Comments on: The Dodgers sale price could soar above $1.5 billion

By: jkaflagg

jkaflagg — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:33:34 +0000

Was there ever a doubt that McCourt would make out on this deal ? After all, he is the quintessential American businessman – always operate with other people’s money, squeeze out every last buck and lawyer up when challenged….The only mistake he made was not controlling the wife, as the divorce brought all his shenanigans out into the open ( although Jamie is quite a piece of work in her own right)…….Now his final act is to play on the vanities of some billionaires who want to be seen as ” saviors” of the Dodgers franchise – plus, he’ll continue to keep his hands in the pot even after the sale by keeping the parking lots !

Again, this would all be very impressive if it didn’t make your skin crawl…..

By: lostsok

lostsok — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:46:55 +0000

McCourt should take a good chunk of that money and buy himself some shame. Right now…he clearly has none.

By: sasquash20

sasquash20 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:12:39 +0000

Baseball is just better when the Dodgers are competitive.

By: bigharold

bigharold — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:18:46 +0000

True enough but for that kind of money, iconic or not, somebody has to be crunching the numbers to make sure that everything boxes and their’s money to be made. At least enough revenue to keep the team afloat and competitive long enough to right the ship.

At the end of the day it’s business and the people that can afford or organize an endeavor like this didn’t get into that position not knowing a good business deal when they see one.

By: andrebeingandre16

andrebeingandre16 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:11:33 +0000

Well part of the reason that the Dodgers sale price will be so high is because owners of iconic franchises generally take great care of them and dont give them up easily so the chance to buy a franchise like the Dodgers doesnt come up often.

By: ptfu

ptfu — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:26:02 +0000

At least McCourt won’t actually end up with all the proceeds. He’s filed for bankruptcy, so the court will force him to pay his debts, including $130M to Jamie as part of their divorce settlement. I doubt his creditors will cut him any slack now they realize he’s gonna get a windfall. What’s the interest rate these days on delinquent loans?

By: paperlions

paperlions — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:11:08 +0000

Isn’t that essentially what EVERYONE involved in “real estate development” that gets rich does though? Buy on credit and hope to have good timing on the re-sale (that or give a bunch of money to politicians to push through “development” projects that turn your land from worthless to suddenly tremendously valuable).

By: bigharold

bigharold — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:36:50 +0000

WOW. Just unbeleiveable.

This moron takes an iconic franchice to the brink, .. gets bailed out by MLB and Fox, .. and then sells the team and walks away insanely rich.

Well at least I know where I went wrong, .. it’s all this hard work, nose to the grindstone, paying my bills and trying to live within my means nonsense.

If the Dodgers are worth that kind of money what would the Yankees be worth? They generate more revenue, have a new cash cow stadium, have already put the Yes network in place and their not mortgaged to the hilt.

By: Francisco (FC)

Francisco (FC) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:36:36 +0000

Ceterum censeo McCourt esse delendam

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:33:32 +0000

You’re right, koufax. He largely paid himself through loans taken against the Dodgers. These will be taxed at the 15% capital gains rate when he sells the team.

By: koufaxmitzvah

koufaxmitzvah — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:21:55 +0000

Something tells me he’ll be paying the 13% Mitt Romney tax rate rather than the 30% Mitt Romney’s secretary’s tax rate.

If the IRS doesn’t look into the McCourt’s not paying taxes on the Dodgers over the past 7 years, then there is no justice.

By: dlevalley

dlevalley — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:11:49 +0000

“….walk away from it all an even more obscenely rich man than he was when he bought it in the first place.”

Actually, he wasn’t obscenely rich at all when he bought the Dodgers. In fact, he wasn’t even regularly rich. He bought the Dodgers on credit, ran them into the ground, and now gets to cash in on his ‘investment’.

You’ve got to love this county…

By: gendisarray

gendisarray — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:52:16 +0000

Worst part is that he gets to handle the sale of the team himself – largely without interference from MLB – because he ran it into the ground so badly it ended up in bankruptcy. So because McCourt was a truly terrible owner (instead of just a run-of-the-mill bad owner), he gets to run the auction for the team and pocket over $1 Billion in profit over what he paid for it. Shameful.

By: l0yalr0yal

l0yalr0yal — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:07:42 +0000

$1.5 Billion? At that price, I’ll take two.

By: drunkenhooliganism

drunkenhooliganism — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:04:52 +0000

Were the other savvy billionaire businessmen involved in the bidding previously unaware of the possibility of a regional sports network?