You are viewing the archive: “Fox Sports”

Los Angeles Dodgers Will Have New Owner After Frank McCourt Makes Deal To Sell

By PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor | Tuesday November 1, 2011 @ 11:12pm PDTTags: Bankruptcy, DirecTV, Dish Network, Fox Sports, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball, Time Warner Cable, TV Rights

If Frank McCourt’s fight to remain owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers seemed long and arduous, it was — after all, he had to fight his ex-wife Jamie with one hand and baseball commissioner Bud Selig with the other. If the end of that fight seemed to come fast and easy, well, it kinda did. Here’s the release from Major League Baseball that came out tonight announcing a deal to sell one of the most popular and lucrative franchises in sports:

“The Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball announced that they have agreed today to a court supervised process to sell the team and its attendant media rights in a manner designed to realize maximum value for the Dodgers and their owner, Frank McCourt. The Blackstone Group LP will manage the sale process.”

According to the L.A. Times, the sale would include the team, Dodger Stadium and its parking lots, which McCourt paid $421 million for in 2004. McCourt has put the current value of the team at more than $1 billion; Forbes said it is worth $800 million. Any new owner would certainly attract a lucrative TV rights contract — one worth more than the reported 20-year, $3 billion deal McCourt negotiated with current rightsholder Fox Sports that he said would have given him the cash to keep the team. Selig rejected that contract, however, saying too much of upfront cash was going to McCourt (the league later claimed in court documents that McCourt “looted” the team to the tune of $189 million since taking ownership in 2004; McCourt denies the allegations). MLB took over financial operations of the Dodgers just after opening day 2011, and McCourt took the team into bankruptcy protection in late June to force a TV rights deal. Now, any TV deal would come via an open auction that could draw Fox Sports and regional rival Time Warner Cable as well as potentially DirecTV and Dish Network to the nation’s second-largest TV market.

Comments (11)

UPDATE: Fox Steals World Cup TV Rights From ESPN & Telemundo Scores Too; Total Deal Could Exceed $1B

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday October 21, 2011 @ 9:40am PDTTags: ESPN, Fox Sports, Telemundo, TV Rights, Univision, World Cup

UPDATE: 12:45 PM: The Sports Business Daily is reporting that Fox will pay $450 million-$500 million for rights to the next two World Cups, and Telemundo will pay $600 million. If true, those are massive markups from … Read More »

Comments (15)

Fox Sports Sues Dodgers Over TV Rights

By PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor | Wednesday September 28, 2011 @ 9:00am PDTTags: Fox Sports, Frank McCourt, Lawsuit, Los Angeles Dodgers

Frank McCourt’s fight to keep the Los Angeles Dodgers might have cost him another ally. Fox Sports, which owns TV broadcast rights to the Dodgers (as well as exclusive negotiation rights when the current deal expires after next year), has … Read More »

Comments (6)

Rights Deal Puts Fox In Ring With UFC

By PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor | Tuesday August 16, 2011 @ 11:45am PDTTags: Comcast, Fox, Fox Sports, FX, G4, Spike TV, TV Rights, UFC, VERSUS

Fox Sports and mixed-martial arts league UFC have just finalized a multi-year deal that will put at least four primetime MMA cards on the Fox network … Read More »

Comments (4)

Fox Sports Not Part of Proposed Dodgers-MLB Loan Deal

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday August 5, 2011 @ 2:23pm PDTTags: Bud Selig, Dodgers, Fox Sports, Frank McCourt, News Corp

The Los Angeles Dodgers agreed to borrow as much as $150 million from Major League Baseball, almost two weeks after the judge overseeing the team’s bankruptcy ordered the two sides to negotiate a deal. The Dodgers today sought a judge’s … Read More »

Comments (3)

Sports Report: NFL Thursday TV Package In Play; Dodgers Anger Ally Fox Sports; NBA Lockout Hits The Courts

By PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor | Tuesday August 2, 2011 @ 7:00pm PDTTags: Bud Selig, Fox Sports, Frank McCourt, Los Angeles Dodgers, NBA, NBA Lockout, NFL, NFL Network, Roger Goodell

The NFL is shopping an eight-game Thursday primetime TV package, with commissioner Roger Goodell having informal conversations with networks last week, according to the Sports Business Journal, which is reporting that a stake in the league’s NFL Network might be in play for the winning bidder. The talks are expected to gain momentum now that the league-imposed lockout is over. The NFL Network currently has rights to eight late-season Thursday NFL games; the new package will cover the early season. The SBJ says Turner and Comcast would be front-runners, especially since they have cut previous deals that included league-owned assets (Turner pacted with the NBA in 2007; Comcast has a similar deal with the NHL). Fox and ESPN also are expected to be interested in the package. … Read More »

Comments (10)

Dodgers Owner Gets OK For Bankruptcy Loan; League Backs Off After Team Agrees Not To Auction TV Rights

By PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor | Tuesday June 28, 2011 @ 6:42pm PDTTags: Fox Sports, Frank McCourt, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball, TV Rights

The Delaware court that is sorting out the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Chapter 11 filing has authorized the team to enter into a $150 million bankruptcy financing arrangement that will allow owner Frank McCourt to meet the Dodgers’ payroll obligations … Read More »

Comments (13)

With No TV Deal, Dodgers File Chapter 11

By PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor | Monday June 27, 2011 @ 8:58am PDTTags: Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt, Fox Sports, Frank McCourt, Los Angeles Dodgers

With no resolution in sight over a lucrative Fox Sports TV deal that would give owner Frank McCourt the cash influx he needs to continue operating the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday. The move allows the team to use $150 million for daily operations and gives the franchise some time to find a new TV deal; Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig rejected the proposed long-term deal with Fox last week, saying “the transaction is structured to facilitate the further diversion of Dodgers assets for the personal needs of Mr. McCourt.” Baseball had already taken control of the team in April. Said McCourt — who faces a costly divorce that could force the sale of the team, skyrocketing payroll obligations, declining attendance and a commissioner that is sick of it all — in a statement Monday: Read More »

Comments (14)

LA Dodgers Owners McCourts’ Divorce Settlement Contingent On TV Deal?

By PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor | Friday June 17, 2011 @ 11:20am PDTTags: Fox Sports, Frank McCourt, Jamie McCourt, Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt were in an LA courtroom today saying they have agreed to a divorce settlement that could potentially take the team out of ownership limbo. But as usual in this case it doesn’t come without a big question mark. According to the LA Times, the deal hinges on Major League Baseball approving Frank McCourt’s multiyear TV deal with Fox that is worth as much as $3 billion, cash that would allow him to meet his team’s payroll obligations and give him the stability to retake financial control of the franchise, which right now is being handled by the league during all of this mess. The Fox deal calls for a $385 million upfront loan to McCourt to handle the Dodgers’ immediate money problems, Bloomberg reports. Here’s the problem, though: the league is hesitant to approve any TV contract in case the Dodgers need to be sold as part of a community property divorce settlement, worried any TV deal signed to now could be undervalued for the new owners. Frank McCourt has said that the league is stalling on purpose to force him out. Read More »

Comments (11)

Bidding War For Dodgers TV Rights Looms

By PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor | Friday April 22, 2011 @ 10:29am PDTTags: Fox Sports, Frank McCourt, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball, Time Warner Cable

A former TV sports executive said today that the trustee who will be appointed by Major League Baseball to handle day-to-day operations of the financially strapped Los Angeles Dodgers would have to consider scrapping a TV rights offer from Fox … Read More »

Comments (17)
« Previous Deadline | Hollywood