Baseball comissioner Bud Selig has announced the MLB will take over operations for the LA Dodgers. Real estate mogul Frank McCourt has owned the team since 2004 and has come under fire in his attempt to sell the marquee franchise in the midst of a bitter divorce and more recently when stadium security flaws that left a San Francisco Giants fan in a coma on Opening Day. In a statement released by the commissioner, the decision was made in order to “protect the best interests of the club, its great fans and all of Major League Baseball.”
Last week, Selig first intervened in Dodgers operations to stop a $30m loan McCourt took out from Fox in order to pay the team’s payroll. In 2009, court documents revealed the Dodgers were in debt by over $430m and growing, despite Forbes estimating the value of the Dodgers franchise to be worth more than $750m.
A midst the divorce scandal, which includes the firing of McCourt’s now estranged wife Jamie from CEO of the team, California Attorney General Jerry Brown launched an investigation in regards to the charity’s chief executive Howard Sunkin, earning a salary of nearly $400,000 per year, almost a quarter of the foundation’s entire budget.
According to Selig, McCourt has badly damaged the value and reputation of the Dodgers while concerned only with his own profits and perks.
