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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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Baseball Rejects Dodgers’ TV Deal With Fox; McCourt Divorce Settlement Voided

By PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor | Monday June 20, 2011 @ 2:53pm PDTTags: Bud Selig, Fox, Frank McCourt, Jamie McCourt, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball

Last week, Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt agreed to a plan for a divorce settlement that would have given Frank McCourt sole ownership of the franchise — if Major League Baseball approved a lucrative TV deal that McCourt struck with Fox. That multiyear deal worth $3 billion (and, more importantly, $385 million upfront) would help McCourt shore up the Dodgers, who right now are being controlled by the league during all of this divorce mess. Well, baseball commissioner Bud Selig always seemed reluctant to OK the Fox contract, and today Selig made it official by rejecting the deal, saying in part that “the transaction is structured to facilitate the further diversion of Dodgers assets for the personal needs of Mr. McCourt.” Ouch. Under terms of the divorce plan, it means the Dodgers are one step closer to being sold off — the assets would be split 50-50 between Frank and Jamie — unless Frank can find some other way to get a massive amount of money together to play his players’ monthly salaries and restore the league’s faith in him as an owner. Here’s Selig’s statement: Read More »

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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 »

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Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt Says Baseball Is Blocking Team’s TV Deal

By PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor | Thursday April 28, 2011 @ 8:13am PDTTags: Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball, TV Rights

The war of words between Major League Baseball and Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt escalated today when McCourt said during an interview on CNBC that commissioner Bud Selig was ducking his calls and suggested that the league was purposefully … Read More »

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MLB Appoints J. Thomas Schieffer As Dodgers Trustee

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday April 25, 2011 @ 1:05pm PDTTags: Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has tapped former Texas Rangers president J. Thomas Schieffer as the monitor of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a week after Major League Baseball seized operations of the team from beleaguered and cash-strapped owner Frank McCourt. Schieffer, a former U.S. ambassador, attorney and Texas state rep, will have oversight of the day-to-day … Read More »

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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 »

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Major League Baseball To Take Over Dodgers After News Of Loan From Fox

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday April 20, 2011 @ 2:36pm PDTTags: Bud Selig, Frank McCourt, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball

Less than a week after a report surfaced that Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt arranged for a $30 million personal loan from TV partner Fox to help pay the team’s bills, Major League Baseball owner Bud Selig said today … Read More »

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