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Dodgers' New Owner Steps Up to the Plate
LA Times - January 30, 2004
By David Wharton, Times Staff Writer
Boston developer Frank McCourt is formally approved by baseball, but initial comments offer few details about his plans for the team.
With his purchase of the Dodgers formally approved Thursday, Boston real estate developer Frank McCourt introduced himself to Los Angeles fans, offering considerable enthusiasm but few details about his plans for the team.
In a highly leveraged $430-million deal that is expected to be completed next week, McCourt will assume control of the club and Dodger Stadium, as well as the Dodgertown training facility in Vero Beach, Fla., and other properties.
"Welcome to a new era in Dodger baseball," he said. "I'm mindful of the fact that it has been 15 years since your team last won a playoff game, and as far as I'm concerned that's way too long. My first objective here is to end that drought."
McCourt, 49, bought the team from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which lent him more than one-third of the purchase price, a source said, and will retain the equivalent of a 9% ownership stake. The deal was approved unanimously by baseball's 30 owners in a conference call Thursday afternoon.He is expected to add Corey Busch, a former San Francisco Giant executive and his point man during the negotiations, to the front office.
McCourt also announced that, for the first time, all 162 of the Dodgers' games will be televised next season.
While Selig and Hahn appeared to have been won over, a sports business expert said McCourt must repair his image with ticket buyers.
"The trust issue with consumers is so overriding and can be a monster," said Kathleen Davis, executive director of the Sport Management Research Institute in Weston, Fla. "This is an emotional factor in the sports business. If they're already looking at [McCourt] with a crooked eye . it doesn't bode well."
Fans seemed to take a wait-and-see attitude.
"I'm very skeptical because according to printed reports, [McCourt] doesn't have enough money," said Steve Smith, 49, of Pasadena. "How is he going to be able to infuse the millions and millions necessary to buy the proper personnel necessary to win the division?"
Hector Reyes, 30, of Burbank was similarly unmoved by the new owner's enthusiasm.
"Right now, it's just words," Reyes said. "It's like campaign promises."
The storied ballclub last won the World Series in 1988, and has not won a playoff game since.
The O'Malley family, which brought the team from Brooklyn in 1957, sold to News Corp. for $311 million in 1998. There was widespread dissatisfaction with the way the corporation operated the club.
Last season, the Dodgers finished in second place in the National League West, 15 1/2 games behind the rival Giants, and ranked last in the league with a .243 batting average.
McCourt seemed to appreciate that the questions about him could not be put to rest during a half-hour news conference.
Even as he spoke of putting "the luster back on the Dodger brand," he added: "At the end of the day, it's not platitudes, it's performance that matters."
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