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Frank McCourt has agreed to baseball's pressure to put the Dodgers up for auction, Bill Shaikin reports tonight for the Los Angeles Times website. McCourt and Major League Baseball would together seek the bankruptcy court's OK for a sale. "The sale is expected to include the team, Dodger Stadium and the surrounding parking lots, a package bought by McCourt for $421 million in 2004 and likely to sell for two to three times as much now," Shaikin says.
The league hopes a new Dodgers owner can be in place by opening day.
Mystery we won't know the answer to until morning: the Times is clearly excited by the scoop, judging by the website banner headline — but will the editors be allowed to remake page one with the city's natural lede story? Or will the Dodgers story be relegated to the LATExtra section, where the marketing side still wants readers to think that the latest, freshest news congregates. Mystery solved: The Dodgers story made page one in my paper.
* AP add: Baseball and the Dodgers issue joint statement agreeing to "a court supervised process to sell the team." The deal includes the sale of team media rights "to realize maximum value for the Dodgers and their owner, Frank McCourt." AP
Sports consultant Marc Ganis, in the NYT story: "Frank McCourt no longer being owner of the Dodgers was inevitable from the moment he and his wife began their nasty divorce battle. Frank did not want to recognize this reality, but it appears he has finally come to terms with it.”
Meanwhile: Center fielder Matt Kemp, pitcher Clayton Kershaw and right fielder Andre Ethier won Gold Glove Awards today for their fielding prowess. Yes, even Ethier.
Screen grab of LATimes.com