, Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, probably the greatest catcher ever.

-- Bob Nightengale of USA Today has an excellent piece on veteran Dodgers scout Carl Loewnstine, who is battling bone cancer but still at work.

-- Daily News columnist Tom Hoffarth has a story featuring ground-breaking orthopedic surgeon Frank Jobe, who pioneered the Tommy John ligament-replacement surgery and remains a special advisor to Frank McCourt.

-- Dodgers.com's Ken Gurnick looks at Tim Wallach's family, which also will receive an award.

-- Here's another general overview of the dinner at MLB.com, which is worth a look just to see the picture from last year's event that shows Commissioner Bud Selig with his arm around McCourt and foundation founder Dennis Gilbert, one of those who now wants to purchase the Dodgers.

Also on the Web:

The sale of the Dodgers: Let's get it on

Pigs fly, paper towels aren’t shrinking, Chelsea Handler goes demure, Tim Tebow becomes an atheist, Frank McCourt ends lawsuits.

Not all lawsuits, of course -– there does remain that little hiccup concerning his botched post-marital agreement -- just the ones preventing a timely sale of the Dodgers.

But the news Wednesday that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross had approved McCourt's settlements with Fox Sports and Major League Baseball, appears to be the final hurdle before to the auctioning off of the team.

Somehow, still hard to believe. We’ve been so bombarded by unexpected legal challenges and appeals and countersuits and judicial delays that even when the coast appears clear it’s difficult to peer into the Dodgers future without expecting to be flattened by an unforeseen lawsuit.

Yet on this day, at this moment, there is nothing to prevent the scheduled sale of the team. Not an ugly divorce. Not filing for bankruptcy. Not arguing over media rights.

Bids on the team are due in less than two weeks (Jan. 23). Major League Baseball will then approve up to 10 bidders, though the time frame for its approval hasn’t been released. Then McCourt has until April 1 to choose the next Dodgers owner, which is presumably the one with the highest offer, and until the end of the month to hand over the keys.

It’s getting down to it now. All these groups who truly want in on the Dodgers are about to be separated from the dreamers and the publicity whores.

There appear to be enough of the super rich interested that McCourt is going to come away from this much wealthier than any would have imagined a year ago.

And this is a man with some staggering debt. MLB estimates the club and its entities are close to $600 million in debt. Then there’s that $150-million loan from MLB, what could be close to $200 million in income tax liabilities and $131 million he owes in a divorce settlement (due April 30). That’s a little more than $1 billion.

Which would explain why The Times’ Bill Shaikin reported that McCourt apparently turned up his nose at an offer of $1.2 billion from Fox during mediation.

Now, a team that Forbes last estimated to be worth $800 million could double the record price for a ball club. The Cubs (plus Wrigley Field and a 25% interest in Comcast Sports Net) were $845 million in 2009.

Now it's really the Dodgers' turn. Get on with it. Also, pigs can fly.

RELATED:

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Dodgers' Blake Hawksworth to undergo minor elbow surgery

-- Steve Dilbeck

Path for Dodgers sale cleared as judge OKs deals with MLB, Fox

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross on Wednesday approved the Dodgers' settlements with Major League Baseball and Fox Sports, clearing the most significant legal obstacles from the pending sale of the team.

The approvals conclude an 807-day period in which Dodgers owner Frank McCourt had opposed his ex-wife, MLB and/or Fox in court. He now has settled with all three parties.

McCourt and his ex-wife, Jamie, filed for divorce on Oct. 27, 2009, and he vowed the Dodgers would remain his. After battles in divorce court and Bankruptcy Court, McCourt has agreed to sell the Dodgers by April 30, the same date by which he must pay his ex-wife $131 million.

"We have a relatively short time left for the sale process," Gross said. "The settlement will allow the process to proceed without distraction."

The Dodgers are expected to command a price above -- perhaps far above -- the $845 million paid for the Chicago Cubs in 2009, the current record for an MLB franchise. With civic icons, sports legends and assorted billionaires lining up in a star-studded pursuit that includes the likes of Magic Johnson, Joe Torre and Peter O'Malley, McCourt believes the Dodgers might even fetch double the price paid for the Cubs.

"From what I read in the papers -- and I can't avoid the papers -- there are a lot of people interested," Gross said.

Each bidder must pay $25,000 to MLB, covering the league's cost to investigate a prospective buyer, an MLB attorney said Wednesday. 

Gross saluted attorneys on all sides and in particular retired U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Farnan, the mediator who shepherded the Dodgers' settlements with MLB and Fox.

"I want to congratulate everyone," Gross said. "I know it has been a tough case and, at times, an emotional one. The fact that the parties were able to put their differences aside and enter a settlement that clearly is in everyone's best interest is a credit to all of you."

ALSO:

Bud Selig to get contract extension

The Dodgers and the dream that is Prince Fielder

Dodgers settle with Fox, ending battle over TV rights sale

-- Bill Shaikin

Photo: Frank McCourt. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times