Selig threatens to boot Dodgers
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Major League Baseball is willing to boot the Los Angeles Dodgers from its ranks if the league cannot come to terms with the team's embattled owner Frank McCourt in bankruptcy court, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Attorneys for MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said the league would consider revoking the Dodgers' membership before it would allow the team to sell off its future broadcast rights without league approval in a deal that would allow McCourt to settle his personal financial woes, including his pending divorce settlement.
"A sale of the Dodgers' media rights without Major League Baseball approval would subject the [team] to potentially severe discipline, including possible termination from the league," MLB attorneys said in court papers filed Friday.
The league points out that if the Dodgers cannot play other Major League teams, those media rights -- valued at more than $2.7 billion -- would not be worth much at all.
"Indeed no one will pay the [team] to broadcast Dodgers games if the club is not part of Major League Baseball," Selig's attorneys said.
MLB, however, told the court there is much simpler solution than ending the run of the historic franchise for which legends Jackie Robinson and Sandy Koufax played.
McCourt should be forced to sell the team, MLB said.
A sale of the franchise would put the Dodgers into new hands that are more likely to work with the league to right the team's financial woes.
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MLB blames McCourt for the team's current situation, saying he took on too much debt while siphoning money from the team to finance his lavish lifestyle.
The McCourt-controlled Dodgers took exception to MLB's sale demand and its recounting of the team's financial situation, saying in a statement Friday that "the 'facts'" recited by the league in court papers "and the false characterization of other matters are offensive and too numerous to mention."
The Dodgers franchise says its plan to sell future media rights will allow the team to emerge successfully from Chapter 11 and pay all creditors in full.
"In United States bankruptcy reorganization cases, liquidation is the last resort, not the first option," the team said.
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